Recruiting: Oklahoma tries to replace stars with solid recruiting class

Oklahoma looks to replace major pieces from their Final Four run with their newest recruiting class.

Few teams in the nation lost more star power than Oklahoma. Buddy Hield, Ryan Spangler and Isaiah Cousins, all massive contributors on the Sooners Final Four squad, are all departing due to graduation.

Those three were the primary drivers behind the Sooners’ third place finish in the Big 12 and provided valuable leadership and production.

Attempting to replace Buddy Buckets and company are five guys who rate as ESPN’s 24th best recruiting class.

Headlining the class are two top 100 recruits in Kameron McGusty and Kristian Doolittle, the 46th and 69th best recruits, respectively.

McGusty in particular is the player most likely to mold into a star in the future. The 6’5″ guard from Katy, Texas projects as the most logical replacement for Hield when you look at the roster.

He has a lot of athletic potential and can get to the rim easily, but he has some big holes from the outset. He is listed at just 165 pounds and doesn’t have the strongest jumper. He’ll factor in heavily, but might have to exist as a sixth man with his current size.

Doolittle is the more likely to start from day one. He has great listings for a freshman (6’8″, 215). He isn’t the tallest option Oklahoma has at power forward, but the competition for forward minutes is far from top tier.

He doesn’t project to have much range right away, but looks perfectly capable of banging away against opposing post men. Don’t be surprised if he is one of the top three offensive options on next year’s squad.

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The next promising recruit is Matt Freeman. The 6’9″, 200 pound forward from New Zealand is a bit of an unknown at this stage. He doesn’t have a lot of hype surrounding him from his recruiting, but he might take Spangler’s old role in a year or two.

He has more range than Doolittle, so he could turn into Oklahoma’s next stretch forward.

The final freshman that Lon Kruger snagged is point guard Jordan Shepherd from North Carolina. Shepherd is far from a hyped talent, just OU and James Madison were listed as his offers, but the Sooners might need his services in a year after Jordan Woodard graduates.

Rounding out the Oklahoma class is Darrion Strong from Coffeyville (KS) Community College. The dynamic guard put up 21.3 points per game on 47% shooting from the floor.

If he doesn’t start at point, he should slide over with little trouble to function as the team’s starting shooting guard. His junior college experience will also be invaluable to a team that has just three regular rotation guys back (only one in the backcourt).

Overall there is a lot to love about OU’s class. They have players coming in in order to replace multiple departing pieces and some of these newly minted student-athletes could turn into stars.

The interesting thing will be how five new Sooners compete and interact with many returning players who received relatively little playing time last season.

Next: Big Ten basketball teams wait on key draft decisions

In two years or so, Oklahoma should be in fine position to again challenge for the Big 12 title, but the 2016-17 results could end with a big drop in the standings compared to what fans are accustomed to.

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