Oklahoma State University Athletics
March Heritage
March 18, 2015 | Cowboy Basketball
By Harry Endicott
STILLWATER - Two NCAA championships, appearances in three national title games, six Final Fours, 11 Elite Eights and 14 Sweet 16's - this is a taste of what Oklahoma State men's basketball has accomplished in its rich postseason history.
Competing as the nine seed in the West region, the Cowboys make the program's 27th NCAA Tournament appearance this week when they face No. 8-seed Oregon Friday in Omaha, with the winner getting the winner of No. 1 Wisconsin vs. No. 16 Coastal Carolina Sunday.
Oklahoma State's rich history at the tournament began in 1945 with the first of two NCAA title runs. Led by legendary head coach Henry Iba, the 27-4 Aggies stormed through the eight-team tournament to eventually claim the national championship over New York University in New York City.
The Aggies routed Utah and Arkansas in their first two tournament games to advance to the national championship game at Madison Square Garden. Kurland and Hankins scored 22 and 15, respectively, to edge NYU, 49-45, and claim the program's first national championship.
Seven-foot center Bob Kurland and guard Cecil Hankins spurred the Aggies to their first title. Kurland earned Most Outstanding Player honors after averaging 21.7 points per game in the tournament, up almost five points from his 17.1 scoring average during the regular season. Hankins, a multi-sport athlete coming off an appearance in the Cotton Bowl with the Oklahoma A&M football team earlier in that same school year, scored 37 points in the final two games of the tournament to help put the Aggies over the top.
One year later, Kurland and the Aggies were back in New York City to defend their national championship after knocking off Baylor and California to advance to the title game for a matchup against North Carolina. In a 43-40 victory that was also the first televised game in NCAA Tournament history, Kurland scored 23 points to lead all scorers and become the first player in the tournament's history to earn two-straight Most Outstanding Player honors.
In 1949, Iba's Aggies played in the NCAA title game, but suffered a 10-point loss to Kentucky in the championship game in Seattle. The path to the title game included a 40-39 win over Wyoming and a 55-30 wipeout of Oregon State in the national semifinal that was fueled by Bob Harris's 23-point outburst. In the national title game, Adolph Rupp's Kentucky squad proved to be too much for the Aggies to handle, as the Wildcats snagged a 46-36 victory for the championship.
Just two years later, Oklahoma A&M was back in the Final Four - marking its fourth such trip in a seven-year span. The Aggies topped Montana State and Washington to get there, with Gale McArthur, Don Johnson and Keith Smith all scoring in double figures in the 61-57 win over the Huskies. In the national semifinal, Oklahoma A&M was topped by Kansas State, 68-44.
While OSU didn't appear in the Final Four between 1951 and 1995, it did amass four trips to the Elite Eight during that span.
In 1995, coach Eddie Sutton and the Cowboys entered the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed in the East region and made an improbable run to the Final Four, thanks to impressive performances by Bryant "Big Country" Reeves and Randy Rutherford. The Cowboys handled Drexel and Alabama in the first two rounds of the tournament, winning by double digits in each contest.
In the Sweet 16, the Cowboys knocked off top-seeded Wake Forest in East Rutherford, N.J., to advance to the regional final. Rutherford tallied a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds in the win, while Reeves contributed 12 points and eight boards. In the regional final, the Cowboys knocked off second-seeded Massachusetts, 68-54, behind a 23-point and 10-rebound performance by Reeves to clinch the program's first Final Four appearance in 44 years. Scott Pierce was also significant in the victory, contributing 12 points and eight rebounds. On its path through the East region, OSU navigated a path that went through vaunted big men Antonio McDyess from Alabama, Tim Duncan from Wake Forest and Marcus Camby from Massachusetts.
The Cowboys advanced to face top-ranked UCLA and Wooden Award winner Ed O'Bannon in the semifinal game in Seattle, though Reeves made national headlines the day before by shattering the backboard with a monster dunk.
The game between the Pokes and Bruins was closely contested throughout, but with two-and-a-half minutes remaining, UCLA began to pull away and claimed a 74-61 win, despite 25 points and nine rebounds from Reeves.
The tournament run that is freshest in most Cowboy fans' memories is that which took them to the 2004 Final Four. Cowboys Joey Graham, John Lucas, Ivan McFarlin and Tony Allen were instrumental in getting Sutton to his second Final Four.
After struggling in the first half against Eastern Washington, the second-seeded Cowboys rallied in the second half and locked down a 75-56 victory led by 20 points and 10 boards from McFarlin in the round of 64. The Cowboys routed Memphis, 70-53, in their second-round matchup. Graham scored 21 to lead the OSU scoring attack and McFarlin notched another double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Just like the 1995 Final Four run nine years prior, the Cowboys traveled to East Rutherford, N.J., for the regional semifinals and finals. Allen scored 23 in the Pokes' 63-51 victory over Pittsburgh in the Sweet 16 that advanced OSU to a regional final date with top-seeded St. Joseph's. In what was one of the most exciting games of the entire tournament, the Cowboys trailed St. Joe's, 62-61, when John Lucas hit a three-pointer with 6.9 seconds left that proved to be the game-winner and sent Oklahoma State to the Final Four in San Antonio, Texas.
The Cowboys faced Georgia Tech in the national semifinal game. Despite double-digit scoring performances by Graham, McFarlin, Lucas and Allen, the Pokes lost to the Yellow Jackets, 67-65, after Will Bynum hit a layup with 1.5 seconds left to give Georgia Tech the lead and the game.
These six historic Oklahoma State NCAA Tournament runs represent only a fraction of the countless memorable Cowboy basketball moments in the NCAA tournament. Few college basketball programs in the country have built a tradition of NCAA Tournament success like Oklahoma State.
Starting this Friday, the Cowboys will compete in their third-straight tournament with hopes of adding another chapter to that Oklahoma State basketball postseason legacy.
