Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield is a rare fourth-year college basketball star

Turns out there is another award Buddy Hield can win, although not officially. Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said Hield might have been the most improved player in the Big 12 this season.

Improved over his Big 12 player of the year season as a junior in 2015?

“When you think about most improved, you don’t think about player of the year as a starting point,” Kruger said. “But he really worked hard to take a very talented starting point and improve it.”

The point is a good one and extends beyond the numbers as Hield and Oklahoma prepare to take on Villanova in the national semifinals on Saturday. Tip off at NRG Stadium is 5:09 p.m. The game will be televised on TBS.

He’s added eight points to his scoring average from last season and stands at 25.4 points per game, which ranks second nationally. Shooting percentages are up from acceptable to remarkable as Hield shoots 54.9 percent on two-pointers and 45.6 percent on threes.

“That’s what I wanted to work on most,” Hield said. “My percentages were down last year. I didn’t shoot the way I wanted to.”

Those words weren’t hollow. From the end of 2015, through the offseason, and during this year when Oklahoma rolled to a third-place finish in the Big 12 and earned a No. 2 seed in the West Region, Hield constantly improved his game.

“It was very genuine,” Kruger said.

In doing so, Hield has put himself in the rare position of always being the best player when he steps on the floor — as a college senior.

Not a one-and-done freshman, not an underclassmen lottery pick, a fourth-year senior, who a year ago decided he could be more than the second-round NBA Draft selection that was projected for him.

“He bet on himself,” Sooners assistant Steve Henson said.

Hield delivered one of the best seasons in recent memory, perhaps the best in the 20-year history of the Big 12. Some who remained until their senior and junior years, such as Kansas’ Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich, weren’t as decorated.

Those who won multiple national player of the year awards — Hield’s latest was the Oscar Robertson Award presented by the United States Basketball Writers Association on Friday — didn’t get a team to the Final Four. The group includes Texas’ Kevin Durant and the Sooners’ Blake Griffin.

By staying, Hield soared on career production lists, sealing his greatness for history. He’ll finish behind Wayman Tisdale as Oklahoma’s career scoring leader, but with four points Saturday he’ll become the Big 12’s career top scorer. His 916 points is a Big 12 record for a season.

Villanova coach Jay Wright sees more than just a terrific shooter and scorer. Hield has been that throughout the NCAA Tournament, averaging 29.3 points and producing scoring games of 37 and 36 points.

“What’s unique about Buddy is I think he moves without the basketball at a speed and with a level of intelligence that no one else that we’ve played against does,” Wright said. “I think that’s what’s going to make him a great pro.

“A lot of times the great college players have the ball in their hands all the time. He’s so good not just coming off screens without the ball, but he gets himself spaced away from the ball and he lulls you to sleep, he stands still. Then the burst of speed with which he comes back behind the ball, you just don’t play against anybody like that.”

All of this from a player who saw Oklahoma as his best offer out of Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita. Colorado was the other strong suitor for the emerging talent who had been discovered in his native Bahamas. Kansas recruited Hield, a four-star prospect, but not as intensely.

Throughout his life, Hield has played with a chip that belies his off-court smile and politeness. Any game he played as a child, he had to win. Skeptical that he could leave his homeland and play top level college basketball? Just watch me, Hield said.

In that sense, improvement over a player-of-the-year season makes sense. Hield was good but not good enough. And when he was told his talent was likely worth a second-round selection last year he accepted the challenge, and turned himself into a college basketball superstar … as a senior.

This story was originally published April 1, 2016 at 4:32 PM with the headline "Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield is a rare fourth-year college basketball star."