OU's Most Memorable NCAA Tourney Moment

Most memorable is losing to Danny and the Miracles in the title game.
 
NickZepp said:
Most memorable is losing to Danny and the Miracles in the title game.
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This.

A good memorable moment would probably be beating Villanova to advance to the Final 4 in 88. Next would probably be beating Arizona (with Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr, Kenny Lofton, Sean Rooks, Jud Buechler, etc.) in the National Semi's the next weekend by double-digits.

Other memories:
beating Mizzou to advance to Final 4 in 2002
Beating Arizona for Kelvin's first tourney win in 99
Last second shot to beat Pitt and advance to the sweet 16 in 87.
Wayman's last second jumper in OT to beat La Tech and karl Malone.
Mookie's half-court shot at the buzzer to beat La Tech by 30+ in 89.
Beating E Tennessee State in OT in 89.

Negatives:
Losing to KU.
Rick Fox hitting a late shot to beat us in 90 in the 2nd round.
Losing to Virginia in the sweet 16 in 89.
Getting pounded by Syracuse in the elite 8 (2003).
Losing to Louisiana Lafayette in the first round in 92.
Losing to Manhattan in the first round in 95.
 
What's really memorable about the run to the title game in '88 was that the non-Oklahoma media was openly rooting for OU to lose. We were villified for "running up the score," when I think the media hacks just didn't like OU's style of play, or the coach. I knew Billy personally, so I knew those clowns were off-base with their view of him.

It was also amazing that the other teams at the Final Four that year were about the three worst "holier-than-thou" programs in the country - Kansas, Duke and Arizona. So it was definitely a case that the whole world wanted to see OU fail. And unfortunately, it happened on that evil Monday night - better known as "The Mistake of '88."

People may not remember it, but Arizona was a big media-darling team back then. My Seattle-area relatives all hated them because of that. People in New Mexico have been sick of UofA for over 25 years because of "Saint Lute (Olson) and his Leaping Apostles" - which is how the Tucson media used to bill them. The Lobo fans knew that Arizona still didn't respect them after beating them in '88 and a few times in the 90's, and that's because "holier-than-thou" programs don't respect underdogs.

So it was really sweet when OU shut down Steve Kerr and Co. for the better part of that game. And after I moved to Albuquerque a few months later, I got to read some stuff at the library between then and the rematch in Norman in '89 - the Cats still didn't respect what OU did to them in the Final Four.
 
Big Old Booger said:
This.

A good memorable moment would probably be beating Villanova to advance to the Final 4 in 88. Next would probably be beating Arizona (with Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr, Kenny Lofton, Sean Rooks, Jud Buechler, etc.) in the National Semi's the next weekend by double-digits.

Other memories:
beating Mizzou to advance to Final 4 in 2002
Beating Arizona for Kelvin's first tourney win in 99
Last second shot to beat Pitt and advance to the sweet 16 in 87.
Wayman's last second jumper in OT to beat La Tech and karl Malone.
Mookie's half-court shot at the buzzer to beat La Tech by 30+ in 89.
Beating E Tennessee State in OT in 89.

Negatives:
Losing to KU.
Rick Fox hitting a late shot to beat us in 90 in the 2nd round.
Losing to Virginia in the sweet 16 in 89.
Getting pounded by Syracuse in the elite 8 (2003).
Losing to Louisiana Lafayette in the first round in 92.
Losing to Manhattan in the first round in 95.
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I would add to the negatives the loss to Wisconsin-Green Bay in 2006. But as far as I can tell you hit all the positives.
 
Chaser728 said:
I would add to the negatives the loss to Wisconsin-Green Bay in 2006. But as far as I can tell you hit all the positives.
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All of the losses were negatives, no doubt. That one was magnified because of the way the team wilted down the stretch with a poor showing in the conference tourney and then the loss to UWGB. However, I would say the 84 loss to Dayton was worse than the 2006 loss, because the 84 team was a 2 or 3 seed and could have made some noise if they could have beaten Roosevelt Chapman and the Dayton Flyers.
 
Ace McGhee's performance in the final four season was pretty memorable.
 
DenverSooner said:
OU owns Arizona. I don't see how that is memorable. What would be memorable is Arizona beating OU anywhere other than in Tucson. (this is a shot at Arizona not you)
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Only memorable because winning it meant we played for the big enchilada. Also because we weren't expected to beat them but won by double-digits after leading wire-to-wire. It was very close to a beatdown.
 
Crocker was a monster in that game.

In our recent history, though, I loved Godbold career game against St. Mary's (I think) where everyone picked us to be upset. Then against Louisville the team collapsed hard, but Godbold just refused to give up. I loved his game. He was the last in a line Sampson players who would beat you by out working you. He was the last of the players like Corey Brewer and Eduardo Najera. We didn't see anything like that again until maybe Osby this season.
 
MNsooner said:
Crocker was a monster in that game.

In our recent history, though, I loved Godbold career game against St. Mary's (I think) where everyone picked us to be upset. Then against Louisville the team collapsed hard, but Godbold just refused to give up. I loved his game. He was the last in a line Sampson players who would beat you by out working you. He was the last of the players like Corey Brewer and Eduardo Najera. We didn't see anything like that again until maybe Osby this season.
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cade davis in his senior year fit that bill i think
 
another recent one. How about our upset of 'Zona in the 1999? That was another great one from recent memory. We made a deep run that year and as I recall there was point mid season where we went on a four or five game losing streak. We then put together a nice stretch of conference wins. I remember thinking that we were better than out seed that year. We certainly proved it.
 
SoonerBounce13 said:
cade davis in his senior year fit that bill i think
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I like Cade a lot, but I am talking about different kind of mentality. Watching Najera, Brewer, Godbold, and guys like that was a little different. They were just tough as nails. You could tell that they weren't happy out there unless the person they were guarding was unhappy. Cade had games like that. He outright shut down Rotne Clark during Clark's hottest season. He just didn't bring that mentality to every game. I don't mean that as a criticism. Cade had tons of strengths and I am sure I will continue to remember his play fondly, but he just didn't lock in the same way those guys did.

I will say that AJ was like those guys at least in mentality. I think his health prevented him from being like those guys. Some games he honed in and used those long arms to shut his man down. That was always fun to watch.

I think it was hard for us to have the kind of defensive mentality under Capel that Sampson players had because our defense was so multiple. We would run 2 or 3 zones a game, man to man, and man and zone presses. It just didn't give us the kind of identity that those players thrive with.
 
MNsooner said:
another recent one. How about our upset of 'Zona in the 1999? That was another great one from recent memory. We made a deep run that year and as I recall there was point mid season where we went on a four or five game losing streak. We then put together a nice stretch of conference wins. I remember thinking that we were better than out seed that year. We certainly proved it.
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Good call on that one. People out here in Albuquerque even celebrated that one with us. Arizona lost a one-pointer out here in January of that year, and they whined about the clock. And I think after we beat them in the NCAA, they whined about other "calls." :dance005:
 
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