The Oklahoma Sooners have left plenty to be desired this offseason. Last season, the Sooners revamped their roster through the transfer portal. They won 20 games — the best in Porter Moser’s three-year tenure as the head coach. Reaching the 20-win mark as a power conference team left Oklahoma narrowly missing the big dance. In three years, Moser has yet to build a team to make the NCAA Tournament.
On Wednesday, more bad news struck as the Sooners lost a promising young talent to the transfer portal.
Former four-star enters transfer portal
Retaining talent has been an issue in Norman — and all of college basketball for that matter — as the roster has completely turned over once again. It began with Milos Uzan and Otega Oweh hitting the transfer portal. John Hugley and Javian McCollum followed. Three late-season producers graduated. That alone was seven productive players outgoing, giving reason for Moser and his staff to rebuild the roster.
Then, on Wednesday, four-star guard Kaden Cooper entered the transfer portal. During his freshman season, Cooper appeared in 15 games, logging an average of 4.5 minutes per game. He simply didn’t play enough, and there was always question as to why. With his potential return and incoming freshman Dayton Forsythe looking like a potential star, there was hope at the guard position with young talent. Then Cooper entered the transfer portal.
Current roster standing
While outgoing transfers and graduations are entirely expected, the Sooners have swung and missed a few times during their roster reload. During the current age of college athletics, Moser and his staff have to be prepared to bring in complete new production on a yearly basis as thriving in the transfer portal and bringing in high-level freshman seems to be the path to building a consistent program.
The Sooners had the potential to bring in three former Oklahoma preps stars — those being Kevin Overton, Sean Pedulla and Brandon Garrison. Each of the three players, which looked to be future Sooners, picked different destinations, being a huge miss from Moser and his staff.
Oklahoma has brought in Kobe Elvis, Jadon Jones and Brycen Goodine through the transfer portal. Forsythe and Kuol Atak are two promising recruits. Jacolb Cole, Sam Godwin, Luke Northweather and Yaya Keita are the other Sooners on the roster currently. With three open roster spots and scholarships to hand out, the roster building is far from over.
Pressure mounting for Moser
The Big 12 is a tough conference for any program. Fortunately for Moser, Oklahoma is on the way to the SEC for his fourth season, which is going to be a huge one for him and his staff. He’s got something to prove. He hit the 20-win mark, but he and his program have got to turn the corner and make the NCAA Tournament. Then he’s got to prove he can manage to do so consistently while navigating the current age of transfer portal and NIL — which calls for a roster reset nearly every offseason.
