Oklahoma Basketball: Can Trae Young lead the Sooners back to the Final Four?

Trae Young has clearly been the best player in college basketball this season. The question now is: how far can Young take Oklahoma basketball in the Big Dance?

For most of his tenure as the head coach of Oklahoma basketball, Lon Kruger has been able to field a team that has been competitive in the regular season and can always make a run in March. The Sooners and Kruger put themselves firmly into the Big 12 landscape in the Blake Griffin era. Then, there was Buddy Hield and his shooting prowess. With Hield taking the lead, the team reached the Final Four.

After that Final Four appearance by the Sooners, there was a mass exodus in Norman as numerous players from the team graduated and left the program. Last year was a tough year for the team, as Oklahoma seemingly found numerous ways to lose. The losses were to be expected considering all the talent that left the team.

Enter the 2017-2018 season, the Sooners were surrounded by numerous questions and a young roster. Big man Brady Manek, and electrifying do-everything point guard Trae Young were the headliners of the freshmen class. Manek has been good and a huge piece for Oklahoma, but there should be no argument that Trae Young has been nothing short of amazing in his young college career.

Young chose to stay home in Norman and picked the Sooners over Kentucky, Kansas and fellow Big 12 team Texas Tech. He is already breaking NCAA records and appears to be doing it with ease. His amount of games with 25 points and 10 assists is already more than the previous record-holder, Denzel Valentine, had in his 4-year career at Michigan State. He has already done enough to place himself into the talks of being the overall No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft

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Young leads the country in scoring, not just among freshman but among all players. Earlier this season in a game against Northwestern State, Young scored 27 points and had 22 assists. That is the Oklahoma single-game assist record and it also tied the NCAA record. The 13 assists for Young in the first half broke the Oklahoma record for assists in a half as well. The fact that this game was not too far out of the norm for him is what has propelled Young to the top of the Wooden Award Watch List.

It has long been discussed how good Young is as an individual, but what does he mean to the Oklahoma Sooners and how far can he lead them? So far in the regular season, Oklahoma has ridden Young all the way to the No. 4 ranking in the country. Young provides virtually all of the offense for this team with his ability to create his own shots and set attempts up for others. The Sooners are a lock for the NCAA Tournament this year and at this point, it is just a matter of finalizing their seeding.

Oklahoma has shown this year as well that they may actually rely on Young a bit too much. When Young has an off night, Oklahoma really struggles to score, even when Young is still distributing. Kruger and the Sooners need Young to score points. If he struggles to score, Oklahoma can have trouble winning games.

It is obvious that Young will be NBA-bound after this season. He is an exceptional passer, a great shooter from deep, and can get to the rim with ease. It sometimes looks like college basketball is not enough of a challenge for Young.

Oklahoma is going to be a tough out for any team in the Big 12 and whoever they play is going to hope that Young has an off night. If Young is playing well, it is going to take a team effort to beat Oklahoma. Young is good enough to keep his team in any game.

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Oklahoma has a team around Young that should make a deep run into March and has the potential to make another Final Four. Much like former Sooner Buddy Hield, Young is targeted on the opponent’s game plan. If Young can continue this play all the way through the tournament, Oklahoma should be a favorite to make the Final Four.

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