Oklahoma State to Honor 1995 Final Four Team
(Oklahoma State Athletics Media Relations contributed to this article)
STILLWATER -- Oklahoma State will commemorate the 25-year anniversary of the 1995 Final Four Cowboy basketball team with a celebration and reunion during Saturday's game against Texas Tech.
"There's certain things that you get to do in this business, even for me, I have a hard time still accepting that I'm leading this program," said head coach Mike Boynton. "I believe in my ability to do the job, but the history of this program is great. There's very few teams as good as the team in '95 was right here. So, to be able to honor those guys for achieving almost the ultimate success you can have as a player in college basketball is truly great.
"I've met a lot of those guys already, but to be able to tell them thanks and to be able to show our players this is where the bar is for our program and where we hope to get it back to, hopefully give us an opportunity to continue to build what we're trying to build through this process. We'll keep trying to take it step by step and always reflect back on this is what's possible here."
Legendary head coach Eddie Sutton, along with current Texas Tech coaching staff, and former Oklahoma State head coach, Sean Sutton and players will from the '95 team will be honored on the court in special pregame and halftime ceremonies.
Another cool aspect of the celebrations is that Mike Boynton and the current Cowboys will be honoring the '95 team by wearing a special uniform.
The program is also encouraging the fans to party like it's 1995 by wearing their favorite 90's clothes. They'll be showing special video tributes throughout the game, as well as playing 90's music.
The program will also be giving out free t-shirts celebrating the 1995 Final Four team to the first 1,995 fans. Those shirts can be picked up in the East lobby of GIA when the doors open up and 11 a.m.
The 1995 Oklahoma State squad became larger-than-lie in taking OSU back to the Final Four for the first time in 44 years. Randy Rutherford became the country's best shooter, Scott Pierce became "Toothless in Seattle" and the entire country knew Bryant Reeves as "Big Country" after the senior destroyed the Kingdome backboard.
"It's actually my first ever experience of Oklahoma State basketball," coach Boynton said of Bryant Reeves breaking the backboard. "I grew up watching the Big East, it was really good when I was growing up. So, I didn't really pay attention to basketball outside of the Northeast region that much. But when the TV broadcast shows, the Final Four's a big deal, that someone broke the backboard, it's an unusual thing to happen. I think I remember Shaq doing it a couple of times and I hear "Big Country" did it, if someone's going to break the backboard, it's going to be somebody named "Big Country". That was pretty cool. I'm honored to have met him, to have been able to coach his son and be around him. They've got a terrific family and I'm glad he'll be here to get the honor and respect they all deserve."
Reeves earned Big Eight Conference MVP honors before taking down legendary big men Tim Duncan of Wake Forest and Marcus Camby of UMass. He and the Cowboys gave the eventual champions, No. 1 seed UCLA, a fight before falling 74-61.
Tipoff on Saturday against Texas Tech is scheduled for noon and will be televised on CBS.
