College Basketball 2015-16: Oklahoma Sooners
By Nathan Giese
One man dared to claim that his team was going to knock off Kansas, a team that had won the previous 10 Big 12 regular season titles, and sit alone at top of the conference standings by season’s end. Many called him crazy, some called him a little cocky, but everybody wanted to see what would happen.
Things didn’t work out for Oklahoma like he had predicted. Kansas still won the regular season title, their 11th straight with the Sooners sitting tied for second with Iowa State, one game back of the Jayhawks. His prediction may have been wrong, but dammit if Buddy Hield didn’t give it his all to see it through.
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After the fast-talking Bahamas native went on a tear last season, averaging 17.4 points (tops in the Big 12) and 5.4 rebounds, shooting 37 percent from beyond the arc and being an overall leader for Oklahoma, Hield was awarded the Big 12’s Player of the Year award.
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The NBA came calling and Hield was willing to listen. Everybody knew that he could be a first-round draft pick if he left, but Hield opted to return to school for his senior season, something that’s rarely seen these days but was a trend this offseason.
With Hield’s return, Oklahoma is once again in the thick of the conference race, once again joined at the top by Kansas and Iowa State. All three teams have dynamic players, great rosters and an urge to make something more happen than the last two seasons has provided each program.
Between these three teams, Oklahoma was the lone team to advance to the Sweet 16 with Kansas losing in the second round to Wichita State and Iowa State being upset by UAB in the opening game.
This is one year removed from the Sooners being upset by North Dakota State in the first round, Kansas losing in the second round and the Cyclones being the team to advance to the Sweet 16. It was a reversal of roles in a way, but few expect to see any of these teams not playing in the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.
How far can Hield’s return take Oklahoma? That is the big question the Sooners have heading into this, though there is another one that hangs over their heads as well.
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Oklahoma returns four of their five starters from last season, including senior guard Isaiah Cousins (11.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 45% 3FG), senior forward Ryan Spangler (9.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, 58% FG), junior guard Jordan Woodard (9.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 25% 3FG) along with the senior guard Hield.
Missing from the returners is TaShawn Thomas, the 6-foot-8 forward who contributed 11.6 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in his lone season with the Sooners. His eligibility has been used up, leaving a hole in the middle of the lineup for Lon Kruger. A defensive presence is needed if this team wants to maintain its 62.7 points allowed from last season, which ranked 71st in the country.
Oklahoma was also 13th in the nation last season in defensive points per possession allowed at just 0.903.
Kruger has options, though, it’s just a matter of who he trusts to put in that spot. Either way, the battle should be interesting.
Khadeem Latin, the 6-foot-9 sophomore forward, appears to have a bit of an edge on the competition. He played well in short playing time last season (11.9 minutes/game), though he’s still pretty raw. His biggest competition may come from a source few are familiar with.
Akolda Manyang, a junior college transfer, stands at 7-feet tall, 243 pounds. His size alone matches or beats most of the bigs the Big 12 has to offer (for example, Iowa State center Jameel McKay is just 6-foot-9, though his wingspan makes up for it). Manyang comes to Norman from Indian Hills Community College, one of the top JUCO basketball programs in the country.
Senior guard Dinijyl Walker is the top reserves coming back this season. He didn’t see a lot of playing time, but was valuable for the Sooners early last season before seeing his minutes decline dramatically down the stretch. He’ll need to step up a bit more with the absence of Frank Booker, the top reserve from last year’s squad who was vital to spelling Hield and Cousins.
Oklahoma’s schedule is a mixed bag this season, but the majority of their non-conference schedule should do plenty to get this team ready for the always tough Big 12 conference schedule.
To kick things off, the Sooners play Memphis on the road on Nov. 17, a game that looked much more intriguing back in June but becomes more about Memphis than it does Oklahoma. Without Austin Nichols, there’s no telling who the true leader for the Tigers is going to be on offense or defense.
Other notable games for Oklahoma includes a Nov. 29 meeting with the Wisconsin Badgers at home, a return game from last season’s upset loss at Creighton on Dec. 19, this time at home against the Blue Jays, and a Jan. 30 meeting with the LSU Tigers, whom many see being as a dangerous team with the top in-coming recruit and personal hype machine in Ben Simmons.
Probably the biggest non-conference game on the slate, though, is a meeting with the Villanova Wildcats, a neutral court game that will be played on Dec. 7 in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Jay Wright‘s team may be a bit thin in the rotation on paper, but it’s another potential Final Four team and should tell us a lot about both teams. Circle this one on your calendars.
As mentioned earlier, conference play is where we’ll see the best, and maybe even the worst, of the Sooners. Conference play does that to teams. The highest of highs and lowest of lows are always within reach no matter who it is. For Oklahoma, there’s two games that should be their biggest targets to pick up crucial victories.
I haven’t gone through every single team’s schedule, but I don’t know of any back-to-back stretch for a team that’s features two Final Four and national title contenders like Oklahoma has when it hosts Iowa State on Jan. 2 and turns around two days later to play Kansas in Lawrence.
Winning both of those games would be huge for Oklahoma. Not only would it be big to pick up a win in Phog Allen, it would also create early separation between them and the Cyclones and Jayhawks. That would give them a little cushion early on and could be the difference between a first place finish and a third place finish.
Of course, those are just the two biggest threats in conference play. There’s also Baylor, West Virginia and Texas who all look like NCAA Tournament teams and all three should bring varying styles of intense defense and rebounding to the table this season.
Oklahoma was just 10-10 (neutral and true road games combined) away from home last season. Improving that number will go a long way in helping the Sooners potentially reach the goals that they will have for themselves.
We likely won’t know if Hield is going to go out on a limb and say that Oklahoma will win the Big 12 for a second-straight year at media day, but if would certainly be something if he did. He probably won’t, but there is a lot to be excited about for the Sooners.
A defensively disciplined team with a free-flowing offense with two dynamic, high-scoring guards in Hield and Cousins, a potential stretch-4 in Spangler and a play-making point guard in Woodard makes this team dangerous. And if Manyang can be the guy in the paint…look out.
Don’t sleep on the Sooners because they’re out to prove everybody wrong. This program is headed in the right direction, and CBS Sports agrees (state-wise, anyway) that they’re going to stick around for a while. This may just be the beginning.