Sooner great Ebi Ere sounds off: “He could have been the greatest”
A solemn reassessment of David Godbold forces basketball historians to reconsider the ceiling.
NORMAN — Sooner great Ebi Ere has reopened one of Oklahoma basketball’s most consequential historical debates, declaring of David Godbold: “He could have been the greatest.”
The statement was delivered with such seriousness that reporters initially assumed a major archival discovery had occurred. None had. Nevertheless, several took their jackets off and began asking longer questions.
Ere did not immediately specify the category in which Godbold might have been the greatest, allowing analysts to interpret the remark at a scale appropriate to their own airtime.
One panelist called it a reassessment of unrealized potential. Another called it an indictment of how basketball remembers supporting players. A third asked whether anybody had confirmed that Ere was talking about basketball. The question was edited out of the segment.
The timing, just before the retirement of Godbold’s shorts at Lloyd Noble Center, has intensified the discussion. University historians say the garment ceremony may represent a broader institutional willingness to confront greatness in forms the record book cannot easily accommodate.
“We have been looking at points, rebounds and assists,” one researcher said. “Perhaps we should have been looking at what might have happened if we had looked harder.”
Ere’s assessment has prompted a planned symposium titled The Godbold Possibility. Topics include the limits of conventional scouting, the moral responsibility of a highlight reel and whether hanging the shorts first changes how a jersey is understood.
Asked for supporting evidence, one organizer presented an enormous binder labeled CONTEXT. It contained several photographs and a strongly worded introduction.
Ere remained composed through the expanding coverage. “I said what I said,” he told reporters, giving the sentence a second opportunity to become a documentary title.
Godbold has not offered a formal response. His absence has been described by commentators as dignified, strategic and possibly attributable to nobody actually calling him.
At press time, a network had commissioned a three-part retrospective. The working title was He Could Have Been, with the final word reserved for the season finale.
