The Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball team might be the surprise of the college basketball season. They were picked to finish 12th in their conference in the preseason but instead find themselves in the top 10 in the country.
The Sooners are sitting at 13-1 (1-0 Big 12), with their only loss a “neutral” site loss in North Carolina to the Tar Heels. The thing that has been most impressive is how different players seem to step up in just about every game. Their depth has been a key factor to the start. Whether that’s [autotag]Otega Oweh[/autotag] or [autotag]Javian McCollum[/autotag] or [autotag]Milos Uzan[/autotag] or [autotag]John Hugley IV[/autotag] or [autotag]Le’Tre Darthard[/autotag], it always seems to be a different person who always steps up.
ESPN has taken notice of that. They ranked the Sooners No. 10 in their latest power rankings, and it’s because of their depth.
When I talked to opposing coaches for a piece last week about Oklahoma, BYU and Ole Miss, Le’Tre Darthard’s name barely came up in conversation. Yet he was a key difference-maker in the Sooners’ win over Iowa State to start Big 12 play. The Utah Valley transfer came off the bench to hit three 3s and score 11 points, including a 3 with 3:15 left to push Oklahoma’s lead to four. – Jeff Borzello ESPN
That’s exactly why they’ve been as good as they have been. As Borzello said, coaches weren’t even talking about a guy like Darthard, but he stepped up big in Oklahoma’s win over Iowa State. If they can continue to get big contributions from a variety of players, they’ll be a tough team to beat the rest of the way.
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