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Oklahoma Basketball: Five Reasons Sooners Will Go From Whoa to Wow Next Season

By Chip Rouse

Feb 27, 2017; Lawrence, KS, USA; Kansas Jayhawks show their support during the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas won 73-63. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 27, 2017; Lawrence, KS, USA; Kansas Jayhawks show their support during the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas won 73-63. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /
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What a difference a year can make. That could well be tag line that best describes this past season for Oklahoma basketball on the men’s side of ledger.

Jul 10, 2016; North Augusta, SC, USA; Mokan Elite player Trae Young (11) drives to the basket while being defended by PSA Cardinals player Cole Anthony (2) during the first half of the Nike Peach Jam Finals at the Riverview Park Activity Center. Mokan won 93-65. Mandatory Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 10, 2016; North Augusta, SC, USA; Mokan Elite player Trae Young (11) drives to the basket while being defended by PSA Cardinals player Cole Anthony (2) during the first half of the Nike Peach Jam Finals at the Riverview Park Activity Center. Mokan won 93-65. Mandatory Credit: Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports /

There was an 18-game difference in wins from this time a year ago to now. The Sooners won 29 games and advanced all the way to the Final Four a year ago. In the season just ended, OU managed just 11 total wins and fell all the way to next to last in the Big 12 standings ahead of only Texas.

The one consolation from a bitterly disappointing season for Oklahoma basketball is that the Sooners at least finished ahead of Texas.

After beginning the season 6-2, Oklahoma entered Big 12 play with a record of 6-5. The Sooners lost their first four conference games, put together a two-game win streak with a home victory over Texas Tech and a huge road win at West Virginia, then proceeded to lose seven consecutive games before ending the regular season with an even split of their final six games.

The 20 losses by the Sooners this past season was the most in one season in program history.

So that’s that. Nothing can be done now to change the outcome. It’s done and finished and time to move on. And that’s exactly what head coach Lon Kruger and his young Sooner squad are going to do.


Mar 4, 2017; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Kameron McGusty (20) and Oklahoma Sooners forward Kristian Doolittle (11) react after the final buzzer at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 4, 2017; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guard Kameron McGusty (20) and Oklahoma Sooners forward Kristian Doolittle (11) react after the final buzzer at Lloyd Noble Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports /

A change of attitude is much easier when the parts are in place to fuel and build upon future success, and that’s pretty much the position the Sooners find themselves in as they look ahead to a new beginning for the remainder of 2017 and beyond.

Here are five big reasons why a big turnaround in Oklahoma men’s basketball is appearing to be more and more a sure bet as early as next season:

  • Oklahoma won the bidding war over Kansas and Oklahoma State for five-star recruit Trae Young. Young is a scorer and will play point guard for Lon Kruger and the Sooners in 2016-17. He is rated as the No. 2 point guard nationally in the 2017 recruiting class. A local boy out of Norman North High School, Young averaged more than 40 points a game this past season and is expected to have an immediate impact on next year’s team.
  • Eleven of the 16 players on the OU roster last season were freshmen or sophomores. Two of the freshmen, Kameron McGusty and Kristian Doolittle combined for 24 points a game against Big 12 teams. Before saw considerably playing time in the 2016-17 season. The experience and confidence they gained in their first year of Division I college ball should pay even higher dividends next season. Sophomore Rashard Odomes is a prime example of what a difference a year can make. Odomes saw very little playing time as a freshman, but in 2016-17 he was a major contributor, and his growth and contributions should continue to improve.
  • While other Big 12 teams will be losing key personnel and will probably take a step back in terms of their talent and competition level, the Sooners lose just one starter (Jordan Woodard) and, with a year’s experience under their belt, should do a much better job of closing out games they easily could have and should have won this past season. Oklahoma lost 10 games by six or fewer points. A good example of a Big 12 team that will suffer heavy personnel losses after this season is Iowa State, which loses four senior starters (Deonte
    Burton, Monte Morris, Matt Thomas and Naz Mitrou-Long).
  • Having Lon Kruger at the helm as head coach might be the biggest factor in expecting a much better performance out of the Sooners next season. Kruger has taken five different teams to the NCAA Tournament and two of those schools made it all the way to the Final Four, including the 2015-16 Oklahoma team. In 31 years as a head coach in college basketball, Kruger has had just eight losing seasons and only four of those have come in the last 20 years. The Sooners have a strong core of players and will be adding to that talent with two four-star and a five-star recruit next season.
  • Sooner fans have been reading and hearing a lot about five-star recruit Trae Young, but Oklahoma has two other members of the 2017 class that have the skill and talent and should be key contributors over time. Both are rated as four stars: six-foot, nine inch Brady Manek, from Harrah, Okla., and 6-foot, 11-inch Hannes Polla, from Finland. Keep those names in mind, along with Young. You will be hearing their names much more over time.
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