The offseason is for fixing problems, and there's one in particular Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser has been unable to the past two years, so it has to be a must-do now if the Sooners are really going to be legit competitors in the SEC next season.
The Sooners have had serviceable big men down low the past two seasons since joining the SEC, but have still been dominated in the paint for the most part, so Moser needs to finally flip the script, with the help of new general manager Lucas McKay, and find OU its own dominant big man.
Oklahoma can't lack dominance down low any longer in SEC
In its first go in the SEC last season, OU ranked dead last in the SEC last season in combined team rebounds. There was an improvement this season with the help of starting center Mohamed Wague, who's out of eligibility, but the Sooners were still in the bottom half of the conference in the category at No. 12. And it was known as early as the second game of the season that OU didn't solve its problem in the paint.
The lack of rebounding is a double-edged sword for the Sooners. It takes second-chance points away from them, while also giving their opponents more opportunities to score. According to TeamRankings.com, OU ranked 139th in college basketball in extra scoring chances per game with 0.8. That means less than one time a game the Sooners earned an extra opportunity at more points. And it's no surprise some of the best teams in the country are near the top in the stat.
With Wague leaving, that leaves the Sooners returning 7-foot freshman Andreas Holst and 6-foot-10 freshman Kai Rogers, barring either enters the Transfer Portal. Those freshmen revealed Moser was trying to fix this problem with last year's recruiting class, but both are evidently more long-term fixes than now after seeing little to no playing time as freshmen.
The Sooners, though, need that dominant force now to really compete in the SEC next season with Moser's job on the line (again). Holst and Rogers should be kept in Norman to contribute off the bench and could even develop into what the Sooners need one day, but Moser must look to the portal to immediately solve the roster's most glaring need.