Oklahoma Basketball: Kruger Seeking Graduate Transfer to Fill Out Roster

With the planned transfers of two Oklahoma basketball players, head coach Lon Kruger has two open scholarships to offer.

Darrion Strong-Moore and Dante Buford have informed Kruger that they would like to transfer from OU.

This could have worked well for the Sooners when they were putting the full-court recruiting press on University of Washington decommit Michael Porter Jr. At the time Kruger was faced with the dilemma of not having a scholarship available for 2017-18, the last of which was going to five-star prospect Trae Young.

When Strong-Moore and Buford made their plans known, the scholarship issue was solved. Only, by that time, Porter Jr., reportedly a good friend of OU’s Young – which was something the Sooners had hoped to leverage – had already committed to transfer to the University of Missouri.

After Porter, who is probably looking to become a one-and-done, came off the board, Kruger and the Sooner coaching staff turned its immediate attention to 6-foot, 5-inch Egor Koulechov, who can play at guard or small forward.

Koulechov played two seasons at Rice University, where he earned First Team All-Conference USA honors this past season, averaging 18.2 points and nearly nine rebounds per game. He led Conference USA and set a new school record, shooting 47 percent from behind the three-point line.

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The Sooners were particularly interested in Koulechov’s offensive production and his experience and leadership on the court, even if for only one season. Koulechov had narrowed his decision on where he wanted to play his final season of college basketball to Florida and Oklahoma. Earlier this week, he made his decision and announced that he was headed to Florida.

The Sooners had made a very good impression on the Russian native, but the fact that he had played high school basketball in South Florida likely became a chief tipping point in his electing to play at Florida.

Koulechov was extremely praiseworthy of Oklahoma’s efforts to recruit him, particularly Kruger and OU assistant Carlin Hartman. “They’re truly exceptional people. I would be very lucky to play for them,” he told ESPN college basketball insider Jeff Goodman.

So it’s back to the drawing board for Kruger and his Sooner assistants as they hit the recruiting trail once more looking for that final piece to the men’s basketball roster.

Kruger has said he prefers to bring in a graduate transfer over a junior-college or high school recruit, at least insofar as next season is concerned.