No. 11 St. Joseph's (21-12) vs. No. 6 Oklahoma (22-11)

By Shaun Gogna
Don Best Associate Editor

Opposites will attract when offensive-minded St. Joe's takes on defensive brute Oklahoma in an opening round East Region matchup of the NCAA Tournament.

Oklahoma represented the very idea of resiliency throughout its campaign this year. The Sooners two leading scorers and rebounders, F Blake Griffin (15 ppg, 9.4 rpg) and C Longar Longar (11.6, 5.7), were hobbled with injuries for the majority of the season.

Griffin injured both knees at different points of the year, yet managed to play in every game but two. One of his season highlights was a 20-point, 13-rebound performance in a 77-49 loss to Texas in the Big 12 Tournament.

Longar is the glue that holds an effective Sooners defense in place. With a fractured bone above his ankle, Longar also played every game but two. Not surprisingly, the Sooners lost both games that the 6-foot-11, 234-pound senior center missed.

Oklahoma finished fourth in the Big 12 in scoring defense (63.4 ppg) and fifth in field-goal percentage defense (40 percent). Of particular importance, especially in this matchup, is Oklahoma's ability to lock-down on the perimeter and hold teams to under 32 percent from three-point land.

St. Joe's, more than anything else, relies on the shooting capabilities of swingmen Pat Calathes and Rob Ferguson. If these two are dialed-in, the Hawks become a very difficult team to beat. St. Joe's upset Xavier in the A-10 tournament, 61-53, by shooting 46.5 percent from the field and 35 percent from beyond the arc. Calathes led the way with 24 points and eight rebounds.

There is, of course, a flipside to that coin. If the Hawks don't hit their shots they are quite beatable as was evident in their 69-64 loss to Temple in the A-10 Championship game. Although the Hawks went 23-54 (.426) from the field, they shot a miserable 5-21 (.238) from three-point range.

Oklahoma has the defensive potential, especially on the perimeter, to make the game very long for St. Joe's. However, St. Joe's offensive capabilities could very well put Oklahoma's sometimes stagnant offense in a tough spot. The Sooners rank near the bottom of the Big 12 in just about every offensive category and they managed to score 55 points or less a whopping nine times this season. They went 1-8 in those games.

Fortunately for Oklahoma, St. Joe's defense very rarely resembles a defense. The Hawks give up more than 67 points per game, and because they lack a true inside presence, opponents put in more than 43 percent of their shots. The worst aspect of St. Joe's defensive game is guarding against the three ball, where the Hawks concede almost 37 percent of shots taken, good for dead last in the Atlantic 10.

Given the contrasting styles of play between these two teams, it's no surprise to see oddsmakers make this a 1-point spread with Oklahoma getting the chalk.

St. Joe's has played well against non-conference opponents this season posting a 9-4 SU mark and 9-2 ATS. Equally impressive is the Hawks 7-2 ATS record when penciled in as an underdog.

Experience could play a negative role for St. Joe's considering none of its current players have played an NCAA Tourney game. The Hawks do have a 4-3 SU and ATS record in their last 10 years of March Madness play.

Oklahoma is making its first trip back to the Big Dance since controversial head coach Kelvin Sampson was forced to leave three seasons ago. During those three seasons, Oklahoma has struggled in tournament formats, posting a 5-7 SU mark and a terrible 1-9 ATS record the last three years.

The Sooners have been equally bad against the spread on neutral sites, going 2-3 this season and 3-9 over the past three seasons.

The winner of Friday's contest takes on the Louisville-Boise State winner in the second round on Sunday.

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