For Central Michigan and Oklahoma, the ceiling for renewed hope is high after disappointing finishes last season.
The Chippewas visit Norman, Okla., on Monday to face the Sooners in the season opener for both teams, and a pair of third-year coaches expect more from their teams after difficult finishes a season ago.
Central Michigan looks to bounce back from a 10-21 mark, including eight losses in their last 11 games.
Oklahoma dipped to 15-17 and tied for last place in the Big 12 Conference with a 5-13 mark. The Sooners were tantalizing in coach Porter Moser’s second season, with wins against NCAA Tournament teams TCU, West Virginia and Kansas State in league play and a 93-69 rout of Alabama, which was the No. 1 overall seed for March Madness.
That game was an outlier for an OU team that was offensively sluggish most of the last season, ranking last in the Big 12 in scoring (67.7 points per game).
Moser went into the offseason with a roster rebuild on his mind. Only four players are back from last season and just one starter — Milos Uzan, who averaged 7.6 points and 3.0 assists in 28.6 minutes.
“I wanted speed, I wanted some shooting, some length (and) athleticism,” Moser said at OU’s local media day in late October. “I thought we addressed it. I thought we did more in the spring recruiting transfer portal than we have done my first two years.
“I think our talent level and the need level, I think we addressed it more in the transfer portal. I think we got a little older. I think we signed some guys that have had some experience.”
Two of the bigger keys among OU’s wave of newcomers are guard Javian McCollum, a transfer from Siena, and big man John Hugley from Pittsburgh. Hugley averaged 14.8 points and 7.9 rebounds for the Panthers as a sophomore but was limited to eight games last season because of a knee injury and personal reasons.
“I just think we’re noticeably playing at a faster (pace), we’re more athletic, we’re longer,” Moser said.
“I think we’re going to be able to create some offense with our defense. Any time you’re longer and faster, you can create a more havoc defense, you can create a more fast-paced offense. And I think that’s what’s trending right now with our team.”
The Chippewas underwent a similar retooling this offseason after losing traction down the stretch in coach Tony Barbee’s second season.
A host of transfers was brought in to build around versatile swingman Brian Taylor, the leading returning scorer and rebounder from last season (14.4 points/6.1 rebounds per game).
In two lopsided exhibition wins, Central Michigan has started to carve out what Barbee hopes will be his team’s personality — an up-tempo approach on offense combined with pressure defense.
“We have a team of guys who have bought all the way in and it’s showing,” said Barbee, a longtime assistant coach under John Calipari at Memphis and Kentucky. “Now, we’ve got to go out and prove it against other good teams.”
In a 97-32 demolition of Division III Alma College on Oct. 29, the Chippewas shot 47.8 percent from 3-point range (11 of 23), forced 25 turnovers and scored 32 points off those takeaways, along with 21 fast-break points. Junior college transfer Derrick Butler scored 18 points and Paul McMillan added 14. Those two and freshman Cayden Vasko combined to knock down 7-of-12 from 3-point territory. Taylor scored 11 and led Central Michigan with three steals.
–Field Level Media