Written by George Schroeder at USAToday.com
The mission, the reason Buddy Hield returned for his senior season — the reason we all got to watch a shooting star emerge at the national level — was simple.
“I want to taste the Final Four,” Oklahoma’s senior guard said the other day.
And now, the Final Four is about to get a taste of Buddy — which means college basketball fans might be in for a huge treat.
No. 2 Oklahoma took down No. 1 Oregon 80-68 with a dominant performance that was reminiscent of January, when the Sooners held the No. 1 ranking and were putting on shooting shows seemingly every time they played.
Oklahoma is much more than Hield, of course. The Sooners are a veteran, talented bunch brimming with confidence. But no one denies, as Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger put it, that “Buddy’s the core.” All year, he’s been at the center of a traveling circus of fun from long range. And apart from that 46-point performance in a triple-overtime loss to Kansas right after the new year, Hield might never have been better than he was Saturday — on the biggest stage so far.
Hield’s 37-point performance was filled with the kind of moves that made him the frontrunner for national player of the year honors and might just translate very well at the next level. The senior guard slashed his way to the hoop and nailed devastating mid-range jumpers. But it was the three-pointers — on the run in transition, stepbacks and fadeaways, and occasionally from very deep — that caused the crowd in theHonda Center to not so much cheer as gasp collectively. One even prompted an NBA all-time great to salute.
Kobe Bryant was in the building again, as he had been on Thursday when Hield scored 17 points. This time, he saw the shooting star and apparently came away impressed.
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