Tisdale and Griffin

Wayman Tisdale passed recently. He represented all that was good about college basketball. He was a top flight star who stayed in state to play ball. He was as successful off the court as a musician as he was on it. He remained a vocal, high-profile supporter of Oklahoma athletics. A very impressive man who passed on way too young in life.
As a prospect back in the '85 draft, Tisdale was somewhat overhyped. He went 2nd after Pat Ewing. At the time this seemed like a good pick, but Tisdale never dominated like many thought he mght and his NBA career was somewhat disappointing. No matter that his career numbers are very similar to Xavier McDaniel's who went 4th in the same draft and never had the bust label placed on him. But with Chris Mullin, Detlef Schrempf, Charles Oakley and Karl Malone all coming off the board after Tisdale, it's clear the Pacers would have been up for a redraft had Doc Brown and his DeLorean shown up at their door.
This brings us to the current Okla PF phenom and certain top draft pick, Blake Griffin. Griffin wears the same #23 as Tisdale and plays the same position. Both are primarily scorers and rebounders with mediocre defensive numbers. Both stayed in state to play ball. Griffin is also a much better prospect than Tisdale was at this point in their careers. Griffin's teams don't play at the fast pace that the Sooners of Billy Tubbs did, which was one factor in Tisdale--and Stacey King 4 years later-- being a little more hyped than he deserved. Griffin is also a higher percentage shoter and much better rebounder. So I don't think we're looking at any Oklahoma PF jinx with Griffin.