Oklahoma Columnist, by Clay Horning

Oklahoma Columnist, by Clay Horning

Share this post

Oklahoma Columnist, by Clay Horning
Oklahoma Columnist, by Clay Horning
It's hard to be a Porter Moser doubter now
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

It's hard to be a Porter Moser doubter now

Oklahoma men's skipper, having remade roster yet again, has Sooners edging nearing top 10, playing even better basketball than their perfect record indicates

Clay Horning's avatar
Clay Horning
Dec 13, 2023
∙ Paid
2

Share this post

Oklahoma Columnist, by Clay Horning
Oklahoma Columnist, by Clay Horning
It's hard to be a Porter Moser doubter now
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
1
Share
Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser reacts after a play during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Arkansas, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023, in Tulsa, Okla. (AP Photo/Joey Johnson)

I’d had enough.

I’d had enough of Porter Moser, the ugly brand of basketball he was coaching and of a program enveloped by terrific tradition, yet utterly stuck in the mud.

I’d had enough of watching Moser never sit down or ever be quiet from tip to buzzer, never still long enough to begin to digest the game before his eyes.

No cheering in the press box, of course, or from press row or the upper bowl alcove sportswriters have been made to watch the action from Lloyd Noble Center for some time now.

Yet, because the middle schooler in me who loved Billy Tubbs, even when it was Chucky Barnett and Lester Pace on the squad, never really died, watching Moser’s Sooners the last two seasons became a journey of secretly cheering in reverse, wishing the program to bottom out already, paving the way for the next guy, who might, for starters, want to score some points.

That’s where trying to understand Moser’s always come back to for me.

Even at Loyola-Chicago, his teams played at no pace, averaging 49.7, 50.4 and 52.2 attempts per game over the 2018-19, ’19-’20 and ’20-’21 campaigns, ranking 351st, 348th and 333rd among Division I programs, so says teamrankings.com, a fabulous resource for just such things.

His first two seasons here were more of the same, the Sooners getting up an average 53.1 shots, ranking 341st two seasons ago, and 53.3, ranking 330th last season.

Now?

Now it feels like he’s turned an aircraft carrier around with the speed of a jet ski. 

In the age of the transfer portal, you say, when a roster can be remade one year to the next, to the next and to the next, such things happen all the time.

Perhaps, but to do what Moser appears to have done, is not only to have remade his roster a third time in three seasons and to not only have gotten that roster to play together with utter familiarity and utter confidence so quickly, too, but to have overcome himself in the process along the way.

Coaches just don’t do that.


Oklahoma Columnist, by Clay Horning is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free subscriber. Or, if you’d prefer to receive all of my writing, like this column, please consider a paid subscription for $6/month or $60/year.


Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Oklahoma Columnist, by Clay Horning to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 Clay Horning
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More