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Oklahoma basketball: Sooners’ Top-Eight NBA Draft picks

By Chip Rouse

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 04: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks to the media prior to the start of the NBA 2K League Draft at Madison Square Garden on April 4, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 04: NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks to the media prior to the start of the NBA 2K League Draft at Madison Square Garden on April 4, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /
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30 Nov 1994: Center Wayman Tisdale of the Phoenix Suns drives to the basket during a game against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The Bulls won the game 93-82. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Daniel /Allsport
30 Nov 1994: Center Wayman Tisdale of the Phoenix Suns drives to the basket during a game against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The Bulls won the game 93-82. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Daniel /Allsport /

No. 1 – Wayman Tisdale, Forward, 1982-85

Wayman Tisdale was arguably the greatest player to play basketball at the University of Oklahoma. A three-time consensus All-American, Tisdale was the first player in collegiate basketball history to be named a first-team All-American by the Associated Press in his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons.

The career scoring leader at Oklahoma by a wide margin (2,661), Tisdale led the Sooners to back-to-back Big Eight championships in 1983-84 and 1984-85. He was named Big Eight Player of the Year all three seasons he played at OU.

Tisdale left school after his junior season and was the No. 2 overall draft pick of the Indiana Pacers in 1985 (Patrick Ewing was the No. 1 overall pick that season). He played three and a half seasons with the Pacers before he was traded in February 1989 to the Sacramento Kings. He spent six seasons in Sacramento; and three more seasons playing for the Phoenix Suns before retiring after the 1996-97 season.

In 12 NBA seasons, Tisdale averaged 15.1 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. His best NBA season was 1989-90, when he averaged 22.3 points and 7.5 rebounds in 79 games for Sacramento.

Tisdale died in 2009, at the age of 44, after a two-year battle with cancer. That same year, he was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

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