Porter Moser has nothing to fear by starting Jeremiah Fears (might help him keep his job, too)
Just as some combination of Brent Venables, Jeff Lebby and DeMarco Murray refused to showcase Tawee Walker as the Sooners No. 1 running back last season, opting instead for Gavin Sawchuk, who since appears to have entered witness relocation …
Just as some combination of Venables, Seth Littrell, Joe Jon Finley and Emmett Jones kept Jacob Jordan from catching any passes until Game 7 of this season against South Carolina, even as OU was down its “best” five receivers …
Just as some combination of Venables, Littrell, Finley and Murray kept us from seeing Xavier Robinson carry the football until Game 9 of this season against Maine and until very late against Missouri where he turned nine carries into 56 yards …
Porter Moser, still in charge of Sooner men’s hoops, is refusing to start his best playmaker two games into the basketball season, a young point guard by the name of Jeremiah Fears, OU’s highest rated get off the high school recruiting trail since Trae Young.
Yeah, freshmen must pay their dues, earn their way.
Yeah, if you can’t defend at a high level you’re lucky to get any court time at all on a Moser-coached squad.
Yeah, we’ve heard it all before.
But doesn’t Moser know the only reason he remains the Sooner coach is by the undeserved grace of Joe Castiglione, who may just have been too dang busy to administer a national coaching search at the same time he was preparing his department to enter the Southeastern Conference?
Honestly, it might be the only reason to make sense of Moser hanging on to his job following three straight failures to reach the NCAA tourney, three straight failures to register a .500 conference record and four straight failures to keep players he might have kept from one season to the next, causing his program to mostly start over every offseason.
Fears only turned 18 on Oct. 14.
Originally projected the No. 24 player coming out of the 2025 recruiting class, he moved up his high school exit, settled on being the No. 40 national prospect and No. 9 point guard prospect in the 2024 class and arrived in Norman in time for the 2024-25 season and boy do the Sooners need him.
To date, as you may know, Fears’ exclusion from Moser’s first five has not cost the Sooners anything, for Monday, OU won its second straight game to begin the season, 73-57, over Northwestern (La.) State.
Nor did it keep Fears from scoring 16 points, grabbing five rebounds and dishing six assists opening night against Lindenwood, a 93-60 victory that, holy cow, included 50 second-half Sooner points. Nor did it keep Fears from netting 15 points and swiping four steals Monday night against the Demons.
His reserve status did, though, underline a point Moser must quit underlining if he’s to have any chance to keep his job, turn the program around and make it something students and football fans have any interest in attending.
Though defense is in Moser’s bones, just as it’s in Venables’ bones, both must care far more about offense, and put their best offensive talent between the lines if they hope to move their programs and professional fortunes forward.
As I’ve been writing forever, Moser’s teams have a history of not scoring enough points and not taking enough shots.
His first three seasons at OU, the Sooners netted 69.1, 67.7 and 75.4 points per game, ranking 205th, 253rd and 101st among more than 360 Division I programs. To score those points, Moser’s teams got off 53.1, 53.3 and 56. 2 shot attempts per game, ranking 341st, 330th and 280th.
Netting more than 75 points per outing last season was a bold step forward and still, it was hardy the result of a team finally off and running. Just about all the increased shot output was attributable to OU pushing its offensive rebounding totals from 7.3 per game two seasons ago to 9.7 last season.
Moser likes to talk about playing faster, with more athleticism, but it’s hardly happened.
Now, having convinced Fears to join the program, Mosier must give him the best possible chance to succeed; to play more minutes alongside Jalon Moore, who may be turning a real corner after scoring 22 and 23 points against Lindenwood and Northwestern State; to inch toward allowing the squad to become Fears’ for all that might do this season and for all it might do to keep him around for future seasons.
He’s getting the minutes.
Opening night, with the bigger stat line, Fears was plus 16 over his 26 minutes in a game OU prevailed by 33 points. Monday, even with six turnovers, he was a stunning and team-high plus 22 over 30 minutes in a game OU won by 16 points.
On the off chance Moser makes it to his fifth Sooner season, the last guy he can afford to lose is Fears.
So maybe make him and the small smattering of fans coming to the games as happy as you can make them beginning right now. Do what your football colleagues can’t seem to do: play your best players from the start and see what happens.
There is nothing to fear by starting Fears himself.
Nothing changes until Harroz is gone. That cat ain’t about nothing but Harroz…
Not sure I agree Fears wasn't showcased enough, or that it's his defense. As you said he played starter minutes. And averaged 4 TOs against only bottom 50 opponents thusfar. I'm not even defending Moser, he was never the guy I wanted, with a midmajor career record around .500, though I think he's proven perfectly adequate just a bit unlucky. But the issue isn't roster or rotations for me. Just the style and buy-in things you've mentioned.