Things looked pretty dire for a while for Porter Moser and men's Oklahoma basketball this offseason in trying to rebuild a heavily depleted roster for the SEC and the 2024-25 season.
The Sooners have lost eight players from the 2023-24 roster (five via the transfer portal), a problem that has plagued Moser for three seasons -- as long as he's been in Norman. This is not a problem that the Oklahoma head coach faces alone, but he definitely has been one who has been hit the hardest.
In a little over a week's time, Oklahoma has earned commitments for 2024-25 from four incoming transfers. The latest is High Point (North Carolina) transfer guard Duke Miles, who played three seasons at Troy University in his home state of Alabama before transferring to High Point.
Sooner fans may not be familiar with High Point and therefore question what value or contribution Miles will have for Oklahoma basketball other than a fresh new body. The reality is, the two-time transfer has the ability and experience to be the best transfer player the Sooners have had at OU since Moser has been head coach.
First of all, shortly after announcing that he was entering the transfer portal after one season at High Point, Miles received inquiries from such major programs as Kansas, Alabama, Auburn, Michigan, Texas, Oregon, Florida State. The 6-foot, 3-inch, 180-pound guard was seriously considering Auburn, but after visiting Oklahoma on Thursday, less than 24-hours later announced he was committing to the Sooners.
In his one season at High Point, Miles was voted the Big South Newcomer of the Year this past season and was an All-Big South First Team selection. In 33 games for High Point (27 starts), he averaged 17.3 points, 3.6 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. He shot 53 percent from the floor and 36 percent from deep.
Since April 23, the Sooners have added Dayton transfer Kobe Elvis, Jaden Jones from Long Beach State, Brycen Goodine from Fairfield and now Miles. All four are guards, which was the greatest position of need after the roster fallout from the past season.