OU #8 of the Last 31 Years

[DSMok1]

Basketball Reference has been running a feature on the last 31 years and the top 31 programs in that time. OU comes in at #8, using their pure computer rankings:

http://www.basketball-reference.com/blog/?p=8212

8. Oklahoma Sooners (+15.53 SRS)

Record: 710-303 (.701)
Prominent Coaches: Billy Tubbs, Kelvin Sampson
Best NCAA Finish: Lost NCAA Final (1988)

Think Oklahoma is just a football school? Think again. Ever since Billy Tubbs took over in 1981, the Sooners have boomed their way to 22 NCAA tournament appearances, 695 wins (23 per season), and 2 Final Fours, including a run to the 1988 NCAA final against Kansas. Tubbs' successors, Kelvin Sampson and Jeff Capel have carried the torch as well; despite the way he departed, Sampson racked up ten 20-win seasons, while Capel promptly rode Blake Griffin to 30 wins in his 3rd year at the helm.

OU is in good company: ahead of Syracuse and Louisville over that time, right behind Indiana and Arizona.

 

[skyvue]

I'll handle this for our aggie friends:

But how many NCAA titles did OU win in the 1940s? Huh?

 

[BigTime]

Makes me proud. :clap

We need to get back to where we belong as a program. I hope this group can get us back on track.

 

[qwertyqaz]

It's really remarkable when you step back and take a look at our basketball legacy. Can you imagine an outside observer looking at the top ten sequentially:

"Duke-yep, UNC-yep, Kansas-yep, UK-yep, Illinois-I can see that, Arizona-sure, Indiana-yep, Oklahoma-HUH?!?!?!??, Syracuse-yep, Louisville-yep..."


Be proud good people...be proud.

:OUbball-logo:

 

[stoops4pres]

We have to be the best program to never have won a title (and I'm not saying I'm proud of it, just generally speaking).

That fortunate 1988 win for KU makes me even more mad now... I'll just stop.

 

[OUsky]

Thank you:billy and Sampson..... mods no pick of Calvin?

 

[Max Power]

Thank you:billy and Sampson..... mods no pick of Kelvin?

FIFY

 

[OUsky]

That was a joke for no respect Sampson has received over the years.

 

[DenverSooner]

It's really remarkable when you step back and take a look at our basketball legacy. Can you imagine an outside observer looking at the top ten sequentially:

"Duke-yep, UNC-yep, Kansas-yep, UK-yep, Illinois-I can see that, Arizona-sure, Indiana-yep, Oklahoma-HUH?!?!?!??, Syracuse-yep, Louisville-yep..."


Be proud good people...be proud.

:OUbball-logo:

Outsiders get it. Our problem is insiders and local media. People on the east and west coast are fully aware of OU basketball. People in Arizona know they have been owned by OU over the last 30 years.

 

[SoonerDAZE]

Outsiders get it. Our problem is insiders and local media. People on the east and west coast are fully aware of OU basketball. People in Arizona know they have been owned by OU over the last 30 years.

Very interesting insight Denver. That's very refreshing to hear, IMO! It also makes some sense, since anyone living 2-3 hours away from Norman, gets bombarded with OU football and it's wonderful legacy. Around here, there's simply not enough room for OU basketball respect. At least not year around respect.

 

[suncoastsooner]

We have to be the best program to never have won a title (and I'm not saying I'm proud of it, just generally speaking).

That fortunate 1988 win for KU makes me even more mad now... I'll just stop.

I didn't think Illinois and KState had won titles... The three of us would be right there as the argument but we aren't clearly the best.

 

[NMSooner'80]

Outsiders get it. Our problem is insiders and local media. People on the east and west coast are fully aware of OU basketball. People in Arizona know they have been owned by OU over the last 30 years.

Yep, gotta keep the non-OU crowd appeased in the state by marginalizing OU men's basketball. There was 'net scuttlebutt, on that day a couple of years ago when OU was ranked way above OSU in all-time programs since the tournament expanded to 64 teams, that a certain DOK columnist heard about it and immediately wanted to debunk that ranking.

 

[Max Power]

I didn't think Illinois and KState had won titles... The three of us would be right there as the argument but we aren't clearly the best.

Illinois Has, it was just back in 1915

 

[suncoastsooner]

Illinois Has, it was just back in 1915

I meant real titles... that was before they even had the NIT much less the NCAA tourny.

 

[Max Power]

I meant real titles... that was before they even had the NIT much less the NCAA tourny.

I know, i was just being a smart a@#

 

[qwertyqaz]

Outsiders get it. Our problem is insiders and local media. People on the east and west coast are fully aware of OU basketball. People in Arizona know they have been owned by OU over the last 30 years.

I should have been more specific--when I'm referring to "outsiders" I'm not talking about geographically--I'm talking about people without more than a cursory or passing knowledge of College basketball. Clearly anyone who knows more than a moderate amount about CBB knows of OU's legacy, but virtually any common Joe can tell you "Duke, Kentucky, Indiana" and the like are great college basketball programs.

 

[DenverSooner]

I should have been more specific--when I'm referring to "outsiders" I'm not talking about geographically--I'm talking about people without more than a cursory or passing knowledge of College basketball. Clearly anyone who knows more than a moderate amount about CBB knows of OU's legacy, but virtually any common Joe can tell you "Duke, Kentucky, Indiana" and the like are great college basketball programs.

OU's problem is its own fans. We do not insist that people respect our program and many of us don't respect our program. I truly believe the biggest challenge for OU basketball is correcting the perception in Oklahoma that OU basketball is somehow second to OSU and in some minds third to OSU and Tulsa. That simply is not an accurate perception but it exists.