A new era of Oklahoma Sooners basketball begins tonight at Lloyd Noble Arena as the Oklahoma Sooners get set to take on the Northwestern State Demons.
Porter Moser takes over for Lon Kruger, who helped the Sooners reach the NCAA Tournament seven times in his 10 seasons at the helm. In 2015-2016, Kruger helped lead the Buddy Hield Oklahoma Sooners to as high as No. 1 in the AP Top 25 and a Final Four appearance.
Moser is coming off an impressive season himself, taking the Loyola (Chicago) to a regular season and tournament conference championship and an elite eight run in the NCAA Tournament.
As the Sooners get set to tip-off, all of the changes have ESPN’s Joe Lunardi skeptical that Oklahoma can return to the NCAA Tournament in the 2021-2022 season. In Lunardi’s first Bracketology of the college basketball season, he has Oklahoma on the outside looking in as one of his first four out.
Oklahoma begins its season on Joe Lunardi's "first four out" section in Bracketology. pic.twitter.com/Apa1LrXJw2
— Josh Helmer (@JoshOnREF) November 9, 2021
Of course, these are just the initial tournament projections. The Oklahoma Sooners have a talented team to open the season with a really good coach. Navigating a deep Big 12 conference will be challenging, but Oklahoma made noise last year.
Despite the losses of Austin Reaves (NBA) and Brady Manek (transfer portal), the Sooners restocked with experienced players who should be able to step right in and help lead this team back to the NCAA Tournament. Tanner and Jacob Groves, Jordan Goldwire, Marvin Johnson, and Ethan Chargois have played a lot of minutes in NCAA basketball. Add that group to Umoja Gibson and Elijah Harkless, who were big-time contributors for the Sooners last season, and this team has the makeup to make some noise in the Big 12 and the nation.
It’s an exciting time for Oklahoma Sooners basketball, and it all gets started tonight at 7 p.m. at Lloyd Noble Arena.
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