Pics, Tweets and all things Reunion thread

Hammond, Woodard and Damion Jones sat with the team during the alumni game.

Damien Jones seems like our top big man target for the class. Do you think our chances are pretty good with him?
 
Damien Jones seems like our top big man target for the class. Do you think our chances are pretty good with him?

Don't forget about Dominic Woodson. I would be happy with either one of them, thrilled beyond belief if we got both.
 
Also insider says OU made the top 5 for Dominique Elliot(6'7",245.JC)

Elliot averaged 6 pts, 6 Reb as a HS senior. I can't find any JUCO stats. Anybody know anything about this kid or seen him play?
 
Elliot averaged 6 pts, 6 Reb as a HS senior. I can't find any JUCO stats. Anybody know anything about this kid or seen him play?

This article on Scout.com says he averaged 17 points and 8 rebs his senior year in high school. He signed with Missouri State, but went the juco route after failing to qualify academically. He lists OU, Auburn, Southern Miss, Marshall, Ole' Miss and Okie State as his top schools, and claims to have offers from all of them.

The article also says that he plans to visit OU September 7, and that he is on track to graduate in the spring with a 3.5 GPA. He averaged 8.2 points and 8.7 rebounds at Trinity Valley JC in Texas as a freshman last year.

http://auburn.scout.com/2/1214572.html
 
My family and I had a great time at the reunion this afternoon. I'm not very good at estimating the attendance, but there was a very nice turnout to see members of the '88 team honored, and to cheer loudly as players and coaches from every decade since the 40's were welcomed back. Our grandson left happy with the autographs of every player on this year's team, plus a few legends on hand.

As for the game, I'm just glad no one got hurt, passed out from exhaustion, or worse. Let's put it this way: Yo Yo and two former walk-ons, Franklin and Gerber, were the best players on the floor from both teams. Ya think conditioning might have had something to do with that? lol Szendrei was a rebounding machine, he finished with 25 boards. Michael Neal and Kelley Newton also played well.

I believe that everyone in attendance will agree that this year's reunion bash was a tremendous success!

Thanks for posting, Ada.

I made the drive down from Tulsa yesterday to attend with 4000 other OU fans. It was well worth the drive to see Mookie Blaylock though I wish he would have played in the game. I thought Toby did a nice job MC'ing the event.

Couple of observations:

- It was good to see Tommie and Gail Griffin at the event.

- Kelly Newton still has an incredibly sweet stroke - a true thing of beauty to watch him shoot the basketball

- Skeeter Henry probably had the most fun of anyone in the gym and was definitely the "class-clown" of the reunion.

- Beau Gerber and TJ Franklin tried the hardest.

- Everyone was afraid of YoYo in the paint

- Terry Evans needs to work on his stroke from distance!

- Damian Jones was there with his family - certainly looks the part. Coach Crutchfield seemed to be the coach in charge of his recruiting.

- Our current team has a lot more guys over 6-8 than I am used to seeing - maybe just more guys period than I am used to seeing. Grooms and Osby got on the Mic and sounded confident and proud to be Sooners

- Hammond and Woodard were in attendance. Hammond looked like he was having the time of his life.

- DJ Bennett has freakishly long arms. Hope he can play well this year.

Guys I hope we see next year: Bookout, Ere, Gilbert, Adams, Grant, both Sampsons, Taj, Najera...
 
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Nice recap, BT! :clap

I'll add a footnote or two to your observations.

_D. J. Bennett is not only long, he looks to be considerably taller than his listed 6' 8". I'm almost 6' 2", and he towered over me when I shook his hand and told him it was good to have him at OU.

_As a follow up to what you said about the number of bigs 6' 8" or taller this year, our guards are also bigger. Sam Grooms is the only player on the team (not counting the walk ons) who is shorter than 6' 3". The listed heights are usually exaggerated. But, not this year. Every player on our roster appears to be at least as tall as his stated height on Soonersports.com.

_Kelvin was noticeably absent. I was disappointed that he didn't make it in this year.

_It was good to see fellow Adan and former Tubbs' assistant, Mike Anderson, there. MIke is a good friend who has been through some serious health problems the past few months.

_On the topic of Billy Tubbs, he's still a great ambassador for the men's basketball program. I loved it when he grabbed the mic and said the officials asked him to appeal to the crowd not to throw things on the floor, because the players in the alumni game were out of shape. He's a funny man, and a gracious one as well. My wife and I enjoyed our visit with him after the game.
 
Was Mike Neal there? Seems like he was there last year.

No Renzi or Timmy Heskett?
 
Is that Corey Brewer behind Joe C? Loved that guy!
Yep. It was Brewer. Shocking to see how small that guy is when you consider he was definitely the toughest dude on the floor. An absolute warrior, and it was great to see him!


From West Memphis, Arkansas............
 
BTW - I'm glad Ca$tiglione was there to witness the loudest ovation during the playing of the '88 tribute video. Who was the ovation for, you might ask?

TopDaug, of course.
 
BTW - I'm glad Ca$tiglione was there to witness the loudest ovation during the playing of the '88 tribute video. Who was the ovation for, you might ask?

TopDaug, of course.

After the event I was walking towards Joe C as my kiddo was getting a few autographs... I guess he thought I was coming directly to him as he extended his hand and told me thanks for coming. This was the moment, and I took advantage of it.

I told him that this was a great event and my family really appreciates it, and that I hope it continues every year. I then told him that he could do one thing that would immediately make Oklahoma basketball better, and thousands of fans happy... he smiled and said "Oh boy". I then told him that it was a crime for TopDaug to not be on the floor and to no longer be associated with Sooner hoops.

He kind of chuckled, and seemed a little put off by it, said thanks again for coming and that was it.

Anyhow, had a great time again. I love explaining to my kids who these guys are that are signing their posters (Stacy King, Choo, and Billy Tubbs were my daughters favorites, they all hugged her), and YoYo picked her up and gave her a hug. She's 10 years old and was eating it up.

I'll also add that Coach Kruger has our current team acting like total gentlemen. Every one of those kids shook my hand and told me thanks for the support. Good group of guys, glad they're part of our University.
 
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38dAyOC9E5A[/ame]

Top Daug in opening clip. Notice the standing room only crowd.


After the event I was walking towards Joe C as my kiddo was getting a few autographs... I guess he thought I was coming directly to him as he extended his hand and told me thanks for coming. This was the moment, and I took advantage of it.

I told him that this was a great event and my family really appreciates it, and that I hope it continues every year. I then told him that he could do one thing that would immediately make Oklahoma basketball better, and thousands of fans happy... he smiled and said "Oh boy". I then told him that it was a crime for TopDaug to not be on the floor and to no longer be associated with Sooner hoops.

He kind of chuckled, and seemed a little put off by it, said thanks again for coming and that was it.
Joe C wouldn't know how to market a team if it slapped him in the face. Now all we have are those creepy, clown mascots.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cCli-IPaoU[/ame]
 
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BTW - I'm glad Ca$tiglione was there to witness the loudest ovation during the playing of the '88 tribute video. Who was the ovation for, you might ask?

TopDaug, of course.

The ovations for TopDaug and Regina Tisdale were the loudest of the entire event.

Joe C had to notice, but I doubt if it will make any difference. He's convinced the horse mascots will catch on eventually. I'm not, I think they act and look downright silly!
 
It cracks me up that we haven't been Dancing in the last three seasons, and the one thing that a bunch of grown men want to change the most about our program is a giant dog. Or daug.

I just don't get it. If we need a specific mascot to get our crowd pumped up, or for the game to be fun for kids, then our program has failed on numerous levels. All the talk about not knowing how to market the program, and all of that stuff? Marketing 101 for something like "OU Sports" would probably be to have one identifiable mascot. Just like they got rid of the multiple OU logos several years ago, they decided to get rid of the "extra" mascot. Whether it's worked or not, going by the book, that is the right marketing decision.

I don't mean this as any disrespect towards those that want him back. I just don't care about mascots when I go to a game. It's probably the least important thing about my game experience.
 
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The ovations for TopDaug and Regina Tisdale were the loudest of the entire event.

Joe C had to notice, but I doubt if it will make any difference. He's convinced the horse mascots will catch on eventually. I'm not, I think they act and look downright silly!

I think the horse mascots are fine. The kids like them and I doubt you would see a difference in what they do and what top daug would do if he came back.

Having said that, I still want to see top daug back!
 
Yeah, I don't quite understand how there can be such great emotion about NOT having one furry mascot, while at the same time there is so much vitriol towards the other furry mascot. lol. We definitely have more pressing issues for Joe C. and the rest of the administration to deal with.

As for the event... I went with a buddy of mine and my folks were in town so I took them too. We had a great time.

Got there just after 11am and went right down to about the 5th row behind the normal OU bench. We weren't in our seats for 2 minutes before Sam Grooms came over and thanked us for coming. Like other posters have said, coach Kruger has this team absolutely representing the school and themselves with class in every way.

It was great to see the Griffins there as well. They actually sat directly behind us and it was cool to hear Gail cheering on the guys that played with her sons. In my opinion, for them to come to show their support even though neither of their sons were there means a lot.

As for the game... it was ugly basketball, but still a lot of fun to watch. Yo-Yo definitely brought it and had something like 25 rebounds. But, he HAD to hustle since the entire current team was there watching. lol. Beau Gerber was also hustling and it was great to see him there. He was only a walk-on but during his time here it was easy to tell that there was nobody that was more happy to be a Sooner than him.

Skeeter was definitely the life of the game. He was up cheering or razzing the guys pretty much the whole time. It was almost more fun just to watch him, even when he was on the bench. lol.

Terry Evans hit about 10 in a row in the pre-game but struggled a bit during the game. Kelly Newton still has the sweet, sweet stroke. And, Michael Neal was really working hard but it seemed like he was struggling a bit getting around, despite how much he WANTED to compete with the younger guys. lol

But, I really loved watching TJ Franklin and Corey Brewer. TJ, being very recently removed from his playing days, was definitely the most active on the floor. Well, at some point something happened to make Corey start taking it as seriously as TJ. And, after that point those two were fun to watch. They were getting after each other. Corey is easily one of my favorites, so to see him again was definitely a treat.

The other thing that really stood out to me was coach Kruger's demeanor. He has absolutely NO EGO about this sort of thing and after our last two coaches, it definitely comes off as a pretty dramatic difference. I personally just couldn't imagine Capel or Sampson having this sort of event that really highlighted the past and how great it was.

All in all, it was a really fun event and I sincerely hope they continue having it. I know it was more of a full weekend event for the former players and their families and you could tell it was something that really engendered a good deal of camaraderie for all of them. To me it’s just another example of how great of a hire coach Kruger has been for our program, and it really has me looking forward to the season.
 
Whether it's worked or not, going by the book, that is the right marketing decision.
This sentence makes no sense. It's not the right decision if it doesn't work out or isn't working out. Marketing 101.

Marketing 101 for something like "OU Sports" would probably be to have one identifiable mascot.
Oh I don't agree with that one bit.

The kids like them
I've seen kids terrified of them. A dog is much more benign/friendly then an unidentifiable creature with creepy eyes.

One thing one of the posters said correctly was it probably doesn't make much of a difference, marketing wise. But if fans want a mascot/cornerstone of the program to return, return him. Marketing 101 would not say to "get uncomfortable" when it's brought up, by fans, many of which donate.
Yeah, I don't quite understand how there can be such great emotion about NOT having one furry mascot, while at the same time there is so much vitriol towards the other furry mascot. lol. We definitely have more pressing issues for Joe C. and the rest of the administration to deal with.
I don't know about the emotion part, but why does it have to a pressing issue? It's a mascot people like, bring it back. That's not a pressing issue. A pressing issue would be having so many games at 6 pm. It's almost impossible to get to Norman by 6 if you work in the city. Top Daug could be brought back in 10 seconds. "Hey, TopDaug will be the basketball teams's mascot for now on." Done.
 
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