With all the hand wringing and arguments over the off season about players/

[NorthCarolinaSooner]

How's everyone liking the squad so far?

I've been pleasantly surprised by a couple of the guys.

Love McCollum and Hugley so far....

Think we have something in Moore as well.

This team definitely has the makings of being a top 25-type team. Just have to keep moving in the right direction.

 

[NYC-Fool]

There were a couple very vocal off season haters - not seeing them around right now.

 

[OklaSooners]

This team is the best OU team since 2016. They will finish in the top half of the big 12 and will be a top 6 seed in the ncaa tournament

 

[hoopsaustin]

I'm not gonna jinx anything! We still haven't accomplished a whole lot yet so I'm mum until we hang a banner

 

[skyvue]

It wasn't just some posters here who were skeptical of the new players; the "experts" were too. Here are their rankings among all transfers by On3, 247 and ESPN (ESPN only ranks 100 players and then includes another 44 in seemingly no particular order).

Hugly--On3: 46, 247: 78, ESPN: unranked
McCollum--121, 11, 89
Moore--178, 256, unranked
Soares--203, 258, unranked
Darthard--unranked, 270, unranked

Only Hugley and McCollum received any high marks and the experts were divided on those two.

I was unfamiliar with these players (and acknowledged it) when we signed them, but I checked out their stats and with each, there was room for reasonable skepticism of the "wait and see" variety--based either on their numbers, their minutes or the level of competition they'd been facing (or a combination thereof).

All that said, I'm very pleased indeed with what we've seen so far. I haven't missed a minute of action so far and it's been a lot of fun.

 

[MercedeSooner]

It’s always a big risk taking in guys from lower level programs like Siena, anybody saying they knew either way what this team would look like is kidding themselves. All I know is Moser has hit big and this group is really fun to watch. They won’t be run off the court from a length/athleticism standpoint vs pretty much anybody in the country.

I say enjoy the ride and let’s see how good these guys can be.

 

[Eielson]

Oweh has made a bigger jump than expected, but for those claiming the transfer portal guys have exceeded expectation, I just don't see it. Most of these guys were playing P5 basketball, and if you're surprised by McCollum, then you didn't watch him play.

 

[soonerchuck]

Oweh has made a bigger jump than expected, but for those claiming the transfer portal guys have exceeded expectation, I just don't see it. Most of these guys were playing P5 basketball, and if you're surprised by McCollum, then you didn't watch him play.

I think this is a big understatement in regard to Oweh. I think he has made an enormous jump. His drives, handles and shooting are so much better this year. He must have lived in the gym during the off season

 

[Boom Soon]

Very impressed with the talent Moser brought in. I love the athleticism and speed. Let's hope they can survive the brutal conference schedule!

 

[Boom Soon]

There were a couple very vocal off season haters - not seeing them around right now.

I was 100% down on Moser after last season. But I gotta give the guy credit; he grinded this offseason, and it's paying off.

 

[BoulderSooner]

I was 100% down on Moser after last season. But I gotta give the guy credit; he grinded this offseason, and it's paying off.

he did a really good job flipping this roster with more athletic players ..

and you have to credit him and staff for the player development of Oweh

 

[TEvans4Three]

100% why you don't fire a coach after 2 years...no matter what the peanut gallery says.

Moser can coach, he has proven it, and now he is getting the recruits he needs and adjusting to the physicality of the Big12. He is going to fill the arena soon, just wait.

 

[TINY]

Patience is important. Moser took Loyola to the final 4 and sweet 16 (beat #1 seed Illinois).He is going to take us at least that far.

 

[NickZepp]

We had a lot of roster changes the first 2 years under Porter also and didn't have that much success. And players that were young weren't progressing. And there was some clear misses on guys he brought in.

It's pretty obvious he didn't miss with these guys though.

 

[BCSooners]

I think the criticism of Moser was very fair. His offense wasn’t going to work in the Big12, he was bad in late game situations, and there wasn’t player development.

So far it’s been great. Oweh has tremendously improved, athleticism looks like a big12 team, opened up the offense, playing really good defense.

 

[NickZepp]

I think the criticism of Moser was very fair. His offense wasn’t going to work in the Big12, he was bad in late game situations, and there wasn’t player development.

So far it’s been great. Oweh has tremendously improved, athleticism looks like a big12 team, opened up the offense, playing really good defense.

He will probably say that he did a poor job of bringing in talent that wasn't there for the Big 12. Bamisil was supposed to be a 20 point per game guy and just was nothing. Tanner Groves played hard and was a good leader, but just wasn't athletic enough for the Big 12. His brother never progressed. Bijan Cortes never progressed. CJ Noland never progressed. Guys like Benny Schroeder never looked like Big 12 talent. I guess you can say Jalen Hill got better every year.

I don't think we could have opened up the offense the last couple years because we didn't have athletes. This year we got them.

 

[TINY]

He will probably say that he did a poor job of bringing in talent that wasn't there for the Big 12. Bamisil was supposed to be a 20 point per game guy and just was nothing. Tanner Groves played hard and was a good leader, but just wasn't athletic enough for the Big 12. His brother never progressed. Bijan Cortes never progressed. CJ Noland never progressed. Guys like Benny Schroeder never looked like Big 12 talent. I guess you can say Jalen Hill got better every year.

I don't think we could have opened up the offense the last couple years because we didn't have athletes. This year we got them.

Totally agree. Playing slow was our only shot to beat the more athletic teams of the conference. We kept it close until the end in most cases but didn’t have the playmakers to make shots in winning time. You can tell the difference this year.

 

[BCSooners]

He will probably say that he did a poor job of bringing in talent that wasn't there for the Big 12. Bamisil was supposed to be a 20 point per game guy and just was nothing. Tanner Groves played hard and was a good leader, but just wasn't athletic enough for the Big 12. His brother never progressed. Bijan Cortes never progressed. CJ Noland never progressed. Guys like Benny Schroeder never looked like Big 12 talent. I guess you can say Jalen Hill got better every year.

I don't think we could have opened up the offense the last couple years because we didn't have athletes. This year we got them.

Very fair. He just had so many misses. Really seems to have hit on everyone he brought in this year.

I think he recruited to his offense though, which requires a skilled 5. You aren’t going to get that unless he’s a high 5 star or lacking athleticism.

 

[Eielson]

I think this is a big understatement in regard to Oweh. I think he has made an enormous jump. His drives, handles and shooting are so much better this year. He must have lived in the gym during the off season

I don't see anything we're disagreeing on.

 

[Boom Soon]

I think the criticism of Moser was very fair. His offense wasn’t going to work in the Big12, he was bad in late game situations, and there wasn’t player development.

So far it’s been great. Oweh has tremendously improved, athleticism looks like a big12 team, opened up the offense, playing really good defense.

I don't necessarily blame lack of player development on the head coach. Obviously the head coach has a hand in it, but if a player truly wants to get better he will. He will put in the extra time needed. I remember hearing Kruger mention how the Final Four squad was a bunch of "gym rats" and Moser is saying the same thing about this year's team. That means more than any coaching imo.

Look at the transfer Noland from last year to this year. He completely changed his body (which is great). Does the North Texas basketball program develop players better than OU? Or did Noland decide he needed to change his body to compete at a high level? I'll take the latter.