OU hoops trivia related to our recent football opponent

[NMSooner'80]

OU played Illinois State in the 1985 NCAA tournament in Tulsa. One ISU player was a freshman on that roster. He wound up at OU four years later as a JC transfer. Can you name him?

Footnote: I thought about ISU because of something I remember hearing about second hand when OU played those two NCAA games in Tulsa. It was not nearly the homecourt advantage that people would have expected, because I heard that Tulsa fans showed up in droves to root against OU. We played NC A&T in the first round and struggled a little bit before winning by 13. OU then beat the Redbirds, one of the MVC's representatives in the "Big Dance" that year, by six to advance to the Sweet 16.

Did anyone else go to the game and experience trash talk from Tulsa fans? I do know that OU lost to TU up there in January before OU got it rolling in Big 8 play.

 

[MJSooner]

OU played Illinois State in the 1985 NCAA tournament in Tulsa. One ISU player was a freshman on that roster. He wound up at OU four years later as a JC transfer. Can you name him?

Footnote: I thought about ISU because of something I remember hearing about second hand when OU played those two NCAA games in Tulsa. It was not nearly the homecourt advantage that people would have expected, because I heard that Tulsa fans showed up in droves to root against OU. We played NC A&T in the first round and struggled a little bit before winning by 13. OU then beat the Redbirds, one of the MVC's representatives in the "Big Dance" that year, by six to advance to the Sweet 16.

Did anyone else go to the game and experience trash talk from Tulsa fans? I do know that OU lost to TU up there in January before OU got it rolling in Big 8 play.

Yep, I was there. Skipped school to go all day. The Mailman and La Tech were also there in Tulsa, as well as Johnny Orr and Iowa St.

From my memory, OU still had a significant home court advantage. It was a tight game, where we struggled in putting them away, but Wayman went off that game and dominated down the stretch. I want to say he had like 30. But living in Tulsa, ISU was good that year. Got to see them a couple of times against TU.

If anyone was rooting "against" OU, I'm not sure it was because TU fans showed up to root against us. Maybe some of the crowd were TU fans who were anti OU. They hated Billy, especially after he got tossed and vowed to never play in Tulsa again (was at that game too, at the Tulsa Convention Center). IIRC, there were still Iowa State fans there, as well as the fact that we were such a heavy favorite, not the most liked team in America, and everyone roots against the top seeds in that first weekend. But the Mabee Center was packed, and our fans were loud enough to be noticed down the stretch.

To your question, was it Pollard? Vaguely remember him at OU in '88. Remember he was from Chicago and had a weird injury at OU, but did cheat by looking at ISU's roster. LOL.

Nice post and recall!

 

[Sooner04]

I thought Art Pollard was on the '88 team?
Wouldn't NM's "four years later" caveat suggest a different player?
I attended an OU-TU BBall game at the BOK in (I think) December of 2007. I couldn't believe how much some of those Hurricane fans hated OU. Absolute beligerence.

 

[NMSooner'80]

I thought Art Pollard was on the '88 team?
Wouldn't NM's "four years later" caveat suggest a different player?
I attended an OU-TU BBall game at the BOK in (I think) December of 2007. I couldn't believe how much some of those Hurricane fans hated OU. Absolute beligerence.

It was Pollard. He was a true freshman that year, as was Tyrone Jones at KU. He had a redshirt year in there somewhere. Both of them were juniors at OU in '88.

My younger brother was at that Thursday night game with NC A&T back in '85. I think he was the one who mentioned that hostile anti-OU collection of blue-clad bozos at the Mabee Center, or it could have been something that came up on talk radio the next day.

Part of the story, as I recall, was that a couple of Tulsa fans put together a long sign that read, "Hey Sooners, Remember Jan. 9?" (the day of the loss to them in Tulsa) and walked the upper concourse at the Mabee Center with it. That wasn't exactly appreciated by the folks in red. The next day, Tulsa played UTEP in their own first-round game in Albuquerque at the Pit. The locals there came out in favor of the Miners that day, and they sent Nolan Richardson and Co. home with a season-ending loss. I heard after OU dispatched Illinois State by six that some OU fans got their revenge with a sign that read, "Hey Tulsa, Remember Yesterday?".

Back then, Tulsa and ISU were in the Mo Valley together. It made a teeny bit of sense that the TU crowd would back their conference, like the Lobo fans did that Friday in favor of UTEP. But I remember that it went way beyond conference loyalty.

 

[AnotherSoonerInTX]

We also played Illinois State in the All-College in 1987-88. The four-team tournament was set up for us to play Iowa in the final, but Illinois State beat Iowa and played us in the final. We steamrolled them.

 

[Sooner04]

We also played Illinois State in the All-College in 1987-88. The four-team tournament was set up for us to play Iowa in the final, but Illinois State beat Iowa and played us in the final. We steamrolled them.

Before the Ford Center was built (or whatever it's called now), that game featured the largest crowd to ever see a basketball game in the state. Pete Maravich was honored at halftime and inducted into the "All-College" HOF. He fell over dead playing pickup hoops a week later.