Waiting on Willie – No More! (Updated)

By John Helsley

We, and Jeff Capel, were waiting on Willie Warren to finalize his playing plans for next season (should he stay/should he go?).

The waiting is over. And for you, Sooners fans, and yes Capel, too, the news was worth waiting for. Warren has announced that he’ll be returning for at least another season at OU.

It couldn’t have been an easy decision for Warren.

While Warren may not be ready to hold down a regular job in the NBA, due to a weak draft he was being projected as a likely lottery pick if he made himself available for the NBA Draft.

That means big bucks, somewhere in the $2 million neighborhood, plus or minus a couple hundred thousand, if he’d gone from No. 6 to No. 10 as most projections place him.

That’s quite a few downloads for the iPod.

And yet, there’s much to gain for Warren in his return to the Sooners (See Griffin, Blake).

This isn’t to say that Warren’s situation will mirror Griffin, who went from a lottery pick to the lock to be picked No. 1 overall. But like Griffin, Warren can grow his game, play a bunch — not a given in the NBA — and leave his imprint on the program in a system that will better reflect his skills.

Willie, to his credit, fit into OU’s Griffin-dominated style this season.