The 1988 Team
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cvangild
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Tubbs had several juco studs back in those days, as well as some great HS talent sprinkled in. There weren't near the amount of prep schools back then so all the talented players that didn't qualify out of HS, went to juco. Today, a lot of them go to prep school...which has really hurt the juco talent pool.
thegreyghost
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Three NBA first rounders on that team
Big Old Booger
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The rule back then was non-existent. You had guys like Dominique Wilkins, George Gervin, Shawn Kemp, Moses. Malone, etc. who went straight to the NBA out of high school. Most players though went to college and played 3 years. Once Kobe went to the NBA instead of college the paradigm shifted and more players followed him.
That 88 team didn't have any players of the magnitude of those I listed above. Great team with superior athletes and a great scheme devised by a great coach.
That 88 team didn't have any players of the magnitude of those I listed above. Great team with superior athletes and a great scheme devised by a great coach.
NMSooner'80
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Wilkins played three years at Georgia. Gervin played three at Eastern Michigan, or one of the directional schools up that way. Moses Malone was the first to jump straight to pro ball, and that was into the ABA, back in '74.
College basketball was fortunate in that pretty much no one tried to make the jump to the NBA out of high school after Darryl Dawkins and Bill Willoughby, until Kevin Garnett did it roughly 20 years later.
NMSooner'80
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I just happened to see that programming tonight while in Oklahoma for the short term. That was an interesting choice on filling time because of the OU softball rainout. And it was a great choice to show the '88 team in action vs. Auburn.
It was hard, though, to not want to reach through the TV screen to slap Curry Kirkpatrick (former SI writer who was doing color for CBS that day), when he started harping on "running up the score." Truth be told, only one coach that I can remember (the guy at Georgia State) really made an issue of it that season.
People also conveniently forget that OU was picked third - in the Big 8 that season, in every magazine or poll that existed in the fall of '87. Missouri and Kansas were both heavy favorites to be near the top of the national polls before the season, not OU.
It was pretty pathetic, too, that the national guys were openly rooting for whoever OU played in the NCAA tourney. I heard stories about how it was all "Good Vs. Evil" when OU played Villanova in the Elite 8 (and I also heard that "Lovable Lil' Rollie" Massamino was really anything but lovable behind the scenes. To top it all off, the '88 Sooners had the misfortune of being in the Final Four the same year that the three most pompous, we're-better-people-than-you programs of that era were there at the same time. Those teams were KU, Duke and Arizona.
All that said, it was fun to see those guys in action on the tube again. It still hurts me greatly that OU lost to what had been, before the NCAA, the biggest underachiever of the '88 season, Kansas.
It was hard, though, to not want to reach through the TV screen to slap Curry Kirkpatrick (former SI writer who was doing color for CBS that day), when he started harping on "running up the score." Truth be told, only one coach that I can remember (the guy at Georgia State) really made an issue of it that season.
People also conveniently forget that OU was picked third - in the Big 8 that season, in every magazine or poll that existed in the fall of '87. Missouri and Kansas were both heavy favorites to be near the top of the national polls before the season, not OU.
It was pretty pathetic, too, that the national guys were openly rooting for whoever OU played in the NCAA tourney. I heard stories about how it was all "Good Vs. Evil" when OU played Villanova in the Elite 8 (and I also heard that "Lovable Lil' Rollie" Massamino was really anything but lovable behind the scenes. To top it all off, the '88 Sooners had the misfortune of being in the Final Four the same year that the three most pompous, we're-better-people-than-you programs of that era were there at the same time. Those teams were KU, Duke and Arizona.
All that said, it was fun to see those guys in action on the tube again. It still hurts me greatly that OU lost to what had been, before the NCAA, the biggest underachiever of the '88 season, Kansas.
DenverSooner
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Those were some good times. It is hard to believe that was so long ago. That was when I was student and it all these years sure went fast.
I don't think anyone could have conceived the notion of OU having the year they had. We had just lost THREE four-year starters in Tim McCallister, Choo Kennedy and Dave Johnson. And no one expected Stacey King to improve his scoring from 7 points a game to 21 (those numbers are rough guesses). Finally, no one expected Mookie Blaylock to be THAT good. He was the #2 overall JUCO player coming in (we had 4 of the top 8 with Andre Wiley, Mike Bell and Tyrone Jones). I think the #1 JUCO player was Boo Harvey who went to St. Johns...and he wasn't at Mookie's level, that's for sure.
As for the best team to not win a title...that has to go to UNLV in '91. However, 1988 OU, 1985 Georgetown and 1983 Houston are all in the conversation for #2.
Dave Sieger made himself in the weight room. He worked for 5 straight years in there basically by himself. None of the other basketball guys at that time would work out in the weight room. Dave would be over in the block house pumping iron every day.
Harvey was a great player. He would play the high post and the defense had to play him or he scored every time. This left Stacey with a one on one down low and Harvey was a great high post passer to him. He also was a very good defender along with Dave and Mookie.
Several of my friends had grown disgusted with the TMac teams because of their selfish play. So they wouldn't go to the exhibition opener for this team. I went and couldn't believe the difference with this team. I convinced them to go to the next game and they never missed that season.
Harvey was a great player. He would play the high post and the defense had to play him or he scored every time. This left Stacey with a one on one down low and Harvey was a great high post passer to him. He also was a very good defender along with Dave and Mookie.
Several of my friends had grown disgusted with the TMac teams because of their selfish play. So they wouldn't go to the exhibition opener for this team. I went and couldn't believe the difference with this team. I convinced them to go to the next game and they never missed that season.
'99 Duke, too.
DenverSooner
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You should be banned.
Sooner04
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Agree with MI Sooner. That '99 Duke team was fantastic. Only one regular season loss, which was to Cincinnati at the buzzer in the finals of the Alaska Shootout.
Speaking of our '88 team, I tabulated a bunch of statistics and put them on a thread a few years ago. Here it is:
The Absurdity of 1988
Speaking of our '88 team, I tabulated a bunch of statistics and put them on a thread a few years ago. Here it is:
The Absurdity of 1988
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