1988 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament - National Semifinals (ticket)

The 1987–88 Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team represented the University of Oklahoma in competitive college basketball during the

1987–88 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 1987–88 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began in November 1987 and ended with the Final Four in Kansas City, Missouri on April 4, 1988. Season headlines Major rule changes Beginning in 1987–88, the following rules changes ...

. The Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team played its home games in the

Lloyd Noble Center The Lloyd Noble Center is a 10,967-seat multi-purpose arena located in Norman, Oklahoma, some south of downtown Oklahoma City. It opened in 1975 and is home to the University of Oklahoma men's and women's basketball teams. History Before the co ...

and was a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) former

Big Eight Conference The Big Eight Conference was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football. It was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Associatio ...

at that time. The team posted a 35–4 overall record and a 12–2 conference record to earn the Conference title under head coach Billy Tubbs. This was the third Big Eight Conference Regular Season Championship for Tubbs and his second Big Eight Conference tournament Championship. The team was led by three future NBA draft first round selections:

Harvey Grant Harvey Grant (born July 4, 1965) is an American former professional National Basketball Association basketball player. He is the identical twin brother of Horace Grant, also a former NBA player. College Grant transferred to Oklahoma after a year ...

Stacey King Ronald Stacey King (born January 29, 1967) is an American sports announcer and retired National Basketball Association (NBA) center who won three consecutive championships with the Chicago Bulls from 1991 to 1993. King is currently the lead col ...

and Mookie Blaylock. Grant and King earned All-American recognition that season. The team won its first 14 games before losing back to back contests to unranked and Kansas State. The team then won 12 consecutive games before falling to unranked Missouri in overtime in its penultimate regular season game. The team then ran off 9 more wins taking it to the championship game of the

1988 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1988 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. The 50th annual edition of the tournament began on March ...

where it lost to Kansas. The team defeated all five ranked opponents it faced during the season. (In order, #6

Pitt Pitt most commonly refers to: *The University of Pittsburgh, commonly known as Pitt, a university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States **Pitt Panthers, the athletic teams of the University of Pittsburgh * Pitt (surname), a surname o ...

, #12

Iowa State Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

twice, a rematch against #14 Kansas State, and #2 Arizona in the final four). Mookie Blaylock established the current National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college basketball single-season steals (150) and single-game steals (13) records.

set the current Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball single-season

blocked shot In basketball, a block or blocked shot occurs when a defensive player legally deflects a field goal attempt from an offensive player to prevent a score. The defender is not allowed to make contact with the offensive player's hand (unless the de ...

s (103) record. Ricky Grace set the single-season assists (280) record. The team holds numerous Sooner records including wins (35), and points per game (102.5).

Roster

Schedule

, - ! colspan=9 style="background:#960018; color:#FFFDD0;", Regular Season , - ! colspan=9 style="background:#960018; color:#FFFDD0;", Phillips 66 Big 8 Tournament , - ! colspan=9 style="background:#960018; color:#FFFDD0;", NCAA Tournament

Rankings

NCAA basketball tournament

The following is a summary of the team's performance in the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

: *Southeast ** Oklahoma (1) 94, (16) 66 ** Oklahoma 107,

Auburn Auburn may refer to: Places Australia * Auburn, New South Wales * City of Auburn, the local government area *Electoral district of Auburn *Auburn, Queensland, a locality in the Western Downs Region *Auburn, South Australia *Auburn, Tasmania *Aub ...

(8) 87 **Oklahoma 108, Louisville (5) 98 (Sweet 16) **Oklahoma 78, Villanova (6) 59 (Regional Final) *Final Four **Oklahoma 86, Arizona 78 ** Kansas 83, Oklahoma 79

Honors

* All-American:

and

(1st of 2 times) *Big Eight tournament MVP: King *NCAA Tournament Southeast Regional MVP: King

Team players drafted into the NBA

The following players were drafted in the

1988 NBA draft The 1988 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1988, in New York City, New York. The length was reduced from seven rounds in the previous year to three rounds. This was also the first draft for the Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat, prior to their i ...

: The following players were varsity letter-winners from this team who were drafted in the NBA draft in later years: *

1989 NBA draft The 1989 NBA draft took place on June 27, 1989, in New York City. Despite eight of the top ten picks being considered busts, including the first two picks Pervis Ellison and Danny Ferry, the draft produced many talented players such as Shawn K ...

(1st, 6th, Chicago Bulls), Mookie Blaylock (1st, 12th, New Jersey Nets)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1987-88 Oklahoma Sooners Men's Basketball Team Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...