How Porter Moser embraced a different transfer portal mentality ahead of 2025-26 season
NORMAN — Porter Moser is no stranger to rebuilding his roster through the transfer portal.
That’s been the task for Moser essentially every season he’s been at Oklahoma. Without much roster retention, Moser has signed at least four players from the portal in each offseason since he was hired in 2021.
But this offseason was different. At SEC Media Days earlier this month, Moser mentioned he had fully embraced and leaned into the portal as the Sooners signed four players they believe can contribute right away. At local media day on Tuesday, Moser further explained the mindset that went into the offseason.
“I was never fighting it,” Moser said. “It was more of mentality. It’s just that way in life. Complaining about it doesn’t help. It’s funny, I’ll go out somewhere and people who don’t know about NIL, don’t know about the portal, but they don’t like it. The general public, they’re like, ‘Man, I don’t know how you guys do it. I don’t like it.’
“And I get it, because you can fall into that trap and just keep talking about all the negatives. So when I said lean into it, it was more of a mind shift. It’s like, this is our reality, let’s lean into it and make the best decisions we can make in it.”
It was about quality, not quantity, for the Sooners this portal cycle.
The Sooners certainly made bigger splashes in the portal compared to previous seasons, and found good balance positionally. They added two guards in Xzayvier Brown (St. Josephs) and Nijel Pack (Miami), and two forwards in Tae Davis (Notre Dame) and Derrion Reid (Alabama).
Brown averaged 17.6 points and 4.0 assists while shooting 35% from the 3-point line last season. Pack — a sixth-year senior — has averaged 14.3 points for his career while shooting above 40% from the 3-point line.
Davis averaged over 15 points and five rebound last season as a junior at Notre Dame, and his 6-foot-9 frame should make him an option at both forward and center. Reid spent most of last season injured but was a consensus top-20 recruit in the 2024 class.
Reid, Brown and Pack all ranked inside the top-42 best prospects in the portal. On3’s Team Transfer Portal Index, which measure a team’s production during the transfer process compared relative against its roster, ranked the Sooners’ portal class as the sixth best in the country.
“I also leaned into it with the mentality of, we went after some guys that have played at a high level, and we didn’t go after sheer numbers, for a lot of reasons,” Moser said. “One, you have a certain budget you can work under, and then the other, I have found that they’re in the portal for a handful of reasons. A big one is they want a better situation to play an impact role, and if you’ve got seven of those, you’re not going to have seven roles for that.
“It doesn’t mean I’ll never sign more than four. It’s just this structure of how he built his team.”
Moser is confident the portal guys can add to the five players the Sooners retained from last season. Sophomore Dayton Forsythe hopes to build on his breakout performances late last season, while Mohamed Wague and Jeff Nwanwko should factor heavily into the rotation. The Sooners are also hopeful that true freshman Kai Rogers can make an early impact on OU’s center rotation.
Add it all up, and the Sooners should have a solid opportunity to build on last season, which included the first NCAA Tournament berth since 2021. All four of the portal additions will play a big role in whether the Sooners can go even further.
Moser is excited to get started.
“I just think the four guys in the portal, leaning into those guys, we leaned into just the positivity of like it was just a mindset,” Moser said. “Like, this is our new world. Let’s not complain about it. Let’s just make the best of it.
“And I think we got four guys that fit who we are, how I want to play, how we want to play, and I’m excited to get to battle with them.”