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Oklahoma Basketball: 15 Greatest Players to Ever Play for Head Coach Lon Kruger

By Tristan Freeman

PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 15: Head coach Lon Kruger of the Oklahoma Sooners watches his team in the second half of the game against the Rhode Island Rams during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
PITTSBURGH, PA - MARCH 15: Head coach Lon Kruger of the Oklahoma Sooners watches his team in the second half of the game against the Rhode Island Rams during the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at PPG PAINTS Arena on March 15, 2018 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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Lon Kruger has historical accomplishments as a head coach since starting out in 1983. Here are the 15 best players that he has coached over the many years.

Not too many coaches in college basketball can say that they’ve participated in over 1,000 games for their career, let alone have 619 total wins. But that’s what Lon Kruger was able to do, at six different schools.

From the very beginning with Texas Rio-Grande Valley in 1983, Kruger has been successful at every stop. He’s one of two active head coaches (Tubby Smith the other) to take five different programs to the NCAA Tournament.

The current Sooner Coach is also one of a few to take two different teams to the Final Four. The first came in 1994 with the Florida Gators, and the second coming more recently in 2016 with the Oklahoma Sooners. Kruger has 18 trips to the Big Dance in total, along with a couple of regular season titles.

Besides Texas-Rio Grande Valley, Florida, and Oklahoma, Kruger has also led Kansas State, Illinois, and UNLV as well. Throughout the coach’s tenure, he’s enjoyed some fantastic players over the years.

For this piece, I’ll be listing and ranking the 15 best players that Kruger has coached, incorporating all six programs. Obviously, for some of the older players on the list, I’ll have to rely on stats and accomplishments to make up for not seeing them live, while trying to avoid recency bias.

This is a continuation of me ranking the top players from the top-25 active head coaches piece from earlier. Kruger came in at No.11, just outside of the top 10. Who’s No. 1 on this list?

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