Oklahoma Basketball: 2022-23 season preview and outlook for Sooners

Season Outlook

Oklahoma replaces its backcourt with a pair of very solid transfers and hopes it can take a step forward. There’s a slew of young talent on this roster, but the reality is that none of these young players are ready to become stars or key contributors from day one. There’s certainly reason for optimism when you’re throwing Sherfield and Groves out there, two former mid-major stars, but there’s also reason for hesitance.

The Big 12 looks fantastic this season; perhaps as great as it’s ever looked before. Kansas and Baylor could be Top 5 teams again, while TCU and Texas could easily spend parts of the season in the Top 10. Iowa State just made a Sweet Sixteen, while West Virginia looks much better after last year’s last-place finish. Where does Oklahoma land in all of this?

As we previously mentioned, there’s no Buddy Hield or Blake Griffin on this roster. Oklahoma has been a good program in recent years, but they haven’t played at the level of a Kansas or Baylor even more recently. Those two programs won the last two national titles, but you can’t look at this current Oklahoma squad and expect them to follow suit. There is some definite talent on this roster, but also a lot of question marks and players who need to take those next steps this season.

There are reasons to like what Oklahoma has done this offseason, especially in filling those holes in the backcourt. However, there are also a lot of reasons to be hesitant, and many of those come from the lack of experience in this system and the strength of so many of their conference foes.

Moser is a great coach and he will put the Sooners in the best position possible, but it would be premature to expect this program to compete for Big 12 supremacy this season. Another NIT bid might be what to expect from Oklahoma in a conference packed with talent.