Sooner Legends

SoonerinNC

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Trae Young qualifies as a Sooner Legend after only 11 games. In my opinion he will go down along with Wayman Tisdale and Blake Griffin as one of the all-time Sooner greats.

I don't know of any other Sooner in that class. Alvin Adams? I have lived out of state since 1967 and didn't see any games on TV until Billy Tubb's gang made their run in the 80's so I missed a lot of good players.
 
If Trae keeps it up all year he'll be the best guard in OU history after one season.
 
Price and Najera are in that class as well.
 
I didnt get to watch Adams play college ball, but I watched all the others mentioned here. extensively. Only Wayman and Blake compare to Trae at their respective positions. And given Trae's position and effect on his teammates I'd say Trae may be the best Sooner ever.
 
Adams was a great athlete and shooter. He would love to play with Trae and get 5 dunks a game.
 
Not even in the same zip code.
I agree not in Trae's zip code but as far as being Sooner Legends they definitely were. Trae's putting up numbers we'll never see again at OU. Tisdale did the same in the 80s. Maybe Stacey King for a couple years also did the same. But even Blake wasn't as consistently great as Trae's been.
 
I'd like to throw Hollis Price in the mix. Obviously not a next-level freak talent like Trae has shown to be so far, but Hollis was a flat out winner.

That said.......man, Trae is awesome to watch. He and Manek have given the entire team confidence we lost last year.
 
I would put Buddy just a tick below the Tisdale, Griffin, Young level. Those 3 were elite from day one. Buddy broke out as a junior and then the big move up as a senior. Can't comment on Adams. Didn't really see him play that much. Mookie Blaylock may also be in that second tier.
 
I would put Buddy just a tick below the Tisdale, Griffin, Young level. Those 3 were elite from day one. Buddy broke out as a junior and then the big move up as a senior. Can't comment on Adams. Didn't really see him play that much. Mookie Blaylock may also be in that second tier.

Buddy's first tier. He won the Naismith and led OU to the Final Four. And I'm not arguing that those 3 aren't, just a lack of proper reverie for Buddy.
 
Yah, it's kind of shocking people are downplaying Buddy 2 years removed from the Naismith and a final four.
 
I've watched them all. Adams, Tisdale, and Griffin were the Big 3, and now Trae is playing himself into the mix. Some of you have mentioned Buddy and he's on the cusp. One player nobody has mentioned is Don Sidle. He was a 6'8" forward who was a first team All-American back in '67 and '68 where he averaged 23.7 and 19.8 ppg in an era where teams didn't average 50 ppg. He was a first round NBA pick but played his professional career in the old ABA. In fact, Sidle is 1 of only 3 Sooners to average over 20ppg ..... behind only Wayman and Adams. Unfortunately, he had some health issues and died at a very young age.

Adams is a no-brainer. He created as much excitement as Trae has before he ever played his first freshman game. I watched that first game where he had 28 rebounds and the old field house was packed. He averaged 23.4 ppg over his OU career before leaving early for the NBA. He was the 4th pick in the draft and was the Rookie of the year, and made the all-NBA first team as a rookie.

I would rank the Big 3 as Wayman, Adams, and Blake in that order.

If you're talking about Hollis Price and Najera, you should also include Garfield Heard and Clifford Ray who both had long NBA careers. Mookie was a better guard than Price .... but not nearly as charismatic.

Another player nobody has mentioned was Harvey Grant who played at OU only 2 years but averaged over 19 ppg and was on the '88 team that was the NCAA runner-ups and went on to a long NBA career.
 
Bottom line, for a “football school”, OU has been blessed with some great teams and players. Now, just need to snag that first title.
 
I'd like to give Ace McGhee a shout out here. It wasn't a long stretch of brilliance, but he was the best player in the country over the second half of his senior year. Didn't make it in the NBA, but played around the world for 15 years after college.
 
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