BuddyBuckets. BuddyLove. No Buddy Better.

Had Buddy Hield not telephoned his mother the morning of April 24, 2015, his final year of collegiate wonderment and achievement never would have transpired.

That day at 7 a.m. is when Hield decided he would bypass the 2015 NBA Draft and return for his senior season at the University of Oklahoma.

“It really was a gut decision, a gut feeling about what would be best for me,” Hield explained at the time. “I feel like it's the best decision for me, the best decision for my family. I'm with a great team, a great university, great fans.”

Hield's prudent gut check has resulted in one of the greatest individual basketball seasons in Sooners history.

Affectionately nicknamed “Buddy Love” by teammates, Hield is a fast-talking, fun-loving kid born in the Bahamas who returned to college to improve his draft stock, an option that should be utilized far more frequently by underclassmen.

“I wanted to win it (Big 12 Player of the Year) again, but my ultimate goal was to come in and compete for the Final Four. If I'm competing, I know what kind of competitor I am. I'm not going to let anybody take my crown from me again. I was always competitive like that. It was mine to lose, so why not go in there and compete as hard as I can?”
Buddy Hield

With OU set to begin NCAA Tournament play Friday at 3:15 p.m. against CSU Bakersfield inside Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Hield now carries a sparkling resume that has NBA scouts taking notice.

Hield originally intended to turn pro after a junior season in which he was named 2015 Big 12 Player of the Year and selected an Associated Press Third-Team All-American, averaging 17.4 points, 5.4 rebounds and shooting 41.2 percent from the field and 35.9 percent from 3-point range. He became the first player in Big 12 history to be named Player of the Year, lead the league in scoring and also earn First-Team Academic All-Big 12 honors.

As a senior, Hield joined Raef LaFrentz of Kansas as only the second player to repeat as Big 12 Player of the Year.

“I wanted to win it again,” Hield said, “but my ultimate goal was to come in and compete for the Final Four. If I'm competing, I know what kind of competitor I am. I'm not going to let anybody take my crown from me again. I was always competitive like that. It was mine to lose, so why not go in there and compete as hard as I can?”

Hield was selected this season's national Player of the Year by The Sporting News and is a multiple first-team All-American selection with more honors bound to come. His averages have climbed to 25.0 points (second nationally) and 5.6 rebounds, while shooting 49.6 percent from the field, 46.4 percent on 3-pointers and 89.5 percent from the free-throw line. He has 23 games of 20-plus points, 10 games of 30-plus points and is the Big 12's single-season record holder with 127 made threes.

Last year, Hield was viewed as a fringe second-round pick in a draft that selects only 60 players worldwide.

“I probably would have been drafted and gone to the (NBA's) D-League,” said Hield, who was told ballhandling was his biggest shortcoming. “I want to go there when I'm ready, be more efficient, so everything can be on point.”

Buddy Hield

This year, Hield is rated as a lottery pick (Top 14) and has been ranked as high as No. 6 on the nbadraft.net mock draft board.

Hield's return once again has the OU campus buzzing about basketball. He chose to keep intact the three-year lineup of Hield, Isaiah Cousins, Ryan Spangler and Jordan Woodard, which has now made 100 consecutive starts together. Hield's return helped fill the seats at Lloyd Noble Center as the Sooners (25-7) spent five straight weeks in January and February ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in the national polls.

OU men's basketball hasn't reached these heights since 2009 national Player of the Year and future NBA dunk champion Blake Griffin was scraping his head on the bottom of backboards for the Sooners.

Hield's enthusiasm this season has been relentless. Last Friday night, he jumped on top of press row inside the Sprint Center to celebrate a half-court shot he hit at the final buzzer in the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. The shot banked in, but it was waved off after further review. Turns out the basketball was still touching Hield's fingernail when the red light inside the backboard lit up and signaled the end of the game, wiping out what would have been a 70-69 semifinal victory over West Virginia.

Just another in a long line of Hield highlights this season that never would have happened had he turned pro last April. Simply add it to the basketful of other memories: His 30-point season-opener at Memphis; his 27 points and nine rebounds to help the Sooners survive at Hawaii; his 34 points against Harvard; his 46 points and eight 3-pointers in a thriller at Kansas; his 32 points in a comeback win at LSU; his game-winning shot with 1.3 seconds remaining at home to beat Texas; his 29 in a win at West Virginia; his 39 points and nine rebounds in a win over Iowa State at the Big 12 Tournament.

"The fans embrace me really well. The students, I really like being around them. … What everybody's been doing here for the past four years has been something special, so hats off to the fans.”
Buddy Hield

Hield was so captivating against Kansas this season, Jayhawks fans essentially adopted him as one of their own. They gave him a standing ovation following a post-game interview inside Allen Fieldhouse after he scored a career-high 46 in a 109-106 triple-overtime classic that clearly qualified as the best game of the 2015-16 regular season. That same night, KU fans waited for an hour outside the OU locker room in hopes of getting Hield's autograph.

Six weeks later in Norman, after the Sooners lost another heartbreaker to the Jayhawks, Kansas fans waited at the top of the south tunnel at Lloyd Noble Center for another round of selfies and autographs with Hield, who again obliged.

“Yeah, that was crazy,” Hield said of the Kansas experience, which actually began when he moved from the Bahamas prior his junior year of high school to attend Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire, northeast of Wichita. “I just appreciate all the fans who respect me and respect my game. They're taking notice, so it means I must be doing something good.”

Hield's hard work also built confidence. On multiple occasions, he has buried key jumpers when smothered by defenders.

“Yeah, I've made a few,” Hield said. “When it left my hand, I knew it was going in. Because of muscle memory, I know I can make it. Sometimes I call it before it even goes in to let everybody know, let my defender know, 'Yeah, I'm doing it for real. It's not a fluke.'”

Though Hield spends much of his spare time at the team's practice facility in Lloyd Noble, he also has soaked in the college life at other sporting events and social gatherings.

“If you want people's support, you have to go support them, too,” Hield said. “I support you, you support me. That's looking out for the athletes and looking out for the students. A sorority or a fraternity may ask me to say 'Hi' and stuff. Just spreading the love and people at this university have been so good to me. Sometimes you've got to keep your mind off basketball a little bit and be able to go watch some sporting events and chill sometimes.

Buddy Hield

“I just wanted the full experience of college, and when I leave I didn't want to have any regrets (about leaving early),” said Hield, who added he is nine hours short of his bachelor's degree in human relations. “I'm having fun with it. Everything's gone cool, plus I felt it helped me out, especially for the long run. You can't get back four years of college. It's the best part of your life because after that it's going to be all business and you're taking care of your family. It's going to be a different lifestyle.”

As you might imagine given Hield's astounding success this season, he has no regrets.

“I just thank God I made the right decision,” Hield said. “I came back and I trusted myself. I trust my family. I trust God. I asked God, 'Give me the right decision. Give me the right path.' And the right path was to come back. He told me to come back and it was the best decision I ever made in my life. Even coming to America (in 2010), that decision right there, it was nerve-wracking, it was scary. Your whole lifestyle changes.”

Hield's quest to improve his NBA chances has been daunting, but it hasn't been all hard work.

“You don't want to know how fun college is for me,” Hield joked. “I like it. The fans embrace me really well. The students, I really like being around them. … What everybody's been doing here for the past four years has been something special, so hats off to the fans.”

The decision to return for his senior season was a great one for Buddy Love. But the real winners were college basketball and its fans, who have been treated to one of the most spectacular campaigns in Sooner history. No Buddy better.