The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

TUESDAY was Big 12 basketball media day and, as expected, much of the conversation at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri, centred around the reigning conference player of the year - Buddy Hield.

The senior guard, who comes into his final NCAA season with several preseason accolades, has high hopes not only for himself but for his Oklahoma Sooners who enter the season ranked No.8 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

“We’re thinking Final Four or bust,” Hield said. “The spotlight is on me. I understand that, but I’m used to it now. It doesn’t faze me. All this is fun. You have to enjoy the process. It’s my last year. I’m just having fun, enjoying the process.”

The Sporting News named the Grand Bahama native as a preseason third team All-American. He was also named to the preseason watch list for the Jerry West award, given to the nation’s top scoring guard. Hield averaged 17.4 points a game last season and added 5.4 rebounds a contest, most among Big 12 guards. He also led the league with his 93 three-pointers and ranked sixth in free throw percentage at 82 and ninth in three-point field goal percentage at 36.

He was also named the Big 12 preseason Player of the Year for this season and seeks to make history as the first player to win back-to-back awards since Raef LaFrentz won the award for the Kansas Jayhawks in 1997 and 1998.

His head coach Lon Kruger revealed a noteworthy fact that should be a warning to other schools in the Big 12 - Hield has improved.

“Buddy’s actually improved since March. You see that just watching the first two weeks of practice,” Kruger said. “You can see how he carries the weight and expectations of lining up and doing even better. Players and coaches have seen that he’s worked awfully hard in the offseason.”

Isaiah Cousins - Hield’s running mate - the team’s second leading scorer and also a senior for the Sooners, said he has also seen the improvement in Buddy’s game.

“His handling is getting real nice,” Cousins said. “He’s splitting screens. It’s getting real tight. He’s going to be trouble.”

Cousins averaged 11.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game last season.

“They go at each other a lot,” Kruger said. “They’re always looking for each other and guarding each other and it’s good for both.”

Our focus is encouraging him not to change too much, just focus on getting better every day. As a group we want him to make the same progress he did last year or more. He’s a guy that rolls with things but he expects a lot of himself.

His decision to return to NCAA basketball for his senior season is one of the reasons Kruger is optimistic on his team’s opportunities to achieve success this season.

“Buddy’s really smart. He’s got a great family, so our function was just to provide information. We talked to a lot of the folks in the NBA and we got the committee’s evaluation back, as we do for any young player that may entertain the idea of going into the draft early, and just provided that to Buddy. Buddy took those projections and took the expert’s opinions and said, ‘I can get better.’ He’s got a pretty good experience there, so it’s not like he’s not enjoying the time in Oklahoma. He said he thought he could enjoy that, improve his game, and maybe elevate his draft status and give himself a better chance to have a longer career at the next level,” Kruger said. “But, again, he made a decision that will be very good for him in the long run and certainly very good for our programme, but I think good for Buddy, and that is the key there.”