Top Daug was introduced as the mascot of Oklahoma basketball in the Sooner glory years of the 1980s and served as a symbol OU’s rise to the top in the Big Eight and exciting run-and-gun style under legendary head coach Billy Tubbs.
While Top Daug was roaming the sidelines, leading the cheers and firing up the Sooner crowds that regularly filled the Lloyd Noble Center on basketball game days and nights, Oklahoma won four regular-season Big Eight championships, two conference postseason tournament titles and appeared to in NCAA Final Fours.
After Top Daug was retired at the end of the 2003-04 season, the Sooners haven’t experienced near the same run of success on the hardwood.