OU signee ready to make impact

It took a while, but when Willie Warren finally arrived in Shawnee for the Faith 7 all-star game festivities, he made a sudden impact on the hardwood ­— the same impact Oklahoma head coach Jeff Capel is hoping for next season when Warren dons his crimson and cream jersey.
“I graduated on Wednesday, then started school at OU on Thursday,” said Warren, who missed day one of the Faith 7 practices because of his school activities. “It’s crazy right now but these are the best times of my life. My mom and I have been visiting about all of this that is going on and I am going to keep living life to the fullest.”
He also plays basketball to its fullest and everyone else on the court knows it.
Warren arrived from Friday classes in Norman about 20 minutes into Texas’ afternoon practice session at the Oklahoma Baptist University Wellness Center. After receiving an ovation and some razzing from his all-star teammates, Warren stepped into a three-point shooting drill and proceeded to consistently find the bottom of the net — sudden impact.
For Warren, tonight’s Oklahoma-Texas game will run much deeper than a battle between two rival states. It will mark the last time Warren will represent Texas and will be the first time he will be matched against the sharp-shooting Oklahoma all-star guard Rotnei Clarke. The two have been teammates for the past few summers in AAU ball. “We were called the best backcourt in the country,” said Warren.
As for the head-to-head matchup, Warren said, “I’ll let him have some fun early... but when crunch time rolls around, it will be time to play.’’
Clark will continue his basketball career at the University of Arkansas.
Along with his deadly outside shooting touch, Warren isn’t bashful when it comes to taking the ball to the rack. Just ask 6-foot-10-inch UCLA signee Bo Bo Morgan, who early in the team’s scrimmage got a face full of a Warren tomahawk dunk — sudden impact.
Warren says he will more than likely participate in the slam-dunk contest at 7 p.m. prior to the start of the Faith 7 game inside OBU’s Noble Complex.
“I ready give the fans a little taste of what they can expect from me,” said Warren.
He’s also ready to give Capel and the Sooners a taste of what he can do.
“It wasn’t a tough decision at all to leave the state of Texas for Oklahoma,” said Warren. “The way that coach Capel wants to win and the system he runs seems like the perfect fit for me. After watching them last season and in the tournament, I was really ready to get up there. I hope I can be the piece of the puzzle that gets us even further next year.”
Capel and the Sooner clan are hoping for the same thing — sudden impact.