Sterling Taplin has big plans for his senior season at Tulsa

It’s not that Sterling Taplin necessarily thinks of himself as an old man now. But his arrival in Tulsa seems to him like ages ago.

“I was a little kid then,” said Taplin.

Taplin, a 6-foot-1 senior point guard, has now matured into the undisputed leader of the team, and is Tulsa’s best player. When he is playing well, Tulsa is a tough team to handle. A prime example was TU’s 73-56 season-opening win over Alcorn State, where Taplin scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half to help the Hurricane pull away.

This season will be something of a legacy season for Taplin since he has a chance, with an outstanding season, to go down as one of the best point guards in Tulsa history. And a lot of that depends on how well the team does.

With Tulsa’s storied past, anything short of the NCAA tournament isn’t going to cut it.

“This team, we can win the conference championship, we can make it to the NCAA tournament, but we have to play as hard as we can each and every night,” Taplin said.

Certainly, Taplin’s game has grown tremendously since he got to Tulsa from the Buffalo area to join a team with nine seniors that had been to the NCAA and NIT in the two previous years. The 2016 Golden Hurricane was destined to go to the NCAA Tournament again.

Taplin gained valuable experience as a freshman, but didn’t have to do too much with players like Shaq Harrison and James “Juice” Woodard running things. Taplin wound up playing in 29 of 32 games that year, averaging 2.6 points in 9.8 minutes per game.

So it was a tough assignment in Taplin’s sophomore year when he and Pat Birt were the only experienced players left on a team with nine new scholarship players.

“We had all of those seniors graduate, so I became a veteran then. But I still wasn’t mature enough to become that leader that coach wanted,” Taplin said about TU coach Frank Haith. “And that’s how I became more mature in my junior year, and now in my senior year I feel like I can take on that role as a leader.

“It was a tough transition because I had to take on that veteran role and I had to help a bunch with the newcomers that were coming in. It was a challenge, but I took on the challenge.”

Tulsa finished 15-17 while Taplin averaged 9.2 points per game as a sophomore. As a junior last season, Taplin averaged 11.8 points while Tulsa finished 19-12.

As one of two senior scholarship players along with DaQuan Jeffries, Taplin not only feels more mature, but feels his overall game has improved significantly since coming to Tulsa.

“I think the main thing was, just developing my shot and my IQ, watching film more, seeing different plays, seeing what different scenarios I could have been part of, and seeing what I could have done better,” Taplin said of why he has improved. “Those are the big things for me.”

Haith knows better than anyone how important Taplin is to the Golden Hurricane.

“A senior point guard is like a senior quarterback,” Haith said. “If you’ve got one of those guys, it makes things a lot easier. When we had Shaq it was the same way. Having a veteran guy in that position is so vital in college basketball. He can help our coaching staff.”

Basketball isn’t the only adjustment for Taplin since coming to Tulsa from the Buffalo area. After all, Buffalo could never be mistaken for Tulsa.

“I miss home. I love Buffalo,” said Taplin, who got home last year for a total of six weeks. “It is just way different here, the culture is different, but I embrace it here. I love Oklahoma. But Buffalo will always be my home.”

The obvious difference is the weather, going from one of the coldest cities in the U.S. to a much warmer area.

“The toughest thing is when it gets to 105 degrees in the summer,” Taplin said. “That is the absolute worst, when you are out here and it is hot. But it made this team stronger. We became more of a team.”

So does Taplin really miss the cold?

“I don’t miss shoveling, because that’s a lot of work,” Taplin said. “I love the winter time, but they used to cancel school, cancel games. That’s when you really get bored, because you have to sit in the house because it’s below zero. You have to go out there once or twice because you have to shovel.”

Handling Tulsa’s academic rigor hasn’t been overly tough on Taplin since, after high school at Williamsville North, Taplin went to prep school at the challenging St. Thomas More in Oakdale, Connecticut. So he was used to being away from home.

Taplin is especially excited about this season because of the closeness of the team, as well as talented new players like Jeriah Horne, Zeke Moore, Chris Barnes and Simon Falokun.

“We’ve improved a lot on the court and off the court. Building team chemistry was the big thing, because chemistry goes a long way, and that can help us through adversity,” Taplin said. “It’s going to be a really exciting team to watch.

“All of the new players came in and caught on fast to everything. There wasn’t that much that we had to teach them. They are really good listeners, and they put it right to the floor. They are going to be a tremendous help to us this year.”

When asked what the biggest difference is this year for Taplin, he didn’t hesitate.

“I’m way more composed. I’m more patient,” Taplin explained. “Last year I was sometimes in a rush, and that was the one thing I had to get rid of in my game.”

Tulsa is off to a 2-0 start after convincing wins over Alcorn State and South Carolina State, and Taplin thinks the fans will continue to enjoy the 2018-2019 Golden Hurricane.

“It’s going to be exciting,” Taplin described. “Run and gun.”

Tulsa matches up with 2-0 California Baptist on Friday at noon.This is Cal Baptist’s first season as a Division I member, and they are coming off of a 70-69 win over Oral Roberts.