Oklahoma Basketball: 4 best players in Sooners history

2. Wayman Tisdale (1982-1985)

By many statistical measures, Wayman Tisdale is the greatest player in Oklahoma Sooners history. He’s the only player from the school to be named All-American multiple times; he did it during his freshman, sophomore, and junior seasons.

He remains the leading scorer in Sooners history by a longshot, dropping 2,661 points in just three seasons. Afterwards, the Indiana Pacers took him second overall in the 1985 NBA Draft.

Tisdale won the Big Eight Conference Player of the Year award each season he suited up for Oklahoma. His number was retired by the Sooners shortly after his career ended and the College Basketball Hall of Fame inducted the power forward in 2009.

When the leading scorer and rebounder in school history suddenly passed away at the age of 44 in 2009, the community was devastated. Everybody from Billy Tubbs to Stacey King to David Boren made heartfelt comments about how much his loss would affect the university.

No one on the campus would ever forget the late player’s contributions to the school, though. No one in college basketball would forget either, as the USBWA renamed their National Freshman of the Year award after him in 2010.

Judging by career longevity, Tisdale is arguably the best to ever suit up for Oklahoma. But there’s one player who was just a little bit better.