Tag: Oklahoma Basketball

Porter Moser, athletic director Joe Castiglione release statements as hiring made official

New Oklahoma basketball coach Porter Moser and OU athletic director Joe Castiglione released statements Saturday morning on the new hire.

Oklahoma has landed their new head basketball coach as after it was reported yesterday, it was officially announced by the school Saturday morning that Loyola Chicago’s Porter Moser would be making the leap to the Big 12 to take over the Sooners.

A hot commodity on the coaching market who had interest from numerous places, Oklahoma athletic director Joe Castiglione found a way to land Moser in a fashion somewhat similar to the way he got Lon Kruger to come aboard a decade ago. It wasn’t a slam dunk move, it took some convincing given Moser’s options on the table and the lengths by which Loyola Chicago was willing to go to keep him – but Castiglione got his man.

With the hiring made official, Moser released his first statement as the new head coach of the Sooners:

“Our family is so excited and honored to join the Sooner family,” said Moser. “Joe Castiglione has a reputation for building championship programs at the University of Oklahoma. I’ve always said there are reasons why you win. If you look at the standards that the programs at Oklahoma have set, there are reasons why they’ve won. The coaches, infrastructure and community are all championship caliber. You just want to be a part of that. To play in a premiere league like the Big 12 and be a part of this championship culture excites me.

“I have so much respect for Coach Kruger. He’s one of the icons of our profession. The fact that he was at Oklahoma shows that OU covets character. He’s everything that young coaches should aspire to. He’s all about winning the right way. I look forward to continuing that blueprint and continuing the blueprint we had at Loyola: winning the right way.

“I’m thrilled to join a program that is so focused on culture, people and excellence. I’m looking forward to diving in and building relationships with our players, the other coaches and the OU community.”

Castiglione also offered some words on the hiring:

“We are absolutely thrilled to announce and welcome Porter Moser as our next great OU head coach,” said Castiglione. “As we dug deep into the backgrounds of candidates, his attributes, acumen and record of success totally aligned with what we were seeking. He’s a purposeful and proven leader who prioritizes positive culture, accountability, academics, player development, innovation, transparent communication and a holistic approach to the student-athlete experience.

“Porter is also a bright, energetic and tireless recruiter who will similarly engage all stakeholders related to the future success of Oklahoma men’s basketball. His wife Megan, daughter Jordan and sons Jake, Max and Ben complete an all-star team and are emblematic of the family environment and values he wants to carry on within our program. We can’t wait to get them to campus.”

Moser’s former team also had a very classy response to the news on Twitter as well:

University of Oklahoma President Joseph Harroz Jr. also chimed in:

“We’re so happy to welcome Coach Moser and his family to the OU family,” said OU president Joseph Harroz Jr. “He has had storied success at Loyola Chicago both on the court and in his positive impact in the lives of his student-athletes. It’s a thrill that he will bring that same energy and excitement to Sooner Nation.”

Now that Oklahoma has their new head coach, the work can begin at reconstructing a roster that has been ravaged already in the early stages of the offseason. How Moser handles that in terms of landing transfers and possibly luring some players back will be the first big task for him in his Sooners tenure.

Sooners Wire will continue to provide updates all throughout what has been an unforgettable offseason for Oklahoma basketball.

Breaking – Oklahoma is hiring Loyola Chicago’s Porter Moser as new head basketball coach

Breaking – Loyola Chicago’s Porter Moser has been hired as the new Oklahoma head basketball coach, per report.

The hire Sooners fans have been waiting for has finally been made as Oklahoma has hired former Loyola Chicago head coach Porter Moser to become their new head basketball coach, according to Joe Henricksen of the Chicago Sun-Times.

Moser became a heavy candidate for the position suddenly late this week, as it became abundantly clear he was a distinct possibility. Earlier on Friday, it was reported that an official offer had been made to Moser and that it is was up to him to decide if the two could make a deal. Now, that deal appears to have been struck.

Moser has been the coach at Loyola Chicago since 2011, taking the program to the Final Four in 2018 and building them into a legitimate program year in and year out. This season, they were frequently ranked throughout the year and managed to make it to the Sweet 16 – toppling No. 1 seed Illinois along the way.

Sooners Wire will continue to provide updates as they happen in this massive developing story.

Oklahoma guard Austin Reaves to enter NBA Draft

Oklahoma guard Austin Reaves will forgo his final season with the Sooners to enter the 2021 NBA Draft.

It has been a jam-packed offseason of changes for Oklahoma basketball already and we aren’t even through the month of March. Both the roster and coaching staff have seen significant changes over the past week with another big domino falling on Wednesday morning with star guard Austin Reaves declaring for the NBA Draft, per ESPN’s Jonathon Givony.

As the face of the team, Reaves had himself a really solid 2020-21 season leading the Sooners in points, rebounds and assists throughout the year. Simply put, he made the team go and was easily the team’s best and most consistent player night in and night out.

Reaves played his first two collegiate seasons at Wichita State before transferring over at the end of the 2018 season. After sitting out a year, he quickly became a key part of the team and one of the vocal leaders. His impact on the program was undeniable as a huge piece to several significant wins over the last couple of years.

While it came in a loss, one of his most memorable outings in a crimson uniform may have come in his last with his gutty showing against No. 1 Gonzaga in this year’s NCAA Tournament to keep Oklahoma in the game despite being under-manned and seemingly out-gunned against the mighty Bulldogs.

While not really unexpected, Sooners fans holding out hope that Reaves would return to school will certainly be dealt a big hit of disappointment today as he leaves an obvious gaping hole in the team next year as the do-it-all guy who was the primary ball-handler.

Even more attention now turns to the decision of De’Vion Harmon, who entered the draft last week but can still return to the team next year. Should he do so, he will slide into the point guard spot and quickly became the face of the team and the best player under the new head coach.

As for Reaves, he will begin his quest in the professional ranks working out for teams at the scouting combine ahead of July’s draft. Sooners Wire will provide updates on his draft projections throughout the process to see where his potential landing spot may be.

Oklahoma basketball assistant coach Carlin Hartman joining Kevin Kruger’s staff at UNLV

Oklahoma basketball assistant coach Carlin Hartman is joining Kevin Kruger’s coaching staff at UNLV.

A season of turnover and change for Oklahoma Sooners basketball continues as assistant coach Carlin Hartman will be leaving the program this offseason to join the staff at UNLV under new head coach Kevin Kruger, son of Lon Kruger.

This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to many, as with Lon Kruger announcing his retirement last week it seemed like Hartman was likely going to be heading out unless he was able to land the head coaching gig himself, which seemed like a relatively slim possibility.

This move really makes sense for all parties involved. For Hartman, it allows him to go work under someone he knows well in former Sooners assistant Kevin Kruger. For Oklahoma, it allows the new coaching hire to bring in his own assistant with him without much of a hang-up.

Hartman had been an assistant on Lon Kruger’s staff since 2016, spending the previous two years as an assistant at Rice. Widely looked at as one of the better assistant coaches in the country, it seems like only a matter of time before he is able to land a head coaching job himself, with some fans even clamoring for him to take over in Norman this season.

Another potential candidate for the new coaching gig of the Sooners is off the market, and Sooners Wire will continue to provide updates on the coaching search as they become available.

Oklahoma guard De’Vion Harmon to enter NBA Draft, can still return to school

Oklahoma sophomore guard De’Vion Harmon announced on Friday that he will be entering the 2021 NBA Draft.

[mm-video type=video id=01f1r4vcw9vhsx4tjw playlist_id=01eqbz7cqqgxy50qwt player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01f1r4vcw9vhsx4tjw/01f1r4vcw9vhsx4tjw-6f6d3f4e7ae9fe1014543e580f965cd8.jpg]

The offseason for Oklahoma Sooners basketball is not even a week old but it has already featured lots of interesting developments. It started yesterday morning with freshman guard Trey Phipps entering the transfer portal and then was followed up with the massive news that head coach Lon Kruger would be retiring after 10 years with the program.

Now, a very interesting situation has come about on Friday as sophomore guard De’Vion Harmon has announced that he is going to enter the 2021 NBA Draft. While this news will come as a surprise to many who expected Harmon back next season, it is extremely important to know the context of the decision and what exactly it means.

https://twitter.com/DeVionHarmon11/status/1375541616509861893?s=20

Thanks to rules altered just a few years ago, Harmon is able to enter the draft and still pull out and return to school at anytime in the process. That includes after the draft has concluded, should he go unselected by an NBA franchise.

Harmon, as of now, is not expected to be drafted. So, the most likely scenario here is he will go through the combine and get feedback from scouts before returning to Norman. Or, not be picked by a team and come back to college after that.

This is developing situation that will certainly garner lots of attention and Sooners Wire will continue to provide more updates on this story throughout the process.

[lawrence-related id=27407]

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes and opinions.

Breaking: Oklahoma basketball coach Lon Kruger has announced his retirement

Breaking – Oklahoma basketball coach Lon Kruger announced his retirement on Thursday after ten years coaching the Sooners.

Some bombshell news has dropped out of the Oklahoma basketball program today as head coach Lon Kruger has announced his retirement from coaching, according to multiple reports.

Kruger, a head coach at various stops since 1982, took over the Sooners program in 2011 and has collected 195 wins over his 10 seasons in Norman, making him the fourth-winningest coach in team history. The highlight season coming, of course, in 2016 in which Oklahoma went to the Final Four behind legendary Sooner Buddy Hield.

Under Kruger, the Sooners found consistent success making the NCAA Tournament seven times since the 2012-2013 season. He coached two consensus All-Americans in that span with Hield and Trae Young. Both players would go on to become NBA lottery picks.

His 674 career wins is good enough for the 27th-most all-time, and he is one of only three coaches in college basketball history to take five separate programs to the NCAA Tournament.

The future hall-of-famer is widely viewed as one of the most underrated coaches in the sport, consistently managing to have his teams compete no matter where he currently resides. He closes the book on a highly successful coaching career on Thursday.

Sooners Wire will provide more updates to what the future holds for Kruger and the Oklahoma basketball team as they become available, as this is an ongoing and still-developing story.

Jan 4, 2020; Norman, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Lon Kruger watches his team play against the Kansas State Wildcats during the second half at Lloyd Noble Center. Alonzo Adams-USA TODAY Sports

Oklahoma freshman guard Trey Phipps announces he’s entering the transfer portal

Oklahoma freshman guard Trey Phipps announced Thursday morning that he will be entering the transfer portal.

The first domino of the Oklahoma basketball offseason has fallen, as freshman guard Trey Phipps announced Thursday morning via Twitter that he will be entering the transfer portal.

A local kid out of Booker T. Washington High School in Tulsa, Phipps appeared in 16 games this season in his first year with the program. In those outings, he averaged under eight minutes played and 2.6 points.

A lightning rod early in the year with the ability to shoot the three-pointer, it looked like there was a chance Phipps could work himself into a being a solid bench piece throughout the year for Lon Kruger. But, after some early season success, his playing time became very limited as it looked like he was viewed more as a future asset than a current one.

Perhaps most known by some fans for retaking the court after games to get extra work in, Phipps departure will come as a surprise to many given he is so early in his collegiate career. Whoever lands him will be getting multiple years with the young sharpshooter.

Sooners Wire will provide updates on Phipps’ new landing spot whenever they become available.

[lawrence-related id=27257]

Five final thoughts on the 2020-21 Oklahoma Sooners basketball season

Five final thoughts on the 2020-2021 Oklahoma Sooners basketball season after their run at the NCAA Tournament ended on Monday.

Oklahoma basketball had their season come to an end on Monday with an 87-71 loss to the No. 1 team in the country Gonzaga Bulldogs in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

It brought to an end a very interesting season of Sooners basketball that can be hard to know what exactly to make of it. On one hand, the team did a lot of great things and picked up a lot of great wins along the way. The stretch they had in the month of January has a chance to be remembered by Oklahoma fans for a very long time.

But, at the same time, it was yet another season that flamed out down the stretch and wound up with the team being knocked out in the first weekend – albeit with a tournament win under their belt. It is hard to know whether this season should be marked as a success…or still bit underwhelming.

That being in mind, here are five final thoughts on the 2020-21 Oklahoma Sooners basketball season:

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6

Three takeaways from Oklahoma’s 87-71 loss to No. 1 Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA Tournament

Three takeaways from Oklahoma’s 87-71 loss at the hands of No. 1 Gonzaga on Monday afternoon in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The No. 8 seed Oklahoma Sooners had their NCAA Tournament run end of Monday afternoon at the hands of No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga 87-71.

Without second-leading scorer De’Vion Harmon, it was well known that the Sooners were going to need to provide their best performance of the year just to have a shot at upsetting the undefeated Bulldogs. They gave it a good effort, hanging tough all game long, but weren’t quite able to topple the title favorites.

Austin Reaves was sensational as always, scoring 27 big points and being largely the reason why Oklahoma was able to keep the game close throughout. Alondes Williams also provided very important minutes off the bench, scoring 15 of his own.

The loss puts the Sooners at 16-11 to close the season and eliminate them in the second round of the NCAA Tournament just as they did two years ago. Here are three takeaways from the season-ending loss:

Effort, effort, and more effort

One thing you can’t say about this Oklahoma team is they didn’t leave it all out on the floor. What an unbelievable display of effort this game was by the Sooners.

From the opening tip, every player was supremely active and locked in to giving it everything they had. Part of that may have helped the game wind up at a pace that was not friendly to Oklahoma, but it was still impressive to watch nonetheless.

Lon Kruger deserves a lot of credit for getting the most out of his guys in this game and getting them to lay it all out on the floor. Even when Gonzaga took a 19-point lead in the second half, they battled to work it back down to single digits. They just refused to give up.

It was impossible to not be so impressed by the emotion and will to win displayed by the Sooners on this day, the Bulldogs were just too good.

Pages: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3

Oklahoma’s season ends at the hands of No. 1 Gonzaga 87-71

Oklahoma basketball’s season comes to an end in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, falling to No. 1 Gonzaga 87-71.

The 2020-21 Oklahoma Sooners basketball season has come to an end as the No. 8 seed Sooners fell at the hands of the No. 1 overall seed Gonzaga Bulldogs on Monday afternoon 87-71 in Indianapolis.

Lon Kruger’s team came out guns blazing with high energy and mostly kept that up all game long, but to beat the title favorites you have to be essentially perfect and Oklahoma wasn’t quite able to sustain quite the level of play needed to spring the upset. Gonzaga was simply too good in this game.

“Gonzaga is good,” Kruger said postgame. “They’re really good. They cut hard, move the ball well. Mark (Few) does a terrific job. A lot of guys that play unselfishly and play the game the right way, and I thought we got a little better feel for the pace of things in the second half and cut into it a little bit, couldn’t quite get back to make them too nervous.”

A seemingly pivotal stretch in the game came toward the end of the first half. With just over five minutes to play until the break, Elijah Harkless put home a layup to trim the Bulldogs lead down to 33-30. From there, Gonzaga would close the half on a 13-4 run to take a 12-point lead into the locker room. The Sooners were trying to climb their way back from there on out.

“First few minutes was back and forth, I thought both teams scored pretty easily at that time,” Kruger said. “The last five minutes of the first half, they widened it to 12, and again, they’re good. They just keep the pressure on you, they keep coming at you, and if you turn it over carelessly or if you take a shot that leads into transition for them, they make you pay for it. That happened a couple times, and again, we ended up fighting from behind the last 20 minutes.”

Oklahoma was led once again by senior Austin Reaves who was superb yet again scoring 27 points on 11 of 17 shooting, albeit in a losing effort. He did everything he could to will his team to stay close, but the Bulldogs were unrelenting and proved to be too much.

“I mean, he left it all out there,” Kruger said of Reaves. “That’s what you want for each of your guys, and certainly he did that. He battled and did fight foul trouble a little bit, and yeah, just what a great year. What a great year he had. He certainly left it all out there today.”

The second-leading scorer was a somewhat unlikely source in fellow senior Alondes Williams, who put up 15 key points off the bench to help keep the Sooners hanging around. In a game without second-leading scorer De’Vion Harmon due to COVID-19 protocols and where third-leading scorer Brady Manek scored just three points, he was vital to giving the team a shot.

“Yeah, Alondes was great,” Kruger said. “He’s quick off the dribble, he’s powerful at the rim. Yeah, did a good job. Did a really good job, got in the paint for us, finished some big plays. Yeah, he played well.”

Defensively, Oklahoma held Gonzaga to 49 percent shooting from the field, which is actually low for the Bulldogs, but still allowed 87 points and for the gamed to be played at a pace that wasn’t in the Sooners favor. The bottom line of this game was quite simple: Gonzaga was just better.

Perhaps having Harmon available could have made a difference in the final result, that is certainly reasonable to argue given what he could have provided offensively, but without him it was going to take a supreme effort to pull off this upset. Kruger’s group gave it their best shot, but it wasn’t quite enough on this day.

The game was very intense and physical throughout, even seeing some chippy moments at times. The most notable of those coming in the final moments after a hard foul by Harkless on Bulldogs’ star Jalen Suggs earned him a flagrant one.

“I mean, we play in the Big 12,” Austin Reaves said on the intensity of the game. “The physicality was about the same. We’re used to that kind of physical play. The foul down the stretch, I mean, probably looked worse than what it was. I felt like he (Harkless) was actually trying to go for the ball. He’s one of my best friends on the team. He’s not a dirty player. He isn’t out there trying to hurt anybody, just to clear that up. But the refs call what the refs call. Can’t change that. But he’s not out there trying to hurt anybody, just to clear that up.”

While Oklahoma certainly gave incredible effort and should be proud of the way they played against the nation’s best, it won’t provide much solace in the short term. The pain of another season ending in the second round of the NCAA Tournament will undoubtedly linger, especially given the heights the team had reached at points throughout the regular season.

“It’s hard to see right now, but a couple days from now, we’ll — I don’t even know if it’ll be a couple days,” Reaves said. “We’ll still probably be mad. But down the road you’ll look back and you’ll be like, damn, we really did some special things. It’s all about the relationships that you get to create with a lot of different guys. But right now you’ve got a bitter taste in your mouth, but one of these days we’ll look back and be like, we had a good year.”

The Sooners close their year at 16-11 and will now head to an offseason with a lot of question marks regarding the makeup of the team going forward. All seniors are allowed to return to the team next year thanks to a special COVID-19 waiver provided by the NCAA, but it is unclear if any will take advantage of that at this point.

Only Kur Kuath has announced his decision to leave school as it stands today, with Austin Reaves’, Brady Manek’s and Alondes Williams’ status for next year still being yet to be declared publicly.