All-time Oklahoma March Madness starting lineup
By Josh Yourish
Small Forward: Blake Griffin
I told you the front court was loaded. I’m cheating a bit by putting Blake Griffin at the three, but eventually, he did develop an outside game on the NBA, so maybe he could have adapted for a tournament run with this all-time team of Sooners.
Griffin only needed two seasons in Norman to cement himself as a legend. In the 2008 NCAA Tournament, he underwhelmed as a freshman with just 12 points and four rebounds in the first round against St. Joe’s and only eight points and seven boards in a Round of 32 loss to Louisville.
Griffin came back with a vengeance, winning every major award as the National Player of the Year and taking Jeff Capel’s Oklahoma team to the Regional Final against UNC in the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
In those four games, Griffin averaged 28.5 points and 15 rebounds and shot 77.9% from the field. It’s one of the most dominant and efficient March Madness runs in history and resulted in Griffin being the first overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft to the Los Angeles Clippers.