March 20, 2023
I took a hard look at OU’s men’s basketball coach Porter Moser last month. It was not complimentary on the head coach. I gave some reasons why the Sooner basketball program was not doing well and the prospects for the future was not looking good. https://fredsportsextra.com/?p=10134
The “portal” is now filling up with Porter’s players from this year’s Sooner squad as another guard, Bijan Cortes, the final recruit of the Kruger years will be moving on. Cortes is a good, not great player. But he is a player that the team needs. He is now gone.
Now at three players entering the portal, it is possible that that number could balloon much higher and Moser could be looking at a complete new team for 2022-23. The next player to move on I do not have a clue, but it will happen. As I pointed out last month, Moser’s system is to develop his players for three or four years before they become the foundation of a solid conference contending team. Moser does not recognize in this day and age at the level of play OU is competing, the “big boys” take a select few of high transfers and build a team with elite four and five star studs that intend to play one or at the most two seasons of college basketball. They do not come to spend four or five years if they are of the highest quality. Did athletic director Joe Castiglione understand that when he hired Moser three years ago. He should have. Did JC know that Moser’s Loyola of Chicago Rambler teams that NCAA tournament teams were full of excellent junior and senior players that he developed from their freshman year? He should have.
It is not working for Moser at OU. The same situation of losing, finishing ninth or tenth in the conference will continue. I do not see it changing. Moser is not recruiting the best players out of high school. And his portal pick ups are not much better. Getting a kid from Wofford is not cutting it. It just is not. Coach Moser’s new players, either recruited as freshmen or from the portal are not the of players to bring a NCAA tournament team to OU and you can forget about a upper division or conference title coming to the campus. Sure OU beat a really great Alabama team at home this year. That should be expected and not an anomaly. Just look at what the new Kansas State coach did in just one season. He had just two players on the roster last summer when he took over the Wildcats and in one season with “his” transfers and freshmen they are in the sweet sixteen this weekend.
A winning team in Norman can happen with the right coach and the right manner of getting the best players to play for OU. Right now, expect another bottom team for OU and with the continuing philosophy of Coach Moser, things are not changing. And this is not a knock of Mosers coaching ability. He is a very good coach, especially at a mid-major or lower. Loyola of Chicago was the perfect place for him. OU is not.
That is the way I see it sports fans.
Feature photo: Cortes and Coach Moser (on3.com photo credit)
Yes coach Moser, just go recruit those 4 and 5 star guys that want to stay 1 year, that’ll solve all our problems. In today’s world if you don’t get the minutes you hit the portal, no one should be shocked that 2 guys off the bench and 1 that never saw the court are leaving.
Moser CANNOT just go and recruit AND SIGN those 4 and 5 star guys. And yes, Kansas and the other top programs, even really good programs can only count on these 4 and 5 star guys maybe for just one year. In today’s world any player that is not satisfied with their program will hit the portal. With Moser at OU, almost everyone but the two guys from E. Wash have come and hit the portal if they had that extra year. At OU, the Sooners with Moser will not even get close to the middle of the pack in the conference they are in as of the time needed for his recruits to develop. This is not Loyola. Time will prove to you that is the point I am making. Thanks for commenting. Appreciated.
Good grief folks. Let’s give him some time. It takes a few years to build a team.
Jim, you did not understand my post on why I don’t think he is going to get it done at OU? When you have a coach that can turn it around at K-State in one year, from two player to a sweet 16, time is an excuse. He cannot build a team to win at this level in the way he is doing it. That is an opinion. Why do you think what he is doing is going to work?