The Absurdity of 1988

[qwertyqaz]

My stock answers to best to not win it all have always been 88 OU, 85 Georgetown, and 91 UNLV. All three of those not winning it all to me are borderline shocking. The 99 Duke team is a good choice too, but I can't say I was "shocked" they didn't win--though I did expect them to win that year.

This is an EXCELLENT thread by the way!

 

[aaron7]

The '88 Oklahoma Sooners lost four games.

LSU: 84-77 in New Orleans.
K-State: 69-62 in Manhattan.
Missouri: 93-90 in OT in Columbia.
Kansas: 83-79 in Kansas City.

The absurd thing? Other than LSU, who they only played once, OU beat each of the teams that defeated them.....and they defeated them TWICE.

K-State: 112-95 in Norman and 88-83 in Kansas City to win the Big 8 Tournament.
Missouri: 120-101 in Norman and 102-99 in Kansas City in the Big 8 Tournament semifinals.
Kansas: 73-65 in Lawrence and 95-87 in Norman.


They were just BETTER than everybody else. It's a damn shame they didn't win it all.


Other great teams that would fall into this category would be '75 Indiana, '83 Houston, '85 Georgetown, '91 UNLV and '99 Duke.

Beating everyone they lost two twice, except LSU, is an unbelievable statistic. I wonder if that happened before or since.

 

[NMSooner'80]

I think OU had only two home games that were won by less than 10 points (Pitt and KU). And both of those, at least as far as I can remember, were double-digit games at one point.

 

[BigTime]

Thanks for posting the videos and sharing some of the stats, 04. I would have loved to have been old enough to fully appreciate how great that team really was...

 

[209sooner]

Is there any actual TV coverage of games from this era online somewhere? I've never seen any on ESPN Classic except the 1988 title game.

 

[NMSooner'80]

I have some photos from that season (which I took), FWIW:

 

[Big Old Booger]

NMSooner...in the videos, it showed highlights of the game vs UNM. In one of the clips, it showed a heavy-set player from UNM chasing Stacey downcourt...who is that? Dude was bigger than DeeJay (girth) and that's saying something.

 

[Sooner04]

But I thought OU never drew well for basketball? Stands look packed in each of those shots.

 

[Big Old Booger]

But I thought OU never drew well for basketball? Stands look packed in each of those shots.

Not to refute what you are saying, but those were probably 3 of the 4 biggest home games that season.

UNM with former coach Dave Bliss.
Pitt
Mizzou

The only other game bigger than these was probably KU with Manning.

I can remember going to see OU play CU and ISU back when both Wayman played and during the 87-89 time period and the LNC wasn't full back then. It was loud, but not full.

I can also remember attending games vs Arizona, KU, Mizzou, KSU, UNLV, etc. when it was sold out and rocking.

04 -- how old are you? Or how old were you back in 88? I would guess you were a young lad (<10; based on your username which says to me you graduated, with bachelors, from OU in 2004)? I apologize if I'm wrong...

 

[NMSooner'80]

The one big guy from UNM who would have been waddling after Stacey was a guy named Rob Loeffel. He was then-UNM coach Gary Colson's "pet" and should have been benched due to a terrible work ethic.

When Bliss (who wasn't the coach in the February '88 game from which I got those shots, but was the next year) got Loeffel the next year, he did bench him in favor of future NBA draftee Luc Longley, who was then a sophomore and very raw. But, all Bliss got out of that was basically 12 years of grief from the local media for "mistreating" a senior - whose work ethic was even worse without having his protector (Colson) there anymore. This was the only "market" in the country where "playing time" became an epic issue to the media and some fans.

The guy who should have gotten credit for making Longley into a player was former OU star John McCullough, who did a lot of one-on-one work with Luc to improve his footwork and his shot. But, that wasn't part of the local media "template" to give anyone on that staff any credit for anything good. And that's a travesty, because John was always such a good guy and really did deserve credit for figuring out how to help Longley (who had been a stiff under Colson).

OU crushed the Lobos that day, 120-100, and Colson got forced out in April of that year. OU also won the rematch in the Pit in '88-89, but by only four points. FWIW, Stacey's second choice of a school was UNM - and the oddball media out here seemed to think OU had to "cheat" to get him away from the Lobos. They also whined about how Tubbs ran it up on UNM in February of '88, but that's typical also.

 

[Sooner04]

04 -- how old are you? Or how old were you back in 88? I would guess you were a young lad (<10; based on your username which says to me you graduated, with bachelors, from OU in 2004)? I apologize if I'm wrong...

I'm 28, but I come from a long line of OU BBall fanatics. My family has had the same seats since the LNC opened.

Over the years I spent much more time on my OU BBall studies than I did my "actual" studies, so I ended up graduating in 2005. :eddie187_jpg_xs:

Actually met my wife because of OU BBall, but that's another story for another time.

 

[NMSooner'80]

If anyone cares, you could probably guess my age by figuring out I graduated from OU in May of 1980 (and from AHS in '76). I was one of the oldsters in that class, so I was born in the fall of '57 instead of 1958 like most of my high school classmates were.

But, I was there at the LNC for the very first-ever home win in that building. It was against OSU in January of '76 and featured a nice-sized crowd that was mostly there because the football team was getting its two '75 national title trophies at halftime. I also think it was only the fourth home game that whole season, at the time.

 

[Big Old Booger]

I'm 28, but I come from a long line of OU BBall fanatics. My family has had the same seats since the LNC opened.

Over the years I spent much more time on my OU BBall studies than I did my "actual" studies, so I ended up graduating in 2005. :eddie187_jpg_xs:

Actually met my wife because of OU BBall, but that's another story for another time.

So, you were 5, or so, when the 88 team was tearing it up?

The first team I really remember vividly was the 77 team, when I was 6. Fast Eddie Fields, Al Beal, John McCullough, Aaron Curry (my favorite), the snake, Terry Stotts, etc.

 

[Max Power]

Is there any actual TV coverage of games from this era online somewhere? I've never seen any on ESPN Classic except the 1988 title game.

ESPN hates us for the most part. They tend to mostly show games we lose (88 tilte game, Fiesta bowl against BSU)

 

[Edmond_Sooner]

ESPN hates us for the most part. They tend to mostly show games we lose (88 tilte game, Fiesta bowl against BSU)

Well...honestly, what positive do they have to show in big games (title/BCS)? other than the championship game of 2001 which is on quite a bit...

I think it is less hate and more that OU in the last couple of decades doesnt have much to show in those types of games where we were the winner...

I do see tons of regular season basketball and football classic footage with us winning...

 

[stoops4pres]

ESPN hates us for the most part. They tend to mostly show games we lose (88 tilte game, Fiesta bowl against BSU)

Not trying to cavil, but I think fans of every program thinks ESPN "hates them". I don't think ESPN the network necessarily does (except maybe for clowns like Mike Lupica and Colin Cowherd).

 

[stoops4pres]

Well...honestly, what positive do they have to show in big games (title/BCS)? other than the championship game of 2001 which is on quite a bit...

I think it is less hate and more that OU in the last couple of decades doesnt have much to show in those types of games where we were the winner...

I do see tons of regular season basketball and football classic footage with us winning...

Agreed.

Plus, those are two of the bigger upsets in their respective fields. Of course they are going to be shown quite a bit.

 

[NMSooner'80]

I can honestly say that I believe ESPN hated OU men's basketball in the '87-88 season. Our guys got hammered all year long, and I think only one coach complained about the scores. But that was enough.

If you wanted to see something REALLY offensive, try to find a copy of the John Feinstein book "A Season Inside." It was about the '88 college basketball season. Let's just say he wasn't too unhappy that KU won the "Mistake of '88" that night in Kemper-East.

I bought a copy of his previous college hoops book, "A Season on the Brink," about Knight and Co. But I put down "A Season Inside" when I read the villification of Billy's Boys. And the guys on the team that I knew were also really good kids.

 

[jwg]

In the ESPN college basketball encyclopedia there is a list of the 10 best teams not to win the NCAA using the Sagarin computer program. On this list Duke (99) was 3 Duke (98) was 10 UNLV(91) was 8 Indiana (75) was 7 and Ohio State (61) was 6. The Kansas team (1988) was the 3rd ranked team in the category of worst teams to win the NCAA another curiosity the Holy Cross team that beat OU in 1947 was the 5 th team in this category.

 

[Big Old Booger]

In the ESPN college basketball encyclopedia there is a list of the 10 best teams not to win the NCAA using the Sagarin computer program. On this list Duke (99) was 3 Duke (98) was 10 UNLV(91) was 8 Indiana (75) was 7 and Ohio State (61) was 6. The Kansas team (1988) was the 3rd ranked team in the category of worst teams to win the NCAA another curiosity the Holy Cross team that beat OU in 1947 was the 5 th team in this category.

So, the 88 Oklahoma team isn't listed? Seriously?