Oklahoma Basketball: Grant Sherfield gives Sooners needed lead guard

Transfer guard Grant Sherfield has found a new home in Oklahoma Basketball. Will this push the Sooners back to NCAA Tournament territory?

In head coach Porter Moser’s first season with Oklahoma Basketball, the team finished with 19 wins and just missing out on the NCAA Tournament. The roster itself was solid but lacked top-end talent, particularly in the backcourt. The leading scorer was Umoja Gibson (13.3 ppg), along with Jordan Goldwire and Elijah Harkless.

All three guards are now gone, leaving the Sooners to make up a new backcourt. The team already has a pair of top-100 incoming guards in Milos Uzan and Otega Oweh for now and the future but also landed Joe Bamisile (16.3 ppg and 5.0 rpg at George Washington), for the shooting guard position.

But Oklahoma still needed a proven lead guard to run the offense and also provide more scoring production. And after missing out on the first round of point guards in the transfer portal, they were able to still land a big fish late in May in Grant Sherfield.

After averaging 8.1 ppg as a freshman for Wichita State as a part-time starter, Sherfield transferred over to Nevada and was given the keys to the offense for the past two years. And statistically, it’s worked out great. The 6’2 playmaker averaged 18.8 ppg and 6.3 apg in the past couple of seasons and was on the All-Mountain West team both times.

Sherfield was in double figures in all but five games in 54 games and had 20+ points over 20 times. And he can rack up the assists, including a career-high 14 against Boise State. He’s been a quality point guard out west and now goes to the Big 12, where just about every team has one.

The backcourt duo of Bamisile and Sherfield is an upgrade for Oklahoma Basketball and gives them a good chance to rebound back to the Big Dance. But it’s not a guarantee that transfers from the Mountain West and Atlantic 10 makes the transition well. Time will tell but on paper, these are good moves for the Sooners.