The inspirational well was overflowing the last time Oklahoma stepped on the basketball court. The day-long tribute to the late Wayman Tisdale was a motivational force in its upset of Texas Saturday.
The Sooners will honor the other No. 23 in program's history with "Blake Griffin Night" at 7 tonight when they face Texas Tech at Lloyd Noble Center.
Will it bring out the same positive emotions?
Maybe.
"We want to show Blake we didn't have a huge dropoff since he left," OU guard Willie Warren said.
That's a tough argument to make considering the Sooners (13-9, 4-4 Big 12) will face the Red Raiders (15-7, 3-5) with the hope of climbing above .500 in the conference standings. OU was leading the league and on the cusp of being ranked No. 1 at this point last year.
But it also shows the difference how honoring past players can be received.
Tisdale is the most beloved and respected player in Sooner history. The outpouring of emotion when he died last May and again Saturday made that obvious.
But Tisdale played his last game as a Sooner a quarter century ago.
Griffin last put on the uniform less than a year ago. He was a teammate to many of OU's players and a role model to others. Obviously, he could still be playing with them right now.
Tonight, will be his first visit to Norman since the summer. And his first chance to really see a Sooner team that regularly plays four freshmen that arrived after he left.
"It will be a good chance for some of the younger guys to talk to him. The upper classmen and the returning guys, we were his teammate for at least a year," said senior forward Ryan Wright, who was Griffin's teammate for two seasons. "These younger guys haven't had a chance to talk to him a lot."
Griffin, who was taken as the No. 1 overall pick by the Los Angeles Clippers, didn't figure to have much of a presence for OU this season.
The chance to honor him tonight was only opened up due to a knee injury that has kept him off the NBA hardwood all season and will continue for the rest of the season.
Nonetheless, Griffin has stayed in the loop as far as OU basketball is concerned.
"I've talked to most of the guys actually," he said Monday. "I've talked to Willie throughout the year. I've talked to Cade and all the guys."
OU coach Jeff Capel has never understated the importance Griffin had on the program. The success he enjoyed over his two seasons as a Sooner turned him into a pied-piper for recruiting.
But it was the things he did in the practice gym every day Capel hoped would set a course for the Sooners.
"Some of these guys who had a chance to play with him last year, you hope they took how hard you have to work," Capel said. "I think some people just look and see the finished product and how he dominated. They don't really pay attention to the things he did to prepare for that."
Griffin was scheduled to fly into Oklahoma today. He said he would probably stay in the state for the rest of the week.
It's a night he's been looking forward to.
"I'm just glad I'm able to come back and see people and return to the place I had two great years and a lot of fun," he said. "I wouldn't trade those years for anything."
Neither would OU, which also hopes his presence serves as a reminder of what made him so good.
John Shinn 366-3536 jshinn@normantranscript.com
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