Memphis has not been kind to OU
Memphis has hosted four NCAA Tournaments: 1984, 1995, 1997 and 2001. In half of those, Oklahoma has come to town as a high seed and been sent home before sundown.
In 1995, Kelvin Sampson’s first year, OU was a No. 4 seed, but Manhattan pulled off a 77-67 upset. That was Fran Fraschilla’s launching pad to jobs at St. John’s and New Mexico. Manhattan lost to Arizona State 64-54 in the second round.
In 2001, OU entered the NCAAs fresh off a Big 12 Tournament title and again was a No. 4 seed. Yet Indiana State pulled a 70-68 upset in overtime. The Sycamores then lost 85-68 to Gonzaga in the second round. The most vivid memory from that OU game was in the locker room, where Sampson stood calmly answering questions, then when the final question was asked, but before the Oklahoma writers had departed, Sampson turned and slugged a locker just as hard as he could.
Both of those games were played at the old Pyramid, a Myriad-era building known for its huge triange-top architecture. The West Regional semifinals Friday night will be held at the new FedEx Forum, so maybe that’s good karma for the Sooners.
The only years in which Memphis hosted NCAA action sans Sooners were in 1997 and 1984. In ‘97, Memphis got a big upset anyway — 12th-seeded College of Charleston knocked off fifth-seeded Maryland 75-66. In ‘84, Memphis hosted no real upsets; its two survivors were hometown Memphis State and the University of Houston, in Hakeem Olajuwon’s senior year.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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One quibble:
I grew up in Norman, and the Myriad opened when I was in 5th-grade.
I moved to Memphis in 1992 (left in ‘98), which was ONE YEAR after the Pyramid opened–when I was 30! While the Pyramid and the Myriad have a lot of similarites, I don’t think it’s very accurate to describe the Pyramid as a “Myriad-era” building.
(funny–I just discovered while typing this that “Pyramid” is an anagram of “Myriad” + a “P”).