{"id":799363,"date":"2024-04-03T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/?p=799363"},"modified":"2024-04-03T15:39:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T19:39:31","slug":"2018-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/the-magazine\/30-most-influential-mbb-teams\/2018-oklahoma\/","title":{"rendered":"The 30 Most Influential NCAA MBB Teams of SLAM\u2019s 30 Years: 2018 Oklahoma \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To celebrate SLAM’s 30th anniversary, we\u2019re spotlighting the 30 most influential men\u2019s college teams from our past 30 years. Stats, records and chips aren\u2019t the main factor here, it’s all about their contribution to the game’s cultural fabric.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the next 30 days\u2014Monday through Friday\u2014 we’ll be unveiling the\u00a0full list here<\/a>. We’ve also got an exclusive retro collegiate collection, out now, that pays homage to each squad’s threads.\u00a0Shop here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There\u2019s a reason why we called him the \u201cgreatest show in hoops\u201d back then. Long before the lore of Ice Trae sent shivers down the backs of everyone in Madison Square Garden during the playoffs, Trae Young was silencing the doubters in the Lloyd Noble Center, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2017-18 Oklahoma Sooners didn\u2019t just have a star freshman, they had a rebel. He simply couldn\u2019t be held to the limits of the three-point line, or held back by the opinions of others about his size or potential. As we wrote in our SLAM 214 cover story of him, \u201cnot only has he completely rearranged mock draft orders and the itineraries of NBA scouts, he\u2019s also rearranged the media coverage of college basketball\u2014this publication included.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Young’s destiny in Norman, the same city where he grew up and went to high school, was written long before he rocked crimson and cream. He was the ball boy for the men\u2019s team back in \u201806, and the Young family lived less than 15 minutes from the campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith me having the opportunity to play for a [future] Hall of Fame coach and play in my backyard and represent my city and state\u2014it was something that I wanted to do and to take a different route was something that I took as a challenge,\u201d Young told us in 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He was set to join a team that had an 11-20 record the year prior in 2016-17, and his arrival meant helping carry the team that was full of talent and had some experience, junior Christian James was the team\u2019s second-leading scorer with 11.9 points, the Sooners would catch the attention of the world. As Trae hit mid range floaters and shots from the logo, his teammates held their own alongside him. Between November and January, the Sooners even posted a ten-game winning streak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite a season full of ups and downs, the 2017-18 Sooners ended their season with defeats by Oklahoma State and Rhode Island, but ultimately, the show they put on that year was bigger than the final box score. And as for Young, well, it was only the beginning\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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SHOP THE COLLECTION<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Photos via Getty Images. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To celebrate SLAM’s 30th anniversary, we\u2019re spotlighting the 30 most influential men\u2019s college teams from our past 30 years. Stats, records and chips aren\u2019t the main factor here, it’s all about their contribution to the game’s cultural fabric. For the next 30 days\u2014Monday through Friday\u2014 we’ll be unveiling the\u00a0full list here. We’ve also got an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":531,"featured_media":801524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65174],"tags":[284,1517,65173,65172],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-799363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-30-most-influential-mbb-teams","tag-oklahoma-sooners","tag-slam-30","tag-slam-30th-anniversary","tag-the-30-most-influential-ncaa-mbb-teams-of-slams-30-years"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/531"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799363"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":801525,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799363\/revisions\/801525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799363"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.slamonline.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=799363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}