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Oklahoma basketball: Sooner men picked 12th in 2023-24 Preseason Big 12 Poll

By Chip Rouse

Jan 24, 2015; Lubbock, TX, USA; The Big 12 logo on the court before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Iowa State Cyclones at the United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 24, 2015; Lubbock, TX, USA; The Big 12 logo on the court before the game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Iowa State Cyclones at the United Supermarkets Arena. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oklahoma basketball is picked to finish 12th in the 2023-24 Big 12 Men’s Preseason Poll.

This is the lowest the Sooners have been picked to finish in the 28-year history of the Big 12 because of the expansion from 10 to 14 teams this season.

Over the previous 12 seasons, dating back to Lon Kruger’s first of Lon Kruger’s 10 seasons as the Sooners’ head coach, Oklahoma’s average placement in the Big 12 Preseason Poll has been 6th. The Sooners’ highest preseason selection was No. 1 in 2007-08. They have been picked second three other times.

Not surprisingly, the Kansas Jayhawks were the pick by the league coaches to win the conference regular-season championship for the 20th time in the 27 seasons a preseason poll has been conducted.

Here is how the vote went in this year’s Big 12 Preseason Basketball Poll:

  1. Kansas Jayhawks (12 first-place votes)
  2. Houston Cougars (2 first-place votes)
  3. Texas Longhorns
  4. Baylor Bears
  5. TCU Horned Frogs
  6. Kansas State Wildcats
  7. Iowa State Cyclones
  8. Texas Tech Red Raiders
  9. West Virginia Mountaineers
  10. Oklahoma State Cowboys
  11. Cincinnati Bearcats
  12. Oklahoma Sooners
  13. BYU Cougars
  14. UCF Knights

The Big 12 welcomes four new teams this season, and one of the newcomers, Houston, is picked to finish second in the league standings. Houston’s addition marks the return to the Big 12 of former Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson.

For the third straight offseason, OU head coach Porter Moser had to undergo a major roster overhaul after losing six players, including three of the team’s top three scorers on a team that finished the 2022-23 season with a 15-17 record and tied for last place in a 10-team league.

Moser turned to the transfer portal, adding five players along with two highly touted freshman recruits, bringing in seven newcomers. Three of the transfers are from power conferences and are expected to have an immediate impact. The seven newcomers join a couple of returning starters in sophomores Milos Uzan and Otega Oweh and reserve power forward Sam Godwin.

I honestly believe the No. 12 preseason ranking for the Sooners is too low. Moser has said this year’s roster is more athletic and better defensively. The best of the newcomers is projected to be John Hugley IV, a 6-foot-10 forward who averaged 12.2 points and 6.6 rebounds in two seasons at Pittsburgh.

My preseason projection for Oklahoma would be more in the middle of the pack. I believe the low ranking by the Big 12 coaches is more a reflection of the uncertainty surrounding all the newcomers who must be integrated into the OU lineup and gain comfort and confidence playing together for the first time.

“I feel this is going to be our most athletic team we’ve had since we been here,” Moser said in an article previewing Oklahoma in the 2023-24 Lindy’s Sports College Basketball Preview issue. “We’re longer and faster than we’ve been.”

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