OU basketball gets that portal win with Duke Miles

Raise your hand if you were worried about OU basketball Wednesday afternoon? It’s OK to go ahead and admit it.

It was a down bad-like moment when Kaden Cooper hit the transfer portal on the final day of the window being opened.

Head coach Porter Moser and staff, though, did what they always do. All you can do is roll with the punches and keep fighting back.

That fight? It led to a massive commitment with former High Point guard Duke Miles picking the Sooners over Auburn on Friday morning.

Duke Miles, G, High Point (1 season)

The line: 17.5 ppg, 2.4 rebs, 3.5 assts, 0.2 blocks, 1.3 steals, 53% FG, 36% 3-pt, 80% FT

This is the type of win OU fans had been waiting for, hoping for. The kind of portal win that resonates and gets people fired up.

Miles is a top-100 transfer prospect, and the way it came together? Just didn’t sound like OU. He’s an Alabama kid, who had just finished his Auburn visit Wednesday.

Here comes OU in from like the backdoor in the 11th hour to steal someone else’s hometown kid. The Sooners had certainly seen that a time or two or three during this cycle.

Miles is a perfect combo guard and brings a lot to the table.

OU will hope to continue its weekend run when former Seton Hall star Kadary Richmond arrives in Norman on Friday. He is expected in town for a two-day visit. OU has two open spots left.

OU portal commitments

Brycen Goodine, G, Fairfield (1 season)

The line: 13.9 ppg, 3 rebs, 1.4 assts, 0.3 blocks, 0.8 steals, 50% FG, 47% 3-pt, 76% FT

That is not a misprint. Goodine shot 47 percent from 3-point territory and is a volume shooter. You can see how OU is attempting to spread the floor a lot more. Goodine averaged more than five 3-pointers attempted per game and shot at that clip. He had scoring games of 40 points and 37 points last season. Goodine had four games of making at six 3-pointers. From Syracuse to Providence to Fairfield now to OU. Definitely will bring the experience, and OU fans will be hoping he’ll bring that type of shooting one more season.

Jadon Jones, G, Long Beach State (1 season)

The line: 12.1 ppg, 3.3 rebs, 1.6 assts, 1.8 steals, 1.0 blocks, 42% FG, 38% 3-pt, 85% FT

OU is focusing hard on two-way players. Looking for the 3-and-D type of player. Jones checks those boxes, a former Defensive Player of the Year in the Big West. Jones connected on 77 3-pointers last season, shooting the 38 percent rate. The 77 makes? That’s 23 more than the most by an OU player last year (Javian McCollum, 54). Jones is one of nine players ever in the NCAA in the last 30 years to have at least 60 steals, more than 30 blocks and make at least 75 3-pointers in a season. He joins the likes of Shane Battier, Kevin Durant, Danny Green, among others.

Kobe Elvis, G, Dayton (1 season)

The line: 9.4 ppg, 2.4 rebs, 3.5 assts, 0.6 steals, 38% FG, 37% 3-pt, 85% FT

If nothing else, Elvis becomes the first player on the team with NCAA Tournament experience. Elvis was part of a Dayton squad that reached the second round of the Big Dance last month. He has plenty of experience and averaged nearly 30 minutes per game. Elvis is someone who knows how to operate in a ball-screen offense. A solid, complementary piece.

OU portal outlook

The Sooners worked the portal well last season, earning the 20 wins in the regular season for the first time in eight years. It just turned out to be not enough, being named the dreaded First Team Out of the NCAA Tournament.

So it’s back to the transfer portal. OU has had four players transfer out (Otega Oweh, John Hugley, Milos Uzan, Javian McCollum), meaning five open scholarships initially remained. Then it was two after Elvis and Jones and Goodine came into the fold. And then it went back to three after Kaden Cooper hitting the portal on the final day. Back to two after the big-time win picking up Miles.

Forward Jalon Moore also announced his intention to go through the NBA Draft process, but he will keep his NCAA eligibility with OU. Moore could absolutely return to the Sooners. Sources believe Moore is expected to be the OU leader in 2024-25.

“There’s gonna be no less acceleration on our efforts for Oklahoma basketball,” said Moser last month. “We’ve got competitors. My staff, myself. Faith, family, friends, togetherness, this awesome University of Oklahoma. The outpouring of people. I’ll say this. My good friend that I’ve really developed a great friendship in the last three years and a friend to everybody here, Bob Stoops. He uses the term OUDNA a lot. We’ve talked about it.

“The OUDNA just doesn’t talk about at the top of the hill. The OUDNA is really strong as you’re climbing the hill. That’s where this staff, these players, this program is going to rely on that OUDNA to fight through this adversity. That OUDNA never has to be more relevant – it’s almost more important on the way up than it is at the top. That’s what we’re going to lean on moving forward.”