Sweet 16 Recruiting Flashback: Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M

It’s going to be an early tip at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., for West No. 3 Texas A&M and No. 2 Oklahoma, with the jump ball expected at around 7:37 PM ET Thursday. Texas A&M arrives fresh off one of the most incredible comebacks in NCAA history after its miracle win over Northern Iowa. Oklahoma let both UC Riverside and VCU hang around but for the most part controlled both of its wins.

THE KEYS

This may be making things too simple, but the result of this game is likely going to come down to whether or not the Aggies can slow down the scoring machine that is Buddy Hield. Both teams rely heavily upon their perimeter players to score so perhaps a player like A&M freshman center Tyler Davis stepping up with extra offense makes the difference.

HOW THEY WERE BUILT

Eric Bossi on Oklahoma: Save for senior guard Isaiah Cousins who hails from New York, the majority of Oklahoma’s big contributors played their high school ball in Big 12 territory. When the Sooners landed Hield, who is from the Bahamas but played his high school ball just outside of Wichita, Kan., I felt they had stolen one away from their Big 12 rival Kansas, which was recruiting but not prioritizing him. Still, I could have never imagined he would develop into maybe the best player in the country. Cousins was an impressive find as a non-ranked three-star and landing a local tough guy in the front court like Ryan Spangler on the bounceback from Gonzaga was huge. They have plugged holes with junior college players where needed and done an excellent job focusing on building from between Kansas City and Houston.

Bossi on Texas A&M: There is a wealth of high school talent in the state of Texas and the Aggies have really started to capitalize on that of late. However, neither Jalen Jones nor Danuel House picked A&M out of high school and their ability to land them as transfers has been huge. Local kid Alex Caruso does more than his stats show but maybe most important is that their top 10 2015 recruiting class has panned out. Along with Davis, fellow Texans D.J. Hogg and Admon Gilder have been huge in their first year.

Oklahoma Texas A&M

STARTERS	STARTERS

Buddy Hield – Senior, 6-4, 214 4-star SG from 2012 class (ranked 86th nationally). Chose Oklahoma over Kansas and Colorado. 2015-16 Stats: 25.4 PPG, 50.0 FG%, 46.3 3PT%, 89.0 FT%, 2.1 APG	Anthony Collins - Senior, 6-1, 175 3-star PG from 2011 class. Played at USF and started 98 of 101 games. Graduate transfer to Texas A&M. 2015-16 Stats: 4.5 PPG, 38.1 FG%, 45.0 3PT%, 87.2 FT%, 4.2 APG
Jordan Woodard – Junior, 6-0, 187 3-star PG from 2013 class. Averaged 15.4 points and 6.8 assists per game as a senior in high school. 2015-16 Stats: 12.8 PPG, 41.0 FG%, 44.1 3PT%, 81.7 FT%, 3.4 APG	Alex Caruso - Senior, 6-5, 186 4-star SG from 2012 class (ranked 84th nationally). Originally from College Station. Father Mike is associate AD at Texas A&M. 2015-16 Stats: 8.1 PPG, 50.2 FG%, 37.8 3PT%, 78.5 FT%, 5.0 APG, 2.0 SPG
Isaiah Cousins – Senior, 6-4, 200 3-star SG from 2012 class. Voted by Oklahoma teammates as the squad’s best dancer. 2015-16 Stats: 13.1 PPG, 42.3 FG%, 43.0 3PT%, 67.4 FT%, 4.5 APG	Danuel House - Senior, 6-7, 212 5-star SF from 2012 class (ranked 20 nationally). Originally signed with Houston. Transferred to Texas A&M. 2015-16 Stats: 15.8 PPG, 39.9 FG%, 31.1 3PT%, 71.8 FT%, 2.2 APG
Ryan Spangler – Senior, 6-8, 234 3-star PF from 2011 class. Transferred from Gonzaga. 2015-16 Stats: 10.5 PPG, 54.6 FG%, 61.2 FT%, 9.3 RPG	Jalen Jones - Senior, 6-7, 220 3-star PF from 2011 class. Signed with SMU. Transferred to A&M for final two years. 2015-16 Stats: 15.4 PPG, 42.9 FG%, 72.0 FT%, 7.1 RPG
Khadeem Lattin – Sophomore, 6-9, 208 3-star center from the 2014 class (ranked 122nd nationally). Grandfather was on the Texas Western team that beat Kentucky in NCAA Championship game and was portrayed in the movie “Glory Road.” 2015-16 Stats: 5.5 PPG, 56.4 FG%, 54.5 FT%, 5.4 RPG	Tyler Davis - Freshman, 6-10, 265 4-star center from 2015 class (No. 28 nationally). High school teammate of D.J. Hogg; state champs as senior. 2015-16 Stats: 11.1 PPG, 64.7 FG%, 63.4 FT%, 6.2 RPG, 1.1 BPG
KEY BENCH PLAYERS	KEY BENCH PLAYERS
Dante Buford – Freshman, 6-7, 221 3-star PF from 2014 class (ranked 131st nationally). Voted by Oklahoma teammates as the squad’s best dunker. 2015-16 Stats: 3.6 PPG, 34.6 FG%, 72.9 FT%, 1.9 RPG	Admon Gilder - Freshman, 6-3, 186 4-star SG from 2015 class (ranked 65th nationally). Chose Texas A&M over Baylor, Oklahoma State and SMU. 2015-16 Stats: 7.1 PPG, 44.2 FG%, 36.1 3PT%, 73.8 FT%, 1.4 APG
Dinjiyl Walker – Senior, 6-1, 203 SG from 2014 class. Was a JUCO transfer from Iowa Western. 2015-16 Stats: 3.6 PPG, 35.8 FG%, 44.4 FT%, 1.5 RPG	Tonny Trocha-Morelos - Sophomore, 6-10, 229 4-star center from 2012 class. Won three state championships in high school. Originally from Cartagena, Colombia. 2015-16 Stats: 7.2 PPG, 47.0 FG%, 50.0 FT%, 4.3 RPG