If you could add any OU player from the past to next years team who would you add?

[MJSooner]

Man, seems pretty obvious a lot on this board never got to see Wayman play in real life. Just watching highlights or Youtube videos doesn't do him justice. Even as a young teenager, I'll never forget the way he could play.

Quickest release you've ever seen. And as @WaymanFan posted, was doubled every play and even tripled on the catch. But still averaged 26-28 PPG, and played in a day where guys weren't going to the line 8-10 times a game. In today's game, add another 4-5 per game from the line. Even though he was considered playing on the blocks, he could also face up and had a nice little face up game from 12-14 feet. Most of all, he ran the floor as well as any PF/C I've seen. Maybe not as athletic as Blake, but Wayman had his share of fast break points and dunks, too.

His game would be very well in today's game because of the three point line. Teams wouldn't be able to double and triple team him. It would have created a lot more space on the floor. Can only imagine how many more assists he would have had, and how many more points TMac would have had with the three point line. Would have grabbed more boards too. IMO, would have averaged 30 and 10.

Not trying to undersell the year Blake had on the Elite 8 run. Or Buddy's FF year. They were special and glad I got to be there for them. But Wayman was in a different class even with the great names from his era. Still the only freshman 3 time All American and the greatest player in OU history.

GIve me Wayman any day as the top pick.

 

[CMSOONER]

Blake and TY would have given the rest of the NCAA nightmares.

 

[SoonerMagic21]

absolutely.

Blake makes the natty if we don't get placed with UNC.

Buddy Elite 8 was unguardable!

Fears at PG...

WILD!

If we win a couple more games and don’t get a two seed…..

 

[SoonerMagic21]

Blake Griffin was an absolute force of nature. With better coaching and a better draw, we win a natty. I feel like Willie Warren had an underrated career at OU. He may be one of the greatest “What could have been” at OU

 

[skyvue]

Wayman, without a doubt. And given the makeup of our team during Moser's tenure, Adams would be a good choice. Blake, too, of course, but I'm reaching back to counter the recency bias I'm seeing here. I'm amazed how few have mentioned Wayman and how many are dismissing him.

 

[Eielson]

The only right answers are Blake or Wayman. Your answer is a pretty clear dividing line of age on this board.

If we were picking somebody who didn't have an NBA career, Hollis. A big would be hard to pass on, though, so guys like McGhee, Taj, and Osby come to mind. Given our track record with bigs, I'd imagine we'll all be saying "if we just had a league average center."

 

[WaymanFan]

The only right answers are Blake or Wayman. Your answer is a pretty clear dividing line of age on this board.

If we were picking somebody who didn't have an NBA career, Hollis. A big would be hard to pass on, though, so guys like McGhee, Taj, and Osby come to mind. Given our track record with bigs, I'd imagine we'll all be saying "if we just had a league average center."

Again, it's subjective...and I don't want to dismiss Alvan Adams just because so few saw him play. He averaged 23 points and 13 rebounds in his three years at OU, playing on teams that weren't good enough to make the Dance. I do like your idea of coming up with the best player who didn't play in the NBA. I'm guessing most would pick Hollis or Ryan Minor. The argument for Hollis is he simply made noticeable improvements each year while leading OU to a Final Four and an Elite Eight. The argument against him was that he had some of his worst games in those NCAA Tournament losses. The argument for Ryan Minor was facilitating the transition from Tubbs to Sampson while being the Big 8 Player of the Year as a junior. The argument against him was his play fell off a bit as a senior, and he never won an NCAA Tournament game.

Let's say next year's team needed a low-post defensive presence (we'd all pick Mookie as our best on-ball defender) more than anything else. Who would we pick for that? Clifford Ray? Harvey Grant? Someone else?

 

[cowboysooner]

waymon with my first pick

My starters: Waymon, blake, buddy, mookie and fears

Key backups inside: King, grant, spangler and najera

Key backups wing: Reaves, hollis, skeeter, erdman

Backup points: Trae and q white

Thoughts: With fears at point what would buddy average, mookie best defender ever, inside and outside scoring

 

[ousooners1baby]

I do enjoy these look-back posts. I so enjoyed Corey Brewer. I loved what Wayman could do. Magical like Mike. But it is Blake in todays game. A force that could not be denied, attacker of the rim and playmaker too.

 

[BoulderSooner]

I do enjoy these look-back posts. I so enjoyed Corey Brewer. I loved what Wayman could do. Magical like Mike. But it is Blake in todays game. A force that could not be denied, attacker of the rim and playmaker too.

loved corey brewer

 

[daqman]

at this point...i would settle for nolan johnson

 

[lexusooner]

I’m taking Wayman every single time. Blakes a very tempting option. But he’s no Wayman.
I’m tired of watching us get killed at the rim.
People can say what they want about Wayman but he led the 84 Olympic gold medal team in rebounding and there wasn’t a time in his 3 year Sooners career that we got dominated in the paint. With Wayman down there all our 3 point shooters get open shots.
His ability to score was unworldly and he protected the rim and rebounded.
Plus his smile and style created a lot of energy. He was magical.

 

[daqman]

I’m taking Wayman every single time. Blakes a very tempting option. But he’s no Wayman.
I’m tired of watching us get killed at the rim.
People can say what they want about Wayman but he led the 84 Olympic gold medal team in rebounding and there wasn’t a time in his 3 year Sooners career that we got dominated in the paint. With Wayman down there all our 3 point shooters get open shots.
His ability to score was unworldly and he protected the rim and rebounded.
Plus his smile and style created a lot of energy. He was magical.

does 1985 ...memphis...keith lee ring any bells?

 

[Sooner Season]

If you say anyone besides Wayman Tisdale, you are smoking crack.

There, fixed it for you!!

 

[Sooner Season]

It's obviously subjective so there are no wrong answers. Wayman was not strong defensively, but he could rebound and block shots. Offensively, no OU player before or since ever had to deal with triple-team coverage at times like he did. He's simply the best player in OU history - and unlike football, OU has a hoops player with a major award attached to his name. The "Wayman Tisdale Award" is given annually to the nation's best freshman. Wayman was the first-ever freshman to be selected as a 1st team AP All-American. Granted, freshmen could not play prior to 1972, but here is a sampling of guys playing college hoops the year Wayman was selected as freshman All-American - Michael Jordan, Hakeen Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler, Patrick Ewing, Charles Barkley, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Chris Mullins, and on and on and on.

Blake Griffin's sophomore year was as good as any accomplishments Wayman had, though against far weaker competition. Yes, Stephen Curry and James Harden were playing at the same time, but the guys I listed in the prior paragraph dwarf the competition Blake had to go up against. Tyler Hansbrough was considered one of the two or three best players in college basketball in 2009, but doubt he'd be in the top 50 when Wayman was playing.

One other guy I'd mention is Alvan Adams. I was a bit young when he was playing at OU, but would love to hear about how great he was from those who remember his college years.

Totally agree with this post and I also was a little after Alvan Adams but all you need to say is 28 rebounds in one game!!

 

[skyvue]

Totally agree with this post and I also was a little after Alvan Adams but all you need to say is 28 rebounds in one game!!

I don't usually bring pro careers up in discussions like this, but just this once:

Selected by the Phoenix Suns in the 1975 draft, he was the NBA Rookie of the Year after helping the Suns to their first-ever appearance in the NBA Finals. Adams scored a total of 13,910 points with the Suns and is the career leader in games played (988), minutes played (27,203), rebounds (6,937), and steals (1,289). In 1988 the Suns retired his number, 33, and in 1999 he was honored as center on the "Suns of the Century First Team" and is a member of their "Ring of Honor." He was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.

 

[cowboysooner]

Forgot about Corey Brewer, loved that guy. He gets honorable mention for me. When you really start thinking back, and you have been watching OU forever, you realize we have had a ton of good players. Ray Whitley, Stotts and McCullough during Bliss (only OU coach I have completely disliked), tons during tubbs, including Mark Price, David Johnson, William Davis, Jones, Webster (I could go on). Sampson has Taj Grey, everett and others, Capel had crocker in addition to Blake and Taylor, Lon had some besides Reeves and Buddy (Cousins was really good).

We have had more than our share of good to really good players. Lets hope Trae's involvement opens the gate to a few more superstars in the years to come.

 

[dahlly]

As great as Blake was he wasn't the same kind of rim protector as Wayman. Diving deep to pick holes, but rim protection (Wayman average twice the amount of blocks per game) and FT% would give the edge to Wayman, IMO.

But if we are talking about Moser's 5 out or 4:1 offense, could make a strong case for Buddy, Brent Price, Ryan Minor, Stacy King, Eduardo... all guys that could put the ball on the floor at least a bit, get to the rim, shoot, decent at FTs, and physical enough to grab a board. All add toughness and leadership.

Crap, at this point, I would take TIer 2 guys like Spang, Harvey Grant, TMac, or Ace in this offense. They could be difference makers, too.

really apples to oranges. The 3P line didn't even exist for Wayman in college, vastly more drives, more opportunities for blocks, and different style of play.

in the NBA when he played in a more spaced out game with a 3P line, he average 0.6 BPG, same as Blake with a high of 1.1 once, and Blake hit 1.2 twice. I could also say Blake is a far superior passer if you compare assist numbers.

 

[CMSOONER]

Forgot about Corey Brewer, loved that guy. He gets honorable mention for me. When you really start thinking back, and you have been watching OU forever, you realize we have had a ton of good players. Ray Whitley, Stotts and McCullough during Bliss (only OU coach I have completely disliked), tons during tubbs, including Mark Price, David Johnson, William Davis, Jones, Webster (I could go on). Sampson has Taj Grey, everett and others, Capel had crocker in addition to Blake and Taylor, Lon had some besides Reeves and Buddy (Cousins was really good).

We have had more than our share of good to really good players. Lets hope Trae's involvement opens the gate to a few more superstars in the years to come.

Showing my age, but as middle schooler/highschooler Corey Brewer was one of my first favorite Sooners. There mas Minor, Erdmann and then there was Brewer. Those mid to late 90's-2000 teams were where it really all started. For some reason this memory sticks with me, he was the first person I ever saw with a brand tattoo and I thought that was so cool. And loved his game, such a prolific all around scorer and well rounded player. And he was a good defender. If he was in college today, he would be an NBA player. Not just a second rounder who never played an NBA minute.

 

[MJSooner]

really apples to oranges. The 3P line didn't even exist for Wayman in college, vastly more drives, more opportunities for blocks, and different style of play.

in the NBA when he played in a more spaced out game with a 3P line, he average 0.6 BPG, same as Blake with a high of 1.1 once, and Blake hit 1.2 twice. I could also say Blake is a far superior passer if you compare assist numbers.

Curious, did you actually see Wayman play? Fortunately I was a pre-teen/young teen and got to see him in person a few times and of course on TV.

Yeah, you are correct, the game was more different. With no 3 point line, teams packed it in more in the paint. More teams played zone. There were less drives as teams put two on the blocks, or baseline, two wings on the FT line extended and a PG. There were less free drives as the game was more physical and more congestion in the paint. And Blake may have averaged more APG, but he also averaged over 5 points less per game. True apples to oranges.

BTW, we aren't comparing pro games or asking which pro game we would rather have from a classic player. If that was the case, one would pick Austin Reaves, Harvey Grant, Brent Price, or Mookie over Wayman.

The reality is neither is the wrong answer but it appears Wayman's game isn't truly appreciated as to how great he was in college as many are too young.