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Oklahoma Basketball: Sooners’ Five Best NCAA Tournament Years

By Chip Rouse

Mar 11, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lon Kruger reacts to a call in the first half against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the Big 12 Conference tournament at Sprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 11, 2016; Kansas City, MO, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lon Kruger reacts to a call in the first half against the West Virginia Mountaineers during the Big 12 Conference tournament at Sprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 26, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; A member of the Oklahoma Sooners spirit squad cheers for the team in a break in action against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the second half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 26, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; A member of the Oklahoma Sooners spirit squad cheers for the team in a break in action against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the second half at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /

1987-88 Oklahoma Sooners

The 1987-88 Oklahoma Sooners were 35-4 on the season and easily can be considered the greatest OU basketball team of all-time – at least they are in my mind. This team could run and shoot with any team in the game at that time, and it averaged 102 points per game.

The starting five included three All-Americans (Stacy King, Mookie Blaylock and Harvey Grant), who also became NBA draft picks.

The Sooners were the Big Eight champions and the No. 1 seed in the Southeast Region that season. Ironically, the second-place team in the conference that year were the Kansas State Wildcats, coached at the time by current Sooner head coach Lon Kruger.

Oklahoma beat UT Chattanooga and Auburn in its opening two games of the tournament, and turned away Louisville and Villanova the following weekend to become Southeast Region champions. In the wins over Chattanooga, Auburn and Louisville, the Sooners averaged 103 points per game.

The Sooners kept their national championship hopes alive by defeating Arizona in the national semifinals, when sent them to the national championship game against No. 6-seeded Kansas, a team that Oklahoma defeated twice in the regular season.

To be perfectly candid, the national championship game that season appeared to be almost a slam dunk for the heavily favored Sooners. The matchup couldn’t have been more favorable for Oklahoma, only Kansas All-American Danny Manning and his unsung teammates weren’t buying what the media were saying about this game.

The Jayhawks ran with and often by the up-tempo Sooners and forged a 50-50 halftime deadlock. In the second half, it was Oklahoma and not Kansas that appeared to be the fatigued team. The Jayhawks seized a second-half advantage and held off OU down the stretch to claim an 83-79 upset over the Sooners and win the school’s then-second national championship.

It was one of those inexplicable games that happen more than most teams would like to admit. If the 1987-88 NCAA Championship had been played as a best of seven series between OU and Kansas, the Sooners would, in all likelihood, have come out on top. But it wasn’t and they didn’t, and that’s the way it is…and was.

Next: 1946-47 Oklahoma Sooners

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