NCAA Basketball: Ranking the 10 matchups in 2020-21 Big 12/Big East Challenge
5. Oklahoma at Xavier
The good news for the Sooners is that they landed a pair of talented transfers in North Texas Umoja Gibson and Elijah Harkless from Cal State Northridge. The bad news for them is that barring waivers or a rule change from the NCAA, both will have to sit out the upcoming season. That hurts Oklahoma a bit on the perimeter, having also lost Jamal Bieniemy to the portal. It’s still not as big a loss as having to replace leading scorer and rebounder Kristian Doolittle (15.8 ppg and 8.9 rpg) to graduation.
The Sooners do bring back a pair of All-Big 12 talents in Austin Reeves and Brady Manek, who each produced over 14 ppg and 5.0 rpg this past season. They’ll need a breakout season from former top-50 prospect DeVion Harmon (7.4 ppg and 2.0 apg), particularly as a facilitator and making his teammates better.
The Musketeers are losing both of their star players in Tyrique Jones and Naji Marshall but does return a fair amount of depth for next year. Paul Scruggs (12.7 ppg) is a likely All-Big East candidate in 2021, while Zach Freemantle and Jason Carter is a solid frontcourt duo. Look for Kyky Tandy to step in his sophomore campaign.
Xavier still has some weaknesses to deal with, including being a much better three-point shooting team. The hope is that Gardner-Webb grad transfer Nate Johnson (13.5 ppg on 41% from deep) will be a positive addition to the rotation.
While both teams will need their rotation players to take a leap, there are currently more questions about Oklahoma’s 7-8 man rotation for next season than with Xavier. This should be a close battle for 40 minutes but I have the home team sneaking out with a win.