Buddy Hield’s 2016 Sooners feel impossible to repeat

The Oklahoma Sooners will never be historically known for excellence in men's basketball -- although they certainly have had their years of glory. Despite that truth, only 18 schools have made more NCAA Tournament appearances than Oklahoma's 34 trips to the tournament, and only 16 have been to the Final Four more times than the Sooners.

Oklahoma boasts five different teams in five different decades that have made it as far as the Final Four. The last Sooner team to make to the final weekend of the college basketball season was in 2016, a team that wasn't even the best in its conference, but will go down as one of the best in Oklahoma men's basketball history.

The 2015-16 OU men's team, coached by Lon Kruger and led by Bahamas native son and resident basketball sharpshooter Buddy Hield, won 31 games, including 14 in a row to start the season, and lost just eight times.

The 2015-16 Oklahoma team was honored this past weekend and Hield's No. 24 jersey number was retired in a ceremony during the Sooners' game against Texas A&M. Hield became the sixth player in OU men's basketball history to have his jersey retired. The others are Alvan Adams (33, 1972-75), Wayman Tisdale (23, 1982-85), Stacey King (33, 1985-89), Mookie Blaylock (10, 1987-89) and Blake Griffin (23, 2007-09).

2015-16 OU Final Four team honored as Buddy Hield's number retired

Perhaps the hallmark game of the season for both Hield and the Sooners was a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown between top-ranked Kansas and Oklahoma early in the conference schedule at a frenzied and packed-to-the-gills Allen Fieldhouse on the KU campus. The Sooners entered the game undefeated at 14-0 following the team's best start in nearly three decades.

Kansas led by 11 points twice in the first half, but Hield led an 18-3 Oklahoma run to close out the half and gave the Sooners a 44-40 advantage at the intermission. OU widened its halftime lead to 10 early in the second half, but the Jayhawks stormed back to keep it close the rest of the half. The game was tied 77-77 at the end of regulation, and as it turned out, the real drama and fireworks were still ahead.

The two teams battled through three overtimes before Kansas emerged with a 109-106 victory. Hield finished the game with a career-best 46 points, including eight three-pointers over 54 (out of a game total of 55) minutes of action.

Oklahoma averaged right at 80 points a game that season with a starting lineup that featured four starters who averaged over 10 points a game and had made 104 consecutive starts together over three full seasons. The starting five of Hield, Ryan Spangler, Khadeem Lattin, Isaiah Cousins and Jordan Woodward started 37 of 39 games in the 2015-16 season.

Lasting proof that a group that plays that many games together and has the experience of three full years playing side by side is capable of doing some exceptional things. And, of course, it helps greatly to have a superstar as part of the group. That kind of comaraderie and multi-year experience together doesn't exist today because of the moveability and free agency afforded by the Transfer Portal.

Hield finished his fourth and final season at Oklahoma leading the country in points scored (945) and was second in scoring average (25.0 per game) and sixth nationally in three-point percentage (.457) as the National Player of the Year.

He joined Oklahoma in 2012 out of Sunrise Academy in Wichita, Kansas, choosing the Sooners over blue-blood Kansas. He averaged 7.8 points his freshman season and his shooting touch and scoring average got progressively better all four seasons he was in Norman.

Just about everybody believed Hield would declare for the NBA after his junior season, but he elected to stay, telling Kruger, "I can do better. I can have a better foundation. I just knew it just wasn't the right decision for me (leaving early for the NBA). I had to be smart and be wise and make the right choices."

The rest is history. And what a senior season it turned out to be both for Hield and and the Sooners. Oklahoma was awarded a No. 2 seed in the 2016 NCAA Men's Tournament and powered through three rounds and three opponents before defeating No. 1 seed Oregon 80-68 in the West Regional final to earn a coveted spot in the Final Four.

Hield scored 27, 36, 17 and 37 points, respectively, in the four wins that sent the Sooners to the Final Four that season. Unfortunately, the OU consensus All-American and Player of the Year was held to just nine points in a humbling 44-point national semifinal loss to eventual national champion Villanova, ending the Oklahoma dream season.

The player who affectionately became known as "Buddy Buckets" when he played at Oklahoma finished his career as the Sooners' second all-time leading scorer with 2,291 career points behind only Wayman Tisdale's 2,661.

Kruger called Hield the best player he ever coached in college. And that's saying something considering Kruger spent 35 years in college coaching, including 10 at Oklahoma.

Following the 2015-16 season, Hield was a first-round NBA draft selection of the New Orleans Pelicans with the sixth overall pick. He is now in his 10th NBA season and with the Atlanta Hawks as his sixth NBA team.