Bye-bye Bird: Oklahoma junior at ease with buzz-cut after comparisons to Celtics great

Brady Manek had enough of the long hair and the extra attention it brought along with it.

So, the Oklahoma junior parted ways with his bushy hair a few months ago after a lengthy run. Before switching back his hairstyle, Manek began drawing comparisons to Boston Celtics Hall of Famer Larry Bird. Both sported thin mustaches and thick, bushy hair and are the same 6-foot-9 frame.

Manek had fun with all the Bird talk and even recreated the old McDonald’s commercial with teammate Christian James playing the part of Michael Jordan. He also posted pictures of him with a Bird T-Shirt.

“I’m glad I got the buzz cut back. I feel more like myself,” Manek said. “I had to go back to the buzz cut. It was getting in my way every morning, it wasn’t fun. Just got tired of it. Brought a lot of attention to myself. It was cool though.”

Manek’s teammates were disappointed he went back to the buzz cut and enjoyed giving him various nicknames such as “Larry from The Prairie.”

“I was trying to convince him to grow out a mullet,” guard Jamal Bieniemy said. “That is what I was wishing for. Mullet he should go with it.”

Even with the hair gone, they are still talking about Manek because of his play on the floor. The forward has had some of his best performances over the last month.

Manek scored 21 in the Sooners’ loss in the Big 12 Tournament and had 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting in the first round win over Ole Miss in the NCAA Tournament. The Sooners get top-seeded Virginia in the second round on Sunday.

“I think just having guys like Jamal on the court with me, find an open guy, having other threats on the court, too,” Manek said. “They can’t just face guard me the whole time. They have other guys on this court to be threats on the offensive end. I think just everybody having their confidence up. We played well yesterday.

“Going back to the Texas and Kansas games, everybody really had their confidence high, and I think that plays a big part in how everybody and myself score like that.”