Oklahoma Basketball: All-Time Sooners Men’s Basketball Team
By Chip Rouse
Mar 27, 2015; Syracuse, NY, USA; The Oklahoma Sooners cheerleader perform during the second half against the Michigan State Spartans in the semifinals of the east regional of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at Carrier Dome. Michigan State won 62-58. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Who are the top four players in Oklahoma basketball history at all five positions? We’ve saved you the trouble and put together that all-time list for you.
It’s not at all unusual for a school considered one of the elite college football brands to lack the same recognition in basketball. Over the long history of the University of Oklahoma, football has always been the lead horse, but basketball has had its years in the national spotlight and its fair share of individual stars who have gone on to play at the next level.
The Sooners have been playing varsity basketball for over 100 years (the first season was in 1907-08), but the vast majority of Oklahoma’s success in hoops has occurred over the past three-plus decades.
Oklahoma has made 29 appearances in the NCAA Basketball Tournament, making it as far as the national championship game in 1947 before falling to Holy Cross. The Sooners have never won a national championship in basketball. OU has made it as far as the Final Four just four times in its history, and twice to the national title game (1947 and 1988).
Of the Sooners 29 trips to the Big Dance, all but four have happened since 1983.
Forty-six former Oklahoma players have been selected in the NBA draft, 28 of those coming since 1980, including the Sooners’ only No. 1 overall pick, Blake Griffin, in 2009.
We’ve gone four deep at each position in identifying Oklahoma’s All-Time Basketball Best at all five positions. Here they are, beginning with the Fourth-Team Forwards:
Next: Eduardo Najera (1996-2000), Fourth Team Forward