2001-02 Oklahoma Sooners
Kelvin Sampson coached 12 seasons at Oklahoma and took 11 of those teams to the NCAA Tournament, the most of any Sooner men’s coach. The best of those 11 OU NCAA Tournament teams was Sampson’s 2001-02 team.
The Sooners forged a 24-4 regular season mark and defeated Kansas to win the Big 12 Conference Tournament. The Jayhawks were 18-0 against conference opponents that season. it was Oklahoma’s second of three consecutive Big 12 postseason tournament championships.
Oklahoma was led that season by junior guard Hollis Price and senior forward Aaron McGhee, but also had a solid support cast in forward Ebi Ere and Price’s backcourt mate Quannas White.
The Sooners were awarded a No. 2 seed and sent to the West Region in the 2002 NCAA Tournament. OU rolled through its first two tournament games, defeating Illinois-Chicago and Xavier on the first weekend. In the Sweet 16 round, the Sooners knocked off a good Arizona team 88-67, and then eliminated fellow Big 12 team Missouri by six points, 81-75 in the West Region final.
The regional championship win over Missouri punched the Sooners’ ticket to their fourth Final Four appearance in school history.
In one of the two national semifinal games that season, Oklahoma was paired with Indiana out of the Big Ten. The Sooners held a 34-30 lead at the half, but were unable to hold off the No. 5-seeded Hoosiers in the second 20 minutes, falling 71-64 despite a 22-point performance by McGhee.
In the other national semifinal, Big 12 regular-season champion Kansas suffered a similar fate, losing 97-88 to eventual national champion Maryland. Oklahoma and Kansas fans were hopeful of a rematch of the 1987-88 national championship game between the two schools, but that hope died in the national semifinals.
Next: 1984-85 Oklahoma Sooners