UNDERSTATED, UNDERRATED
Why OU coach Lon Kruger is the Ned Flanders of college basketball
Lon Kruger's low-key way is helping his Sooners thrive during one of the toughest stretches in college basketball history
Lon Kruger gets fired up. Oh, sure, he does. Take the final seconds of OU's nail-biter against Texas on Tuesday. After Jalen Hill intentionally missed a free throw to melt away the remaining time but unintentionally missed the rim resulting in a violation that instead gave the ball back to the Longhorns, the Sooners were scrambling. A bit panicked.
Kruger put out both hands, palms facing the basketball court, then quickly pressed them downward as if to say, “Calm down.”
That was it. That was Kruger's version of getting fired up.
The reality is, the Sooner coach is as low key as they come. Never flies off the handle. Longtime national college sports reporter Pete Thamel once described Kruger as “the Ned Flanders of college basketball coaches.” Not sure there could be a better or more accurate description.
Kruger is understated — and frankly, it has made him underrated.
Kruger and his Sooners are in the midst of one of the toughest stretches of games in college basketball history. According to Stats Perform, when OU hosts No. 9 Alabama on Saturday, the Sooners will become the first team since the Stats Inc. database started in 1996 to face six top-10 teams in one calendar month.
But as crazy tough as this stretch has been, the Sooners are 5-2 in January, three of those wins coming against top-10 teams. That includes back-toback wins over No. 9 Kansas, then No. 5 Texas.
The Sooners are surging for lots of reasons.
“Without COVID, it would have been an extreme year. With COVID to add to all that? Just concerned about the emotional well-being of the players.”
Lon Kruger, Sooner coach
Austin Reaves' steadiness. De'Vion Harmon's breakthrough. Elijah Harkless' relentlessness. The Sooners' overall depth and versatility. But don't forget Kruger. He's a big reason why the Sooners are tough to beat, sitting third in the rugged Big 12. He's had a huge role helping this team improve even as it has navigated through a season like no other.
“Since we stepped foot on campus,” Sooner sharpshooter Umoja Gibson said, “he's just like, `It's gonna be a year of changes. Each day will be different.'”
No doubt about that. The pandemic has impacted the Sooners — they've had shutdowns and cancellations and absences — but it hasn't derailed them.
In a year of change, Kruger is constant.
He says he and his coaches talked over the summer about what they needed to do to better help the Sooners navigate this season.
A laundry list emerged, but at the top, was consistent and constant communication. Kruger has always had that open line with his players, but he knew it had to be even more pronounced this season.
That need has only been magnified by the social justice uprising, the presidential election and the Capitol riot.
“Without COVID, it would have been an extreme year,” Kruger said. “With COVID to add to all that? Just concerned about the emotional well being of the players.”
He asks simple questions.
How are you doing? How are you feeling? But if the answer is complicated, he wants to hear it. Kruger has seen the way some of his players have struggled, particularly with the isolation that has come with COVID or contact tracing.
“It really hit our guys hard,” he said. “When you talk to them, they didn't anticipate how difficult it was to be in quarantine for 11 straight days, which when you stop and think about it, young people aren't geared to do that. No one is, but especially 18- to 22-year-olds.”
And a return from quarantine isn't a return to normal life.
“You're feeling the effects for a while, not only physically but also emotionally,” Kruger said.
Slow and steady has won many a race for Kruger and his teams over the years. But never before has that approach been such a perfect fit for a Kruger-coached squad.
These Sooners have continued to grow steadily as a team even as circumstances have made for individual ups and downs.
“Everybody's just bonding,” Hill, the sophomore jack-of-all-trades, said. “We're getting closer as teammates and coaches. We're all trusting each other and believing in each other for these big games and big moments.”
Harmon said, “Just staying together. There's so many distractions going on — COVID and everything else in the world — but staying together .. knowing that the brother next to you, to your left, to your right, in front of you, behind you, they got your back no matter what.” Accountable. Steadfast. Consistent.
That's what these Sooners have become — and it has made them tough to beat. They aren't doing it with a superstar. They aren't flashy. They don't win with pizazz, but they win all the same. Much like their coach. Truth be told, Kruger's low-key way has made him the most underappreciated coach in college basketball. All he does is develop players, win ball games and get teams to the NCAA Tournament. Every year. All the time. Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Maybe in this time of tumult that consistency will be appreciated finally. Maybe there will be understanding of how OU keeps chugging away in a season that has tripped up the likes of Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina. Maybe college basketball will celebrate Lon Kruger's greatness.
But if not, don't expect him to get fired up.
Not for long anyway. Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.