NORMAN, Okla. -- Flash back to 1982 and take a seat next to Kelvin Sampson as his Montana Tech team bus pulls out of Butte and into yet another blizzard-filled, 300-mile road trip.

Watch him use athletic tape to replace the bus' broken door; eat a pregame meal of Mountain Dew and potato chips after the bus' brakes freeze and the team arrives 20 minutes before tipoff. Watch the players urinate into soda bottles on the trip home, as it's too risky to stop the rickety bus. Plus, it's a pain to remove all that tape from the door.

	Don't expect Kelvin Sampson to tone it down just because OU reached the Final Four last season.

Ask Sampson how he's elevated Oklahoma to college basketball's highest echelon and he'll point to his time coaching at Montana Tech -- an NAIA school on the doorstep of college basketball oblivion.

"Starting off where I did, you have to form an identity," says Sampson, who's entering his ninth year as OU's head coach. "We were less talented, we didn't have the resources, and we weren't going to win on ability."

There's no doubt, Sampson has talent this year. Coming off a Final Four season, Sampson returns four starters from a 31-5 team, and his guard trio of Hollis Price, Quannas White and Ebi Ere ranks among the nation's elite.

But don't think Sampson's team will play like a talent-laden favorite. The reason the Sooners should top college basketball this preseason is that they play with the sharp elbows, floor-burned knees and loose-ball fervor typically associated with underdogs.

The same gritty identity that defined Sampson's teams at Montana Tech resonates with his Oklahoma teams today.

"Just because we made the Final Four," says Sampson, "doesn't mean that I'm going to run my layup lines any different."

Flash forward to a sunny October Monday as Sampson sits courtside at the Sooners' $17-million practice facility. Even with a Final Four banner hanging on the wall and amidst the practice facility's plush surroundings, Sampson has no trouble finding ways to keep his team grounded.

He stops mid-sentence of an interview when he spots a bottle of Gatorade sitting on the ground next to White while the team stretches in a circle at mid-court.

"Whose Gatorade is that?

"Managers, take the Gatorade. Now.

"What is this? The NBA? We take the Gatorade to stretching? C'mon."

He snaps back to the interview.

"What was I saying? Oh yeah. I'm not interested in being pretty. I'm not interested in being sexy. I want to win."

Sampson's still calling soft players "prima donnas" and out-of-control freshmen "deer on ice." He's still sending his players crashing to the floor on loose ball drills and flying to the rim during rebounding drills -- just like he did at Montana Tech.

"Coach Sampson always talks about not forgetting where you come from," says Price. "He always reminds of us the new stuff we have -- the new locker room, film room and facilities. He'll bring us to the old ones and says, 'Don't forget the work ethic that made you get here, son.'"

Sampson's eight consecutive NCAA appearances have helped fuel the million-dollar upgrades. He's reached The Dance by establishing an unprecedented level of toughness in his program. So, even without departed senior Aaron McGhee (16.0 ppg, 7.7 rpg), OU's best player down the stretch last season, don't expect the Sooners to lose their grit.

Coaches around the Big 12 don't, and they saw Sampson's breakthrough to the Final Four last season as something long deserved.

"We played them in the preseason NIT last year, and I've never played against a team that plays harder than his team," says Michigan State coach Tom Izzo. "Kelvin has the cornerstone on toughness right now. His teams play harder than anyone else in the country."

	“	I've never played against a team that plays harder than his team. Kelvin has the cornerstone on toughness right now. His teams play harder than anyone else in the country. ”
		— Tom Izzo, Michigan State head coach

Missouri head coach Quin Snyder credits the 84-71 whipping Sampson's team put on the Tigers in Norman last January for giving his team a palpable example of how tough they'd need to be in the Big 12. Though the Tigers' season ended with a loss to OU one game from the Final Four, Snyder actually credits the Sooners for propelling his over achieving team.

"At the end of the year last year, we were in a different place because of that loss in Norman," says Snyder. "Our whole team was knocked back, but that's what enabled us to get to the Elite Eight. Our team was seasoned from getting hit in the face a few times."

Sampson builds his team's hallmark grittiness through what he calls a three-pronged attack. Through mutual respect, shared trust and two-way communication, Sampson breaks down his players and builds them back even stronger.

Former OU assistant Jason Rabedeaux recalls the image of Eduardo Najera slumped over crying after a practice, wondering if he's good enough, tough enough. Sampson pushes his stars, like Najera, harder than anyone else. Sampson pushes his best players to be his hardest workers, a role that Price has embraced this season.

But while Sampson disparages, needles and barks at his players, he's also careful to show them an equal amount of love. If Sampson pushes a player in practice, it's a sure bet that he's on the phone with the player that night, explaining why he's challenging them. He also is known to take a ride in the country, go out for a burger or invite a player over to watch Remember the Titans on DVD.

"He puts in the time and shows you why he's on you so hard on you." says OU center Jabahri Brown, "He lets you know why he's shouting at you more than everyone else."

Even with Brown and his 5.7 rebounds per game returning, the holes on the frontline remain Sampson's primary concern headed into this season. Along with McGhee, OU will miss the energy and rebounding that Daryan Selvy brought from the bench.

Expect 6-foot-8 sequoia Kevin Bookout, a 260-pound true freshman that's 19 going on 29, to fill in for much of that void. From there, the capable trio of 6-9 Jozsef Szendrei, 6-8 Johnnie Gilbert and 6-9 Matt Gipson will fill in the blanks. If, that is, they toughen up to Sampson's standard.

"In the frontcourt," says Sampson, "we need to meaner, nastier and more physical."

There's little doubt that they will, and in the process emerge as one of the nation's best teams. While this Oklahoma team won't likely be dining on potato chips or peeing in soda bottles on the road, they'll still play like Sampson's teams that did.

Pete Thamel is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com and ESPN Magazine. He's based in Bartlesville, Okla., where he's writing a book about NAIA basketball. His e-mail is vpthamel@yahoo.com.