Thirty years ago, the ‘should have been’ Sooners lost to Danny Manning

[TulsaWorld]

If the 1987-88 OU and Kansas basketball teams had played a 10-game series, the run-and-gun Sooners might have prevailed nine times. For that Kansas team to conquer that Oklahoma team, a unique set of circumstances would be required.

Like having the championship game played at the Jayhawks’ home away from home (Kemper Arena).

Like Manning responding with a performance for the ages.

Link

 

[cowboysooner]

Loved Billy, but his calling off the press at half of the championship game cost us a national title. I have always thought this, and a few years ago, I heard an interview of Billy, where he admitted this fact.

I also know a person that discussed this with Manning, and he also agreed with this statement.

I have always believed that the 1988 OU team was one of the best teams in NCAA history not to have won the championship.

 

[Darwin]

AHHH!!!!! won't these night terrors ever end

 

[Eielson]

Shame on you, TW. Shame on you.

 

[AnotherSoonerInTX]

This still hurts me more than any OU loss in football. That was our chance for a championship. The fact that it was against KU adds salt to the wound.

 

[cowboysooner]

I have liked all of the OU coaches, other than Bliss (and yes I liked Capel too). But, Billy is my favorite. Kruger is my second favorite, and Sampson third. We have had some really good coaches in my book.

 

[MsProudSooner]

shame on you, tw. Shame on you.

amen!

 

[tycat947]

amen!

BT had a column on this today in the Jokelahoman. Since all the newspapers share stories all the time he probably was reminded by the TW.

 

[usedtobe1]

I have liked all of the OU coaches, other than Bliss (and yes I liked Capel too). But, Billy is my favorite. Kruger is my second favorite, and Sampson third. We have had some really good coaches in my book.

Trivia for you.... I was the radio operator for Colonel Bob “Go-Go” Stevens in the Marine Corps Reserves. He coached the OU team thru ‘67 but I didn’t know him until after he was fired. He remained in the athletic department for many years. Great guy. Told me lots of stories about OU basketball at the time. His freshman coach, John McLeod, replaced him. Another nice guy who went on to coach in the NBA.

Not to hijack the thread, yes I remember the championship game loss to KU and Danny Manning.... very vividly. It still hurts.

 

[psk2080]

Danny and the F!@#$n Miracles...

 

[WaymanFan]

My therapist right now is going "cha-ching!"

I'm half-kidding BTW.

 

[Soonerinkc]

This still hurts me more than any OU loss in football. That was our chance for a championship. The fact that it was against KU adds salt to the wound.

living in kc SUCKED....

All season there wasn't a positive ku fan anywhere...all they did was ***** and moan.

That night, I lived in Prairie Village at the time - prob 99% jayhawkers- went crazy, fireworks, etc..

There was a park, on state line road, I'd go play at, most times I was the only white guy. Course I wore OU crap all the time...one dude called me "that white guy from OU" - Dave S of course...

The next day I was driving home and some dude in a beater car pulled up beside me while driving and pressed the sports page in the driver's side window...jacka$$.

I hated that night more than anything~

Thanks Tulsa for bringing it up

 

[WichitaSooner]

April 4, 1988...think about it all the time. Can't be overstated how much I love OU basketball, and how much I hate KU basketball. To top it off, sixth grade me watched the game surrounded by my mom, grandparents, and brother, all of whom are/were huge KU fans and attended KU.

As great as KU's history is, it is crazy to think that if we win that game, they only lead us 2-1 in national titles.

 

[NMSooner'80]

I was 30 years old at the time, and I felt like crying when the game was over and the wrong team won. People always forget that KU was a consensus preseason pick for either 1st or 2nd in the Big 8 (them or Mizzou) and OU was a distant third in those polls. So I never bought that "Miracles" crap.

It also hurt because OU was stuck at the Final Four with the three biggest sanctimonious, holier-than-thou, media-darling teams in the nation: Kansas, Duke and Arizona. I learned to hate Arizona about as much as KU after I moved out west. I saw some things in wire stories about OU that indicated their writers openly rooted against OU because of the "bad guys" angle. We had zero McDonald's All-Americans on that team and were barely ranked to start the year, but we got reamed constantly for "running it up" on people. Heck, Arizona beat people as bad or worse than we did in their conference, but they totally benefitted from "St. Lute and his Leaping Apostles" image. Barf!

 

[lexusooner]

Wow! Billy had so much talent that year.
Mookie, Stacey, and Harvey all NBAers, Quicky Ricky and Dave the three point bomber!
Heartbreaking loss. Still my favorite team ...