Onto 14! Let’s roll back to 2009 when Blake Griffin was the best player in College Basketball who also led the Sooners to the elite eight.
The Sooners were led by Head Coach Jeff Capel. This was Capel’s third season with the Sooners.
Oklahoma ranked 12th in the preseason polls.
Starting the season with the first four games being at home, the Sooners took wins in all of those including the 21st-ranked Davidson Wildcats led by Stephen Curry.
The next two matchups came at a neutral site, well known as Madison Square Garden. Oklahoma also grabbed wins in both of those games with one of them being the 10th-ranked Purdue Boilermakers in overtime and the other being the UAB Blazers.
Defeating their next four opponents, the Sooners were 10-0. They took down USC, Maine, and Utah all at home, and Tulsa at the BOK Center.
At the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, the Sooners outlasted the VCU Rams 81-70. The Rams was where Capel coached before accepting the job at Oklahoma.
Traveling to Houston, they matched up with the Rice Owls on the road and took home on top 70-58. They were now 12-0 in the season.
Suffering their first loss of the season to the Arkansas Razorbacks 88-96 at the Bud Walton Arena, Oklahoma entered the new calendar year with a 12-1 record heading into 2009.
They took care of business at home versus the two remaining non-conference teams on their schedule as they began conference play.
The Sooners went on to win 11 straight conference games stretching their current win streak to 13. To end the regular season, Oklahoma went 2-3.
Finishing the regular season, the Sooners had an overall record of 27-4 and a conference record of 13-3.
The Big 12 tournament was hosted at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but unfortunately, the Sooners were eliminated by their instate rivals the Oklahoma State Cowboys 71-70.
Entering the NCAA Tournament, Oklahoma found themselves as the number 2 seed taking on the Morgan State Bears.
The Sooners crushed the Bears in the first round led by Blake Griffin’s outstanding performance with 28 points, 13 rebounds, and a block.
In the second round, they clashed with the Michigan Wolverines.
Another tournament win for the Sooners as they defeated Michigan 73-63. A monster performance by Blake Griffin scoring 33 points and grabbing 17 boards while shooting 70 percent from the field.
Oklahoma advanced to the Sweet 16 taking on the Syracuse Orange at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee.
An Elite Eight appearance was made by the Sooners following an 84-71 victory over Syracuse.
Once again Blake Griffin led the way with 30 points, 14 rebounds, and shooting 80 percent from the field. Sooners guard Tony Crocker was big in that Syracuse win ending the game with 28 points and draining sixth three-pointers.
In the Elite Eight, sadly the Sooners were eliminated by the one-seeded North Carolina Tar Heels who went on to win the 2009 National Championship led by Head Coach Roy Williams.
Blake Griffin won AP Player of the Year, National Player of the Year, the John Wooden Award, the Oscar Robertson Trophy, and the Adolph Rupp Trophy. Griffin went on to the NBA as he was drafted first overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2009 NBA Draft.
In 2018, Griffin was traded to the Detroit Pistons.
By: Joey Ross