Lon Kruger
In 30 years as a men’s head basketball coach, Lon Kruger has compiled a record of 573-354. Kruger has led five different schools to the NCAA Tournament, including guiding the Florida Gators to their first Final Four appearances in school history. After leading the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels to five consecutive tournament appearances, Kruger took over a struggling Oklahoma Sooners basketball program in 2011. And after going 15-16 in his first year at Oklahoma, Kruger was able to get the Sooners to the NCAA Tournament in 2013. Oklahoma entered this college basketball season fresh off of making the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2009, and after finishing second in each of the last two years in the Big 12 Conference, Kruger’s crew is ready for bigger things this season.
The Sooners began this college basketball season ranked eighth in the Associated Press Poll and they lived up to that hype by winning their first 12 games of the season which was highlighted by a dominating 78-55 victory over a Big East Conference powerhouse in the Villanova Wildcats along with beginning conference play by knocking off the Iowa State Cyclones 87-83. The Sooners would then travel to Lawrence, Kansas on January 4, to meet the Kansas Jayhawks who were the top-ranked team in the country. At this point the Sooners had vaulted up to the second slot in the Associated Press Poll which added to the intrigue for the contest that lived up to the billing.
The Sooners went back and forth with the Jawhawks in a game that showed the skill of both clubs. Oklahoma senior guard Buddy Hield kept the Sooners in the game with 46 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. And when Hield fouled out in the third overtime, even the folks at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence had to give him a standing ovation. The Sooners would lose to Kansas that night by a score of 109-106 in triple overtime, but they showed the nation that they will be a force to reckoned with over the next few months.
Buddy Hield
Led by Hield, Oklahoma has four players that are currently averaging double figures in points as Kruger’s three guard lineup consisting of Hield, junior guard Jordan Woodard, and senior guard Isaiah Cousins are pacing the scoring. At 26.6 points per game, Hield is second in the nation in scoring as he is the best basketball player to suit up at Norman since Blake Griffin in the late 2000’s. Hield is also one of the best perimeter shooters in the history of the program as he is knocking down three-points shots at a clip of nearly 52 percent. And once you factor all of this in, Kruger has his best shot at getting back to the Final Four since he got Florida there in 1994.
The one knock on Kruger during his time on the college basketball scene is that he is not afraid to change his address. After leading the Kansas State Wildcats to the Elite Eight in 1988, Kruger surprisingly left in 1990 for Florida. And after establishing himself at Florida, Kruger abruptly left to replace the retiring Lou Henson as the head basketball coach of Illinois Fighting Illini. Kruger was building a program at Illinois when the allure of the NBA was too much for him in 2000 when he became the basketball coach of the Atlanta Hawks. Things didn’t work out for Kruger in the NBA as he was fired in 2003 after going 69-122. But Kruger found his groove once again on the collegiate scene with UNLV in 2004, and now at the age of 63, Oklahoma could be his final rodeo.
And as the Sooners could find themselves sitting in the catbird’s seat in the polls next week if they are able to defeat the West Virginia Mountaineers today, this is not only a team that could win the Big 12 as even in defeat, they showed that they are not afraid of Kansas, but they could ultimately cut down the nets this April in Houston as national champions which is the only thing that is missing from Kruger’s stellar resume that could one day lead him to Springfield, Massachusetts with a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
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