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Sources: Alec Blair leaving OU basketball team, focusing on baseball

Bob Przybyloby: Bob Przybylo5 hours agoBPrzybylo
Alec Blair
OU freshman Alec Blair / Player Instagram page

Multiple sources confirmed late Wednesday night that OU freshman wing Alec Blair has chosen to leave the basketball team to focus on baseball.

Sources said Wednesday was his final practice with the basketball team.

Blair played three minutes and had one point and one rebound in the 102-66 victory Monday in the season opener.

SoonerScoop asked head coach Porter Moser if the plan was ever to redshirt Blair, and Moser was adamant there was going to be a spot for Blair on this season’s roster.

“Alec didn’t get into the game until late, but Alec can get downhill,” Moser told SoonerScoop. “He had a nice offensive rebound. We’re going to need to continue to build depth. There wasn’t a thought – we really, Reid had strep throat. Jadon is out, Kai is out. Andreas Holst hasn’t been cleared yet. We had limited bodies.

“Alec missed the summer, then had mono, but I really like him. He’s super athletic, great feel for a lot of things. We’re looking for him to keep his development going. He just has to stay ready because he’s going to be playing.”

Though Blair was thought highly of as a basketball prospect, he is considered an even better baseball prospect going forward.

There was always this scenario, but throughout the process? Moser and OU baseball head coach Skip Johnson had been working to keep the two-sport star a two-sport possibility.

“Skip and his staff were phenomenal and it was fun pairing up with them,” said Moser last year. “Their program has a lot of energy, they recruit with a lot of energy, we did, and I think tag-teaming with Skip and his staff was great. And we are gonna work with them to make it happen. I think that’s part of it too, of talking to Skip, like, ‘Let’s make this work,’ you know?

“So he’s gonna have his time there — although he is on a basketball scholarship. But I would want… Like I said, I love two-sport athletes. I just think there’s a discipline about ’em, there’s a maturity about it and an understanding. I just think there’s a lot of great things and I think he’s gonna be really successful doing both. And it was, you know… Skip and his staff are first class and just high-energy, very hard-working, thorough, and we’re gonna make it work.”

OU heads to Spokane, Wash., this weekend to take on No. 21 Gonzaga at 9:30 p.m. CT on Saturday on ESPN2.

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