Oklahoma Athletics set new records for fundraising in 2021-2022 fiscal year

After a fantastic spring for Oklahoma Athletics, the Sooners set several fundraising records in the 2022 fiscal year.

There’s been a huge buy-in from the Oklahoma Sooners fan base since Brent Venables came on board as OU’s head coach in the wake of Lincoln Riley’s departure. Venables’ vision and enthusiasm to take the program good to great, along with his understanding of how to see OU compete alongside the SEC when they join their new conference in the next couple of seasons, has created a sense of urgency for Oklahoma to improve their facilities and resources before making the jump.

The spring game displayed the renewed enthusiasm to an Oklahoma program that had been good under Riley but never able to take the next step into greatness. Fans set an OU spring game record with more than 75,000 fans in attendance to witness a Venables-coached team for the first time. But football isn’t the only sport that saw a tremendous amount of success over the last year.

OU Football recorded a win in the Alamo Bowl. Women’s gymnastics won another national title, while the men finished second in the nation. In her first year, Jennie Baranczyk led the women’s basketball team to the second round of the NCAA tournament. OU Softball won its sixth national title, and baseball went on a historic run to the College World Series before falling short to Ole Miss in the championship series.

OU Athletics’ $109 million raised during the 2022 fiscal year ending June 30 is the first time in program history that they raised more than $100 million and nearly doubles the previous record set in 2021 at $58 million.

According to the official release on SoonerSports.com, “An OU-record 53% of all members invested in key initiatives above and beyond any seating donation requirements. Notable FY22 pledges for facility projects and initiatives included:”

$25.2 million towards the Women of Championship Excellence Fund and facility projects for female student-athletes
Nearly $25 million for football and special initiatives
$19.2 million for Love’s Field (OU Softball).
$10.6 million for the Inspiring Champions Fund
$3.2 million for L. Dale Mitchell Park and Baseball Performance Center
$1.4 million for the Wadley Indoor Tennis Pavilion at the Headington Family Tennis Center
$1.25 million for McCasland Field House
$1 million for G.R.I.T. (Growing Resilient, Innovative Thinkers)
$900,000 for the Viersen Gymnastics Center

“Providing world-class resources for our student-athletes, coaches and staff is our top priority, and we simply cannot pursue and accomplish this standard of excellence without support from our stakeholders, donors and fans,” said OU Vice President and Athletics Director Castiglione in the University’s release. “OU Athletics and our generous and passionate stakeholders have worked year after year in lockstep to endow scholarships, increase services and resources for student-athletes, as well as help fund state-of-the-art facilities. We’re grateful to receive this record-setting support. This inspires us even more in our ongoing pursuit that only continues to evolve in the ever-changing landscape of college athletics.”

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Oklahoma Sooners guard Elijah Harkless enters transfer portal

After averaging 10 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in 2021-2022, Oklahoma Sooners guard Elijah Harkless has entered the transfer portal.

It was an up and down year for the Oklahoma Sooners and guard Elijah Harkless. What started out strong became a bit of a struggle in the winter months of January and February. A season-ending injury derailed Harkless and the Sooners struggled at times without one of their emotional leaders.

According to Matt Zenitz of On3 Sports, Elijah Harkless has entered the transfer portal to continue his playing career. Just a couple of weeks ago, it was reported that Harkless was planning on returning for another season. It looks as if he will, but it may not be with the Oklahoma Sooners.

As we saw on the football side with Theo Wease and Brey Walker, entering the portal doesn’t mean a player is 100% out the door, but it does mean they are exploring opportunities. Harkless had become one of the better defensive guards in the Big 12 and his energy on the court helped Oklahoma earn an NCAA tournament berth in 2020-2021.

For the Sooners last season, Harkless averaged 29 minutes per game and was fourth on the team in scoring with 10 points per game. He also averaged 4.1 rebounds per game and 1.3 steals per game.

The senior guard will now look to the portal to see if there’s a better opportunity out there for the 2022-2023 season. The Sooners head into the offseason looking to bounce back from a disappointing end to the season at the hands of St. Bonaventure in the NIT.

Oklahoma Coaches Caravan making a comeback

An old tradition has been brought back by the University of Oklahoma. The OU Coaches Caravan will return this year.

An old tradition has been brought back by the University of Oklahoma. The OU Coaches Caravan will return in 2022. The caravan will be headlined by Brent Venables, Porter Moser and Jennie Baranczyk.

This event gives fans a chance to interact with the people who run th programs they all know and love.

OU released this on Thursday:

Other stops are scheduled for Amarillo (May 10), Duncan (May 12), Houston (May 17), Dallas (May 19), Wichita (May 24) and Oklahoma City (May 26). Venables and Baranczyk are scheduled to speak at all seven events, while Moser is confirmed for the Duncan and Wichita stops, and will participate in more should his schedule allow. Radio voice of the Sooners, Toby Rowland, will emcee all but the Dallas and Oklahoma City functions.

Each Caravan event, scheduled to run from 6:30 to approximately 8:30 p.m. and include dinner, will allow coaches to engage with attendees by sharing their coaching philosophies and their visions for their programs, and how fans can impact OU’s success. – University of Oklahoma

Fans can purchase a ticket to a stop on the caravan for 50 dollars in Houston, Dallas and Oklahoma City. Tickets will be 40 dollars everywhere else.

Oklahoma giving the coaches their own platform to share ideas about their respective programs to Sooners fans across multiple cities is very interesting. All three coaches are brand new to the university. What better way to share their unified vision for Oklahoma athletics than to get on the road and meet people where they are.

With the passion and energy these three coaches bring to the table, they might have the attendees ready to suit up by the end of the tour.

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Oklahoma Sooners fall to St. Bonaventure 70-68 in the NIT

Umoja Gibson’s 26 points and 6-11 from three-point range weren’t enough as the Sooners fell to St. Bonaventure 70-68 in the NCAA tournament.

The Oklahoma Sooners season came to a close in the second round of the NIT after falling to St. Bonaventure 70-68 at the Lloyd Noble Center.

Umoja Gibson led the way for the Oklahoma Sooners with 26 points on 10 of 17 shooting and 6 of 11 from three. Despite a 47.3% shooting night from the floor, Jalen Hill (13 points) was the only other player to score in double figures.

Jaren Holmes led the way for St. Bonaventure with 23 points. He was 8 of 12 from the field and was perfect on all four three-point attempts.

The Sooners took a three-point lead into halftime, and the two sides traded buckets for the first 10 minutes of the second half. The Bonnies opened up an eight-point lead with 10:43 to go, and the Sooners had just one lead the rest of the way.

St. Bonaventure came up with the clutch stops down the stretch, including Oklahoma’s final possession of the season. After Umoja Gibson’s three closed the margin to one point, Dominic Welch made the second of two free throws to put the lead back to two.

The Sooners had a chance to tie the game at the end. After clearing out the right side of the frontcourt, Jordan Goldwire drove to the basket. With the Bonnies defense collapsing toward the Sooners’ point guard, he made a cross-court pass to Marvin Johnson standing in the left corner. Johnson corralled the ball and pump-faked, allowing his defender to go by before driving to the basket and putting up a floater that just missed. Oklahoma attempted to take the ball away, but St. Bonaventure was able to clear the ball up the court as time expired.

It’s a rough end to a season that provided a promising glimpse of the future of Oklahoma Sooners basketball under head coach Porter Moser.

Oklahoma Sooners vs. St. Bonaventure in NIT: Stream, injury report and broadcast

Here’s how you can check out the action between the Oklahoma Sooners and St. Bonaventure in the NIT.

The Oklahoma Sooners responded to their NCAA Tournament snub in resounding fashion: an 89-72 win over the Missouri Tigers. They advance to host the St. Bonaventure Bonnies in the second round of the NIT.

The Bonnies are a well-rounded team. They have five players averaging double figures and four players averaging more than five rebounds a game. Defensively, they’ll create problems for the Oklahoma Sooners who want to work the ball around the perimeter and find players on cuts.

For Oklahoma, however, it all comes down to hitting shots. When they were efficient from the floor during the season, they were good enough to beat any team they faced. The problem was they’d have off nights shooting.

Umoja Gibson started the NIT hot with 28 points against Missouri State, including 5 of 10 shooting from three. If he can repeat that performance against St. Bonaventure, the Sooners should be in good shape to pull out the victory at Lloyd Noble Center in Norman.

Life will not be easy in the paint for the Oklahoma Sooners as Osu Osunniyi is a force in the middle of the defense. Averaging three blocks and 7.7 rebounds per game. Tanner Groves will have his work cut out to keep Osunniyi from getting easy buckets and offensive rebounds.

How to Watch

Date: March 20
Time: 7 p.m. CDT
TV Channel: ESPNU
Live Stream: fuboTV (watch here)

Injury Report

Oklahoma

Elijah Harkless (out for the season)

St. Bonaventure

Linton Brown (out for season)

Anouar Mellouk (out indefinitely)

Players to watch

Oklahoma

Umoja Gibson: 12.9 points, 2.1 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.4 steals per game.

Jordan Goldwire: 10.6 points, 2.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.5 steals per game.

Tanner Groves: 11.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.6 assists per game.

St. Bonaventure

Jalen Adaway: 16.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal per game.

Jaren Holmes: 13.2 points, 5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.1 steals per game.

Osu Osunniyi: 11.2 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3 blocked shots, 1.5 assists per game.

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How social media reacted to Oklahoma’s lack of an NCAA tournament invite

Oklahoma missed out on an NCAA Tournament invite and here’s how social media reacted.

After a strong finish to the regular season and a win over No. 3 Baylor in the Big 12 tournament, the Oklahoma Sooners looked well-positioned to make the NCAA tournament. Their one-point loss to Texas Tech clouded the discussion and Oklahoma was left out of “The Big Dance.”

Their record certainly didn’t help matters, especially on the road where they were 3-8, but in the mighty Big 12, any team can win any given night. And that ultimately hurt the Sooners chances.

The depth and difficult schedule kept Oklahoma from padding their record and now they’ll head to the NIT to continue their 2021-2022 season.

Though the record might not look great, the advanced analytics liked the Sooners more than some of the teams that made it to March madness. Disappointed that the selection committee didn’t follow the analytics community, Oklahoma fans went to social media to express their frustrations.

Here are some of the best.

Oklahoma vs. No. 14 Texas Tech: Prediction, point spread, odds, best bet

Game prediction, betting lines, and best bet in Oklahoma’s semifinal matchup with Texas Tech in the Big 12 tourney.

The Oklahoma Sooners take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament, and if you’re looking to do some last-minute betting research, you’re in luck! We’ll give you the latest point spread, money line odds and over/under number, as well as the information you’ll need to make the smartest bet at Tipico Sportsbook.

The game starts at 8:30 p.m. Central Time and can be seen on ESPN2.

The Oklahoma Sooners and No. 14 Texas Tech Red Raiders spilt their regular season matchups, each earning the victory on their home floor. The last time the two teams met, Texas Tech won by 24 points. That February 22 matchup was also the last time Oklahoma lost a basketball game. Since then, OU has rattled off four straight including an OT win over Oklahoma State, a win at Kansas State, and their quarterfinal win over the No. 3 Baylor Bears.

Since their drubbing of OU in Lubbock, the Red Raiders dropped games to TCU and Oklahoma State. They were firing on all cylinders in their 31 point win over Iowa State in Tech’s quarterfinals matchup.

According to Joe Lunardi of ESPN, this is a must-win game for Oklahoma’s hopes of making the NCAA tournament, despite Porter Moser’s confidence that the win over Baylor has secured OU a tourney berth.

The mission remains the same regardless of the projections. Each game can make a difference at this point in the season. If Oklahoma can recreate the performance they had in Norman they’ll have a shot to earn another top 15 win and move on to play the winner of Kansas and TCU in the other semifinal of the Big 12 tournament.

Social media reacts to Oklahoma’s 72-67 win over No. 3 Baylor in the Big 12 tournament

Best social media reactions from the Oklahoma Sooners 72-67 win over the Baylor Bears in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.

The best thing about college basketball is right when it looks like a team is done for, they can go on a run and make some noise in March. That’s exactly what the Oklahoma Sooners have done. Winners of four straight, including Thursday night’s 72-67 win over No. 3 Baylor, the Sooners have gotten hot at the right time and are making some noise in March.

Though they still have some work to do to fully solidify themselves as a tournament team, beating the No. 3 team in the country provides a fantastic highlight on their NCAA tournament resume.

After an up and down, turnover-filled first half, the Oklahoma Sooners settled in and outscored the Bears by 11 in the second half to pull away at the end. Oklahoma led for the final 11 minutes of the game to advance to the semifinals to take on the winner of Iowa State and Texas Tech.

With another huge game coming on Friday night, let’s enjoy some of the best social media reactions from the Sooners big win over defending national champions.

Oklahoma pulls away late for a 72-59 win over West Virginia

The Oklahoma Sooners shot 53% from the field and 40% from three to improve to 16-14 with a 72-69 win over West Virginia.

The final score may not accurately reflect how the game went, but the Oklahoma Sooners came away with a 72-59 win over the West Virginia Mountaineers.

Tanner Groves led the way with 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Jordan Goldwire chipped in 16 points, five rebounds, and four assists for the Sooners, who improved to 16-14.

The Mountaineers jumped out to an early 10-6 lead but went cold for much of the first as the Sooners took control and built a 14-point lead off of some timely defense and efficient shooting. West Virginia rallied to close the half trailing by four points.

The second half remained closely contested between the two sides. Every time Oklahoma would make a run, West Virginia would answer to narrow the gap. However, in the final six minutes, Oklahoma pulled away for good, closing out their last home game of the season with an 18-9 run.

The Sooners shot 53% from the field and 40% from three in a game they needed to win to keep their NCAA tournament hopes alive. They’re still a long shot for the tourney, but a win at Kansas State and a good showing in the Big 12 tournament can help them make one final push for March Madness consideration.

What’s next for OU Men’s Basketball in the wake of Elijah Harkless’ season ending injury?

In the wake of Elijah Harkless’ season-ending injury, who’s likely to see an uptick in minutes for the Oklahoma Sooners.

In the midst of a month-long run that’s seen the Oklahoma Sooners lose nine of their last 11, they were dealt another blow. It was announced Friday that Elijah Harkless would miss the rest of the 2021-2022 basketball season with an undisclosed injury.

Harkless is one of the Sooners’ best defenders and his streaky shooting has provided lifts in games where other players weren’t finding buckets. The Sooners will miss him on the floor, but who will head coach Porter Moser turn to after losing the veteran Harkless.

On the surface, it would appear that Jacob Groves will get the first opportunity to take the minutes left by Harkless. When Moser sat Harkless down a couple of weeks ago, Jacob Groves was the immediate beneficiary, entering the starting lineup and it paid off for the Sooners.

While the experienced Groves will get more run, the expectation is that C.J. Noland and Ethan Chargois will see an uptick in minutes as well. Noland is averaging 4.3 points, shooting 57% from the field.

The Oklahoma Sooners have some work to do to get back on track as they head to Ames for a Saturday showdown with Iowa State. Their NCAA Tournament hopes hang in the balance and they need to start rattling off some wins over the final couple of weeks of Big 12 play.