OU basketball: Sooners, Porter Moser's first 41 days filled with transfers, recruiting additions

Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser spoke with the media on Friday for the first time since his introductory press conference on April 7.

Since taking over the reins after Lon Kruger’s retirement, Moser has filled out his assistant coach staff with Northwestern’s Emmanuel Dildy, Texas’ K.T. Turner and Arkansas’ David Patrick. Moser also signed four transfers and added two commits in the 2021 recruiting class. 

Here are three takeaways from the press conference:

Transfer additions

Moser added highly touted forward Tanner Groves and his brother Jacob from Eastern Washington, forward Ethan Chargois from SMU and guard Jordan Goldwire from Duke.

Tanner, who was the Big Sky Player of the Year last season averaging over 17 points and eight rebounds per game, had almost every school in the country reach out to him when he entered the portal, according to Moser.  Tanner scored 35 points against Kansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and Jacob added 23.

“He’s got a high IQ,” Moser said of Tanner. “We really started talking about paralleling what we did with (Third Team All-American Cameron Krutwig) at Loyola. I just think he can help right away. … We hit it off from the beginning, so I think he’s going to bring some size (and) skill, which is what we really needed.”

Goldwire, a graduate transfer, was an All-ACC Defensive Team selection last season, while also boasting the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the conference at 2.82 assists for each turnover. 

“Jordan Goldwire was another veteran,” Moser said. “He played at the highest level at Duke, getting great culture there. … He brings a veteran mentality to us.”

Chargois, who’s also a graduate transfer and Tulsa native, averaged 8.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game last season while shooting 31.7 percent from 3-point range. 

“Ethan really wanted to play for his home state,” Moser said of the Union High School graduate. “I think there’s something to be said about that, of how you represent the name of that front of your jersey. I really like that. … He is skilled, he can pass, shoot, function on the perimeter, and I liked that skill level."

2021 recruiting class

The Sooners 2021 recruiting class consists of three-star guards Bijan Cortes and Alston Mason, three-star junior college transfer Akol Mawein and four-star guard C.J. Noland.

Moser managed to keep Cortes and Noland, despite the pair committing before his arrival. Mawein and Mason both committed after Moser was hired. Mason committed the night of Moser’s introductory press conference and Mawein, who committed to OU on May 12 and was previously committed to Arkansas, followed Patrick to Oklahoma after he also left Arkansas. 

Moser recruited both Cortes and Noland at Loyola Chicago and contacted both of them as soon as he was hired at OU. On April 7, Cortes tweeted “Love this man Porter Moser. We gonna be up to something this year,” confirming his status for next season.

Although Cortes and Noland both signed in November, they both confirmed they would play under Moser. Noland tweeted “It’s still Boomer,” three days after Moser was introduced. 

“For anyone to think they don’t sign with the coaches, they’re not being realistic,” Moser said. “I mean, they had a relationship with the coaching staff, so it was building that relationship back for myself and my new coaches.”

Moser’s start

After being announced as the new head coach April 3, Friday marked the 41st day of Moser’s tenure with the Sooners. 

Moser said he’s hit the ground running and is prioritizing player relationships and recruiting. After Kruger’s retirement, the Sooners lost nine players to either the NCAA Transfer Portal or NBA Draft. 

“We really only had four guys to work with in spring workouts,” Moser said. You had (Umoja) Gibson, Elijah Harkless, Jalen Hill and Rick Issanza. I will tell you this, just been really pleased with those four’s willingness to work, willingness to learn and listen and I really like who they are as young men.

“I mean, they’re high character guys. They’re about Oklahoma basketball (and) they’re only getting better.”