Sooner Basketball Begins Preparing For Labor Day Tourney

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- The Oklahoma men's basketball team takes to the court for its first official workout Tuesday at the Lloyd Noble Center.<br/><br/>The Sooners are getting a jump on the competition

Tuesday, August 21st 2007, 2:15 pm

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) -- The Oklahoma men's basketball team takes to the court for its first official workout Tuesday at the Lloyd Noble Center.

The Sooners are getting a jump on the competition because of their participation in a tournament in Canada over the Labor Day weekend. The NCAA allows teams to compete in foreign tours once every four years and permits 10 practices leading up to the tours.

The Sooners return seven letter winners from last season, including seniors Longar Longar and David Godbold.

Longar averaged 10.4 points and 7.1 rebounds a game. Godbold averaged 7.4 points and 4.6 boards per contest, as well as a team-high 1.3 steals.

The Sooners leave for Vancouver, British Columbia, on August 31st, and play the University of British Columbia the next day.

OU faces Simon Fraser and Trinity Western on September 2nd and visit Douglas College on September 3rd, before returning to Oklahoma later that day.