Lon Kruger’s departure causing other shakeups in Sooners’ future
By Chip Rouse
Lon Kruger’s decision earlier this week to call it a career may have more of an immediate impact on the future of Oklahoma basketball than who will be the next head coach.
With the futures of seniors Austin Reaves and Brady Manek still uncertain and senior reserve Kur Kuath having already indicated that he plans to move on to professional basketball next season, Oklahoma was counting on sophomore starting guard De’Vion Harmon to return next season in a lead role.
That does not appear to be the case, however, as Harmon announced on Friday that he planned to declare for the NBA Draft.
If Reaves, Manek and teammate Alondes Williams, also a senior this season, ultimately elect not to exercise the NCAA exemption waiver granting an extra year of collegiate eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that means Elijah Harkless and Umoja Gibson, both transfers, will be the only starters with major minutes who will be back in 2021-22.
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It also became known this week that freshman Trey Phipps, who saw only limited action this season, is entering the transfer portal.
All of this is likely to remain in flux in the OU men’s basketball program until a new head coach is named. Several names have been floated around in various news reports, speculating on who might be in line or being considered for the job.
The list includes Paul Mills of Oral Roberts. Mills spent 14 seasons as an assistant to Scott Drew at Baylor. He is in his fourth season in Tulsa with ORU and is hot in the news with a pair of NCAA Tournament wins this year to reach the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed.
Another name getting some attention is Grant McCasland, head coach at North Texas. His Mean Green knocked off No, 4 seed Purdue last weekend in the NCAA Tournament. McCasland also has ties to Baylor, having played there in the late 1990s and as an assistant for five seasons.
There’s even been some chatter about OU going after Porter Mosher, the head coach of NCAA Tournament Cinderella Loyola of Chicago.
If OU athletic director Joe Castiglione is more inclined to bring in a veteran head coach from a major conference, Tom Crean, who has been at Georgia the past four season, is a name that has been brought up, as well as Mark Turgeon who played and worked at Kansas as an assistant and is just completed his 10th season leading Maryland. He has also coached at Wichita State and Texas A&M.
There are some similarities between Lon Kruger’s background and Turgeon’s. Both are from the state of Kansas and played for the two biggest college teams in the state. Kruger was from Silver Lake, Kansas, and Turgeon from Topeka. It was believed that one of the motivations for Kruger taking the Oklahoma job was the opportunity to return to his Midwest roots. Some belief that also might be an inducement for Turgeon to consider leaving Maryland.
Reaves and Manek may be holding off on a formal decision regarding their status until the new coach is hired or their plans could be accelerated because of it.
Before Sooner fans start crying out “the sky is falling,” though, it is important to understand that declaring for the NBA Draft no longer precludes a player from returning to school as long as he does not sign with an agent. NCAA rules allow a player to pull out at anytime in the process.
There are already some teams who have shown interest in Reaves, but it is highly probable that both Manek and Harmon will go undrafted. Then they must decide if returning to school is a better play that trying to catch on with an NBA team as a free agent.
Either way, changes are clearly in the air concerning Oklahoma basketball for next season and beyond.
If the NBA Draft doesn’t work out for any combination of the three, who also represent the Sooners’ top three scorers this season and 57 percent of the OU offensive production, there is even a third option available to all three — perish the thought — the transfer portal.
Expect more announcements to come out of Norman in the coming days and weeks.