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OU head coach Porter Moser officially leaning into the transfer portal, embracing it all

Bob Przybyloby: Bob Przybylo10/16/25BPrzybylo
Porter Moser49
OU HC Porter Moser. (Vasha Hunt - Imagn Images)

You want to know how much OU basketball head coach Porter Moser has changed his tune on the transfer portal? The Sooners brought Nijel Pack, Tae Davis and Derrion Reid to SEC Media Days on Wednesday in Birmingham, Ala.

That would have sounded crazy like three years ago. Moser admits now that if fighting the portal is the wrong term, he sure as heck didn’t embrace it.

Those days are long gone. And OU, honestly? Is better off for it. The portal has been kind to OU in recent seasons. Most believe the quartet brought in this time around is the best Moser has ever had.

That trio, combined with guard Xzayvier Brown, are ready to do some big things for OU this upcoming season.

“There’s been so much talk about the last four years in the portal,” said Moser on Wednesday afternoon. “I’m just all about leaning into it. Everyone came to me. They said, you were at a program at Loyola where you developed guys. This has to be driving you crazy. I went through that time period.

“Now I’m completely leaning into it. You get a freshness about getting new guys. You get an enthusiasm of guys coming on your campus the first time, getting ready for a new situation. I’ve leaned into these four guys. They all played at a high level. That was important to me. Winning mattered to all four of ’em. That was important to me.

“I wanted to add length. Going night in, night out of the SEC, that’s the first thing you really notice is the length, athleticism and talent of the SEC.”

Bring in the transfers combine that with some quality role players returning, and you should have the recipe for a very nice, fun, competitive season.

Grind don’t stop

Oh, SEC. Or oh, Porter Moser. No stranger to elite level of conference competition and that won’t stop this season.

The first three years in the Big 12 and now back-to-back gauntlets coming up in the SEC.

But that’s OK. And in the end? It’s sort of what you want.

“The four years I’ve been at Oklahoma, I’ve been in the number one rated basketball conference all four years,” Moser said. “I’m Tony Gwynn, I’m 4-for-4. Looking at what the SEC signed this year, I’m going to be Ichiro. I’m going to be 5-for-5.

“I think the thing that you have to have, when you’re in a league this loaded, there’s got to be some resiliency with your team through tough times. That’s what we had last year. I really thought we were playing our best at the end through some adversity, coming back and really having a great run at the end. Just to talk with our guys about those life lessons.

“It’s where they want to be. The best stage, the best players, the most players drafted the last five years, go on and on. The players want to be in this league, but they got to be ready.”

First look at OU? A televised exhibition against Wisconsin (in Milwaukee) next Friday night (Big Ten Network+).

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