Oklahoma Basketball Picked 6th in Big 12 Preseason Poll
By Chip Rouse
If you’re like me, it may not seem like it has been six months since the last Oklahoma basketball game, and that was in the semifinals of the 2016 Final Four.
Led by consensus All-American Buddy Hield, the Sooner men finished the 2015-16 season ranked No. 4 in the country.
Down three starters, including Hield, entering the new season next month, Oklahoma is picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 after finishing third last season and in second place the two seasons before that.
To be perfectly honest, I was a little taken back to see Oklahoma fall so far down in the Big 12 coaches’ preseason poll. It’s true that the Sooners only return two starters – junior forward Khadeem Lattin and senior guard Jordan Woodard – but head coach Lon Kruger has an unusual knack for getting more out of his team than what the pure analytics project.
In four of the five seasons Kruger has been at Oklahoma, the Sooners have finished higher in the conference standings than they were projected in the Big 12 preseason poll. Moreover, Kruger’s OU teams have finished the season in the top four of the standings each of the past four years.
The Sooners were picked to finish behind Kansas, a unanimous choice of the Big 12 coaches to finish first and four other conference teams: West Virginia, Texas, Iowa State and Baylor. If it were to play out like this, the Jayhawks would claim their 13th consecutive Big 12 championship.
The Big 12 men’s basketball coaches voted on the order in which they project the conference teams will finish this season (nine votes awarded first place, eight for second, and so forth). The coaches were not allowed to vote on their own team.
OU’s two returning starters this season, Woodard and Lattin averaged 13.0 and 5.6 points per game, respectively. Lattin also averaged 5.3 rebounds per game. He is expected to contribute more scoring punch in the coming season.
The Sooners must replace over 60 percent of its scoring and a little more than 50 percent of its rebounding per game this season.
Oklahoma begins the 2016-17 regular season at home at Lloyd Noble Center on Nov. 13 against Northwestern State.
2016-17 Big 12 Preseason Coaches Poll
1. Kansas Jayhawks (9 first-place votes) – 81 points
2. West Virginia Mountaineers – 65
3. Texas Longhorns – 59
4. Iowa State Cyclones (1) – 56
5. Baylor Bears – 53
6. Oklahoma Sooners – 40
7T. Oklahoma State Cowboys – 32
7T. Texas Tech Red Raiders – 32
9. Kansas State Wildcats – 20
10. TCU Horned Frogs – 12