For Oklahoma, familiarity is in its corner.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

MIAMI _ Oklahoma had just lost by seven at Kansas on Jan. 19, its first loss in 14 games, but Sooners coach Kelvin Sampson hardly sounded like he was in awe of the Jayhawks. After all, high-octane Kansas scored only 74 points against the Sooners, 20 shy of its nation-leading average.

"We lost at their place, but if we played them at Oklahoma's Lloyd Noble Center, I think we'd beat them, and at a neutral site ...," Sampson paused and winked, "We'll see."

We saw, all right.

On March 10, in the Big 12 championship game, the fourth-ranked Sooners brought the top-ranked Jayhawks' breakneck pace to a turtle's crawl, held the heralded Kansas backcourt to 15 …