Jeff Capel looks at St. Joseph's and sees determination and a couple of tall three-point shooters in 6-10 Pat Calathes and 6-8 Rob Ferguson, whom he tried to recruit when he was head coach at Virginia Commonwealth.

The two coaches will have had four days to figure out how to counter what the Hawks and Sooners do best as they prepare for their first round East Region matchup Friday night at 7:10 p.m. in Birmingham.

Oklahoma (22-10) is the No. 6 seed while St. Joe's (21-12) is No. 11. It will be their first meeting.

The power Martelli sees is mostly in the muscular Blake Griffin, who is listed at 6-10, 243 pounds and is regarded among the nation's top freshmen. One of the most highly-touted recruits in Oklahoma history, Griffin won the slam dunk contest at the McDonald's All-American Game. He's averaging 14.8 points and 9.2 rebounds and is shooting 56.1 percent. He's third in the Big 12 in shooting and fourth in rebounds.

"His numbers are extraordinary," Martelli said Monday after the 10th annual Coaches vs. Cancer breakfast at the Palestra. "His last two games he had 12 offensive rebounds. He has 98 offensive rebounds in 30 games. Their defense and their physical nature have to be studied and have to be attacked."

Frequently during the season, Martelli attributed losses to the physical play of opponents.

Another potential problem for the Hawks: They rely heavily on their three-point shooting with Calathes connecting on 40.3 percent and Ferguson on 43.8 percent. Oklahoma protects the three-point arc with its quick defenders. The Sooners held opponents to 31.9 percent shooting from beyond the stripe, second in the conference.

The 32-year-old Capel, a former Duke star who is the sixth youngest college head coach in the nation, is familiar with Martelli. He was a assistant coach at Old Dominion when St. Joe's and a freshman named Jameer Nelson defeated the Monarchs at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse early in the 2000-01 season.

"They're hard-nosed and they play different styles depending on the personnel," Capel said Monday during a teleconference. "Coach Martelli is one of the better coaches out there. They're a tough matchup for us but we're excited about it. Obviously, Calathes is a very skilled player. He scores in so many different ways. He rebounds, and he leads the break when he gets rebounds. Ferguson is a big guy who shoots it and can put it on the floor. And [Ahmad] Nivins is probably the best post guy in the Atlantic Ten this year, a very efficient player."

Capel is in his second season at Oklahoma after four impressive seasons at Virginia Commonwealth, where his teams compiled a 79-41 record. His first season in Norman, he inherited a mess left behind by Kelvin Sampson. The Sooners had lost a scholarship because of NCAA sanctions and three of Sampson's recruits bolted elsewhere, including Villanova's Scottie Reynolds. With little to work with, Capel's team went 16-15 his first season and Oklahoma failed to play in the post-season for the first time in 26 years. The Sooners' 25-year streak of post-season play included 20 NCAA appearances.

This season, two of Oklahoma's non-conference losses came against Memphis and Southern Cal. The Sooners won at West Virginia in two overtimes. In the Big 12 tourney, they were crushed by Texas in the semifinals, 77-49.

"We don't talk about it. It's over with and we can't do anything about it," Capel said of the Texas game. "We're in a new season and as we head into this season everyone in our tournament is 0-0."

Oklahoma has only two seniors. One is 6-11 center Longar Longar, who joins Griffin to give the Sooners probably the best tandem of big men the Hawks face this season.

Recently, Capel has given 6-5 freshman Cade Davis more playing time to try to upgrade the Sooners' three-point shooting, where they have only a 34.8 percent accuracy.

"He's a guy who has made shots from beyond the three-point arc, which is something this team needs," Capel said. "Mainly, he gives us an energy."

A stickler for preparation, Martelli is happy he has four days to prepare for the Sooners, and he sees an advantage playing them on Good Friday.

"It's Good Friday and we're a Catholic school," he said. "So that should be a good thing."