Bob Stoops calls for Oklahoma fans to rally behind Porter Moser

It was a long Tuesday night for head coach Porter Moser and the Oklahoma Sooners. After a difficult second half, Oklahoma fell to rival Texas in what could prove to be a key Big 12 conference game this season.

After the game, former Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops took to social media. There, he praised Porter Moser and called for fans to rally behind him and the basketball team.

“#Sooners keep supporting this by guy, program, and Team,” Stoops wrote. “It will keep turning in a positive way!!! I’m gonna keep coming.”

In his post, Stoops was quoting a video from Moser after the game. In that video, Moser was talking about the loss and emphasized that a big part of what disappointed him about it was that it was a letdown for a great crowd.

“Disappointed,” Moser said. “Disappointed because the fans were awesome. I’ve worked my ass off to get people in here.”

Oklahoma actually took a narrow lead into halftime, but Texas took control of the game in the second half and ended up winning 75-60. It would be easy to leave that game with frustrations about how it went but this season has already begun to show proof of concept for Porter Moser and this Oklahoma coaching staff.

In his first two seasons at Oklahoma, the Sooners had a 34-33 record with one appearance in the NIT. That was frustrating but the Sooners have broken out in the 2023-24 season. At 15-4, Oklahoma is ranked and looks like it’s going to be headed to its first NCAA Tournament under Porter Moser.

So, it certainly looks like Stoops is right and that the basketball team will keep turning in a positive way under Moser.

Porter Moser credits Big 12 teams for work in transfer portal

One thing that Porter Moser noticed was how well Big 12 teams have used the transfer portal. Being able to find the right roster fits has been key, and he pointed to being able to do that as a huge reason for Oklahoma and the Big 12’s success as a whole.

“I’ll tell you, I think the Big 12 has done as good a job in the portal as anybody in the country. Look at the success Texas Tech has had in the portal. Look at the success Iowa State‘s had in the portal. Kansas State, tremendous help in the portal. Look at Texas. Max [Abmas] is arguably one of the best players in the country. Kansas, Hunter Dickinson. I mean, Baylor. I’m gonna keep going down every single team and I’m gonna name you three or four guys. I think this whole league has done a great job of evaluating and getting pieces that fit who they are, fit what they’re doing, and I don’t know a league that top to bottom — tremendous success in this league with portal guys. Older, physical, fits what their program is doing,” Moser said.

“And that’s what I’d say about us. Our guys fit. Javian [McCollum], we really wanted, needed speed, shooting at that guard spot. We needed some older big wings that could defend physically against higher level athletes. Rivaldo Soares. Le’Tre Darthard. John [Hugley] gives us a big, physical presence. So, we did well in the portal of getting needs we had and I don’t think you can look further than the Big 12 to find a league that has done the same. Tremendous success from every program on getting portal pieces that fit.”