The college athletics circus, better known as the Transfer Portal, is a notorious two-way street: It both giveth and taketh away. On average, the Oklahoma Sooners have lost as many as four players to the Transfer Portal every season in the five years Porter Moser has been the OU head coach.
This is the new normal in today's college athletics, as well as the recruiting battles generated by the bag of money available for name, image, likeness (NIL).
The result is major roster turnover from one year to the next. Moser has had to almost completely rebuild the roster in every one of his seasons in Norman, not just because of outgoing transfers, but also due to graduation and, in the case of freshman guard Jeremiah Fears last season, leaving early for the NBA. Only one of the five OU starters from last season is still with the team, senior center Mohamed Wague. The other four starters are all incoming transfers.
Several notable former Sooners who Moser recruited to Oklahoma in the last several years are enjoying solid senior seasons at other programs. Given the way Oklahoma has underperformed and fallen short of expectations in recent seasons -- and in particular this season with a current eight-game losing streak -- there probably is little to no second-guessing regarding their decision to enter the Transfer Portal.
2 SEC schools and a Big 12 school are reaping the benefits of former Sooners
Otega Oweh and Milos Uzan both played at Oklahoma for two seasons in 2021-23 before transferring to Kentucky and Houston, respectively. The pair were starting guards for Moser at OU their sophomore season in 2022-23 before transferring.
Oweh averaged 11.4 points and 3.8 rebounds his sophomore season at Oklahoma. The past two seasons at Kentucky, the 6-foot-5 guard out of New Jersey has been the Wildcats' leading scorer, averaging 16.4 points, nearly 5.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. Oweh was also named to the All-SEC First Team in the 2025-26 SEC Preseason Basketball Poll.
Uzan, who played alongside Oweh at Oklahoma, took his game to Houston and former Oklahoma head coach Kelvin Sampson after his sophomore season in Norman. The 6-foot-4 guard and Las Vegas native averaged 8.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists in his two seasons at OU. He is the Cougars' third leading scorer, averaging 11.4 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists his senior season playing for Sampson's 8th-ranked Houston team.
Oweh has been back to Oklahoma once since his departure. Kentucky played OU in Norman last season. The game was close throughout and Oweh's presence was front and center. The former Sooner poured in a game-high 28 points, but he saved the best for last. With Oklahoma leading 82-81 and less than 30 seconds left in the game, Oweh drove into a lane crowded with Sooner defenders and scored on a two-point shot with just six seconds remaining to put Kentucky up by one. OU had one last attempt to win the game, but Fears had his layup blocked at the other end as time expired ending the game.
The Sooners also had to deal with Owek a second time in the SEC Basketball Tournament, where he again made a game-winner to end OU's conference tournament run.
Otega Oweh Oklahoma Game Winners pic.twitter.com/jWtuVlMUOX
— Rare Rookies #BBN (@rarerookies) March 14, 2025
Oklahoma will see Oweh again on Wednesday, when the Sooners will be in Lexington to play Kentucky in an SEC matchup.
Another former Sooners who is having a stellar season in 2025-26 is Duke Miles, a 6-foot-2 guard who played at Oklahoma last season and is now at Vanderbilt, his fourth college team. Miles averaged 17.4 points at High Point in 2022-23 before transferring to Oklahoma.
Playing in 24 games for OU last season, he averaged 9.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists. Miles is having the best season of his career at Vanderbilt this season. He is the Commodores' second leading scorer, with a 16.6 average, along with 2.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. He also probably doesn't regret playing for the country's 15th-ranked team.