All-time Oklahoma March Madness starting lineup
The Sooners are likely heading back to the NCAA Tournament in 2024, and anyone on this year's team could instantly become an OU legend with a run through March and join these players. These are Oklahoma's best March Madness performers at each position.
By Josh Yourish
March is right around the corner and in Porter Moser’s third season in Norman, and it appears he’ll finally be taking the Sooners to the big dance. Moser became very familiar with the NCAA Tournament at Loyola Chicago, and now he’ll need to acclimate himself to the role of a high major school, not the underdog.
Moser has a balanced team with a quality backcourt of Javian McCollum and Otega Oweh, and either one could become a legend in Norman with a run to the Sweet 16 or even further. That’s what Oklahoma legends like Buddy Hield, Aaron McGhee, and Stacey King did.
However, as a program that’s historically been loaded with frontcourt talent, it’s hard to fit all those players into the all-time March Madness starting five. Still, the biggest omission may have come in the backcourt.
Point Guard: Mookie Blaylock
Yes, it’s Blaylock, not Trae Young at point guard. Trae Young’s season was incredibly dominant and historic at Oklahoma, but the wheels fell off for that team down the stretch and the season came to an anti-climactic end with a first-round tournament loss to Rhode Island. Young scored 28 with seven assists but turned the ball over six times.
Blaylock however, played nine tournament games in his two seasons on the floor at Oklahoma and in 1988 nearly won it all. In the ‘88 tournament, Blaylock averaged 13 points a game, but his No. 1 priority was feeding Stacey King and Harvey Grant in the front court. He averaged 6.3 assists as the team’s point guard, and 3.8 steals as the primary point of attack defender.
In the National Championship Game loss to Kansas, Blaylock finished with 14 points on 6/13 shooting and 2/4 from three, with four assists, five rebounds, and seven steals.
The next year, Blaylock was even better. He was named a consensus All-American and carried Oklahoma to the Sweet 16 with a 34-point outburst against Louisiana Tech in the second round of the tournament.