 ATA's
Hawaii service a hitBoise
State volleyball team loses to No. 13 Hawaii
BSU
men's golf team takes sixth in Hawaii tourneyCarolinians
on hand to feel Hawaii shudder - Triathlete, lovebirds experience
quake their 1st morning in paradise
Dream
spot, but huge task - Hawaii sounds nice to Capel, but facing Memphis
will be tough
Erickson
says upcoming foe Hawaii is 'as good as Boise State'
Hillcrest
team gets shaken up in Hawaii - Members of a local tennis team earn
the trip of a lifetime and experience a 6.7-magnitude earthquake
Lisa Hawley, 51,worked
to save the environment in Hawaii
Newlyweds drown
in Hawaii - AS PAIR TAKES PHOTOS, WAVE SWEEPS THEM AWAY
Tennis
trip to Hawaii not all fun in the sun
This
Hawaii fan shaken by quake news
Tropical
storm - Brennan leads the way as Hawaii scores early and often in
routing Fresno State
USS Arizona memorial
- 65 years ago, Hawaii attack led us into war
Vandals
wonder where good team went - Nevada picks up where Hawaii left off
Visitors,
residents make frantic calls from Hawaii after quake
Waterloo
nurse shaken in Hawaii earthquake
Wolves
march off to Hawaii on Sunday - Performing at Pearl Harbor anniversary;
only college band in Holiday Parade |
Dream
spot, but huge task - Hawaii sounds nice to Capel, but facing Memphis
will be tough NORMAN -- Playing at Duke in the mid-1990's took Jeff Capel a lot of places. From Honolulu to New York to Anchorage and several stops in between. But not to that tiny gym in Maui, where every Thanksgiving week coaches dress in Tommy Bahama, spectators fan themselves as often as they cheer, and some of the nation's elite teams bang away in college basketball's premier regular-season tournament. "It's the one place where I always wanted to go and play," Capel said. At 1:30 p.m. Monday, in a sense, he'll finally get his chance, when his 2-0 Oklahoma Sooners play an EA Sports Maui Invitational first-rounder against No. 13 Memphis. "It's one of the events you look forward to every year," Capel said, "because of the level of competition, the teams that are over there, and obviously it's at one of the beautiful places in the world." The Sooners left Norman on Friday morning and will be gone a week. Chances are they'll at least notice the surf, if not dip a toe in. At the same time, they know the real action this week is inside the Lahaina Civic Center. "I'm excited about the trip," freshman guard Tony Crocker acknowledged, "but we know it's business when we get there." Win or lose today, OU plays either No. 23 Georgia Tech or Purdue on Tuesday. The Sooners finish Wednesday against a team from the other half of the bracket, which includes No. 6 UCLA, No. 22 Kentucky and DePaul. It would be a heavy challenge if Memphis was the only foe in the field. The Tigers lost Conference USA Player of the Year Rodney Carney and stars Darius Washington and Shawne Williams from last year's 33-win Elite Eight team. Not that you could tell much of a dropoff in Memphis' 111-69 season-opening rout of Jackson State last Thursday -- the Tigers hit 15 3-pointers, grabbed 56 rebounds and had four players score in double figures. OU hasn't stepped up in class from season-opening opponents Norfolk State and Liberty -- it has shot up. The best news for the Sooners is guard Michael Neal returns from the NCAA's two-game suspension for breaking a summer-league rule. "He'll be a big help," said Crocker, who averaged 15 points in place of Neal in OU's starting lineup. "He's our leader. That's what we need most, his leadership."
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