Oklahoma basketball searching for the final pieces

Nobody knew just how chaotic things were going to be in college basketball once the transfer portal window opened in March. Everybody knew it was going to be crazy, but the 60 days more than lived up to their billing.

It’s over, breathe. The 60-day window officially closed last Thursday, and Oklahoma still has work to do. The Sooners have two open scholarship spots.

The window closing, of course, doesn’t necessarily mean there won’t be more additions to the portal. Graduate transfers can still make their choices whenever they feel like. Paperwork continuing to be processed will lead to others.

From there, it’s going to be about sifting through the plethora of players still in the portal and seeing what Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser wants to do.

Moser knew what he wanted to do with the team, after a disappointing 15-17 season. He wanted some scoring/shooting, toughness, athleticism and length.

The Sooners have checked off a lot of those boxes, but these two openings are certainly something that needs to be addressed in the days and weeks ahead.

What’s left for Oklahoma?

When the portal window opened, it was very easy to say the Sooners needed to find a power forward and a center. OU needed a lot of things, but finding guards in the portal has always been a heck of a lot easier than finding quality bigs.

Two months later, and the power forward option is still looming. It was a little bit of an unexpected departure with Jalen Hill leaving and transferring back home to UNLV, but the staff has had more than enough time to make some moves.

Unfortunately, the answer doesn’t look like it is there at the moment. That was another key thing about the portal window closing was it gave teams a chance to take step back, reevaluate what is necessary and attack from this point forward.

The Sooners clearly need to do that with the power forward spot, and then it will be interesting to see what Moser and staff want to do with the other.

After stashing away a scholarship last season, you would assume the plan will be to fill out all the spots. To be aggressive and find the right guy with the right fit.

There have been some targets in the last month. But it appears as though they’ll head to other schools.

A lot of teams have been filling up left and right, which might actually give the Sooners a bit of an edge. They can do their due diligence and make the pitch to bring someone to Norman that maybe didn’t think OU was a possible landing spot.

OU has not had a visitor on campus in the last two weeks, so it will be intriguing to see if the Sooners get active once again this week.

Transfer Portal Additions

*Guard Javian McCollum (6-foot-2, 155 pounds, Siena): McCollum was a Plan A target for Oklahoma right from the start. He averaged 15.9 points, 3.9 assists and 2.1 rebounds as a sophomore. His pace of play stood out to Moser as OU needs to become a faster team going forward.

*Center John Hugley (6-9, 265, Pittsburgh): The biggest priority for Moser was with the bigs. OU needed to knock it out the park at power forward and center. At least one of those is checked off with Hugley. A knee injury limited him in 2022-23, but he averaged just under 15 points and eight rebounds two years ago.

*Guard Rivaldo Soares (6-6, 205, Oregon): OU needs some experience, some seniors, and Soares helps in that department. He’ll be using his final year of eligibility in Norman and had a built-in connection with new OU assistant Armon Gates, who coached at Oregon last season.

*Guard Le’Tre Darthard (6-4, 180, Utah Valley): Darthard can score (13.8 points). He can pass (3.8 assists). And he can defend (1.2 steals). He’s a Porter Moser guy. Originally from Denton (Texas) Guyer, OU is bringing him closer to home and hoping to make his last year his best year.