Big 12: Who Will Fill Void Left At Oklahoma By Cameron Clark?

Once the 2014-15 college basketball season finally gets under way, the Oklahoma Sooners will need to play with a chip on their shoulder. In fact, that chip will be about the size of the void left by Cameron Clark and his 15.6 points, 5.5 rebounds per game.

As expected, whenever the second-leading scorer on a high-powered offense has to hand off the reins, it places added responsibility and a greater demand for production from the rest of the guys. Luckily for Oklahoma, they didn’t become the nation’s seventh-highest scoring offense because of Clark alone, but who will be the one to step up and ensure the Sooners don’t take a step back next season?

Well, that’s just the thing … it won’t be one guy at all. Rather, with the offensive options Oklahoma has, it should be three or four guys who should be able to step up and help fill that void for Oklahoma.

Let’s start out with the most obvious person who should see a larger workload in Buddy Hield. After leading the team in scoring last season at 16.5 per game, Hield became an offensive force to be reckoned with in the Big 12.

It’s a given that he will again be the primary option on offense but with 411 shots that Clark took last season needing to be distributed to others in 2014-15, a good chunk of these will come Hield’s way. This, in turn, will result in a noticeably higher point per game average and likely another spike in shooting percentages.

Point being, there shouldn’t be any questions as to whether or not Hield will be able to step up.

Just as with Hield, junior power forward Ryan Spangler is another guy who will be sure to help fill the production lost with Clark now out of town. Averaging 9.6 points and 9.3 rebounds and standing only 6-foot-8, 231 pounds, Spangler was practically the big man for the Sooners.

Clark played a significant amount of time in the paint, which often pushed Spangler to the center. Now that Oklahoma has two more towering freshmen post players coming in, Spangler will be able to play for as a forward, which will help with offensive freedom and looks at the basket.

As one of the team’s leaders, Spangler will gladly step up and take quite a few more shot attempts and with his 58 percent field goal efficiency, his scoring average should jump up to around 13 or 14 per game.

Then of course, the scoring threats of Isaiah Cousins and Jordan Woodard will definitely be adding to the needed contributions to make up for Clark’s loss.

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Cousins was the team’s third-leading scorer at 11 per game last season and with an efficient 44 percent shooting from the field, including 40 percent from beyond the arc. Cousins scored at least 14 points in 10 games, which shows he has the ability to score and a noticeable clip, even when he’s not the first or second option on the team.

With more looks next season, his scoring average should also jump three to four points per game, providing even more help to the superhero role Hield will have to play next season.

Finally we’ve got Woodard, who, just as with his pal on the perimeter, was able to score in double-digits 18 times. Included in that was seven outings of at least 15-plus points to prove he can also fill the stat sheet out nicely.

But with this came 10 games where he was only able to put up no more than seven points. This shows a huge habit of inconsistency and although Woodard will have no problem putting up even more points next season, but to help make up for the Clark’s absence, being able to put up quality numbers on a night basis will be crucial.

If this article should tell you anything, it’s that the Sooners will be just fine. It’s much easier to fill the shoes of one guy when at least four sets of feet are all going to stepping up into bigger roles.

Now as for whether these guys will be able to carry Oklahoma to a Big 12 conference title as Hield promised, well that’s a discussion for another day. But I can tell you, with this many guys all having the talent and opportunity to step up, it would be highly surprising if Oklahoma doesn’t improve over their 2013-14 record of 23-10.