As the recruiting dead period arrives for football, it's about to heat up in a hurry for basketball and first-year head coach Porter Moser.
He has been quick to say in the past how he has been looking forward to July, and it has arrived. What's clear from the first few weeks is that Moser isn't gonna be bashful and isn't gonna be afraid.
That might be the No. 1 biggest adjustment just for me. Comfortable isn't exactly the word I wanna use here, but throughout the last few years, you sorta knew who Lon Kruger was going to go after hard and who the staff was gonna let go b/c it wasn't worth the fight (?), maybe?
Moser seems to have that Jamar Cain attitude. The "I've been recruiting against the big boys for years at smaller schools so I'm not backing down now" type of attitude. If you could win battles at Loyola, no reason to think you can't compete at OU.
Obviously, OU isn't gonna win over every single elite recruit and it would be unfair to say four-star or bust, but you can also pretty much guarantee Moser and company are gonna go after anybody they think fits, regardless of high/low ranking.
That's where the assistant crew is really coming in, too. Something we've talked about before. Emanuel Dildy locking down the Midwest. KT Turner knows all about Texas. David Patrick has head coaching experience AND ties galore to international prospects.
So even though Moser didn't have a high school camp, they've definitely made this last month count.
Start here. No. 1, because it's an elite OKPreps recruit, so this will be the first time Moser will really have that battle. You knew Garrison was gonna be a pretty big name, but like an OU football offer, a KU basketball offer just wakes up everybody.
No. 2, it's a Team Griffin thing. MoKan Elite and Team Griffin need to be staples of Moser's base, IMO. Dildy is locked in with MoKan, and I have confidence Moser is gonna fare very well with Team Griffin.
"You can't fake his energy. Maybe for a few minutes or so, but not the whole time. That's who Porter is," said someone closely associated with Team Griffin.
Here's your first example. Once committed to Illinois and an Illinois kid, now Storr is headed to IMG Academy and Moser is just going to keep on coming. Storr is supposed to be on a KU visit right now, so we should get a better feel of things after that.
Early word? OU knocked this visit out of the park. Problem becomes a lot of other schools have thought that as well with Ejiofor. Expected to announce prob late-July-ish with a couple of more visits on the horizon. But the reviews were very positive in talking to those with knowledge of Ejiofor's recruitment.
Here we go again with Moser not afraid to look wherever. New Hampshire? What in the what? The next Krutwig, next Groves? You can already see that's what Moser likes about his game. Rivals basketball guys have already said flat out that Campbell is gonna be a Rivals 150 name in their next update. Campbell began his Notre Dame official visit today and it will go through Wednesday.
OU will be hosting Walsh for an official visit later this week (Wed-Fri). Texas Tech has been considered the favorite for a while, but with all the changes, eh, who knows?
This is KT Turner at work.
"He's a future head coach. Moser was smart to get him."
I fully expect Walter to blow up during the July LIVE evaluation period.
Lloyd will be taking his official visit this week, starting tomorrow. Hey, where's the Hawg Lock guy? Because everyone I've talked to has said Lloyd is a Hawg Lock heading into this visit. Still, he did delay his initial commitment to give Moser a chance.
***
Sum up? Moser's energy at Loyola hasn't dipped at all since arriving at OU. He gets to recruit at a higher level but still with that underdog attitude. He's doing a great job of accentuating OU's positives, things like the facilities, the Jordan connection, the way Trae Young is playing, being able to show players examples of what he believes they can be going forward. He's talking up OU as if he's been there forever instead of the reality of not even having been there three months.
***
I think Rick Issanza stays, I do. The deadline for a non-grad transfer to be immediate eligible for the 2021-22 season is July 1 (Thursday). Once you enter the portal, it's sorta up to the coaches how they want to handle things. Moser has let Issanza practice and both sides are coming more together than drifting apart. It wouldn't be big minutes by any means, but if you ask me June 28, I think Issanza is a Sooner this upcoming season.
***
I still believe Alston Mason is gonna need a year to get fully acclimated to college basketball, but the things we thought about Bijan Cortes and CJ Noland remain true after the first month of being on campus.
Cortes just knows what to do to bring out the best in everybody. Tremendous basketball IQ and a point guard who can score. Noland is just so built right now. Bryce Daub's goal is to make sure Noland never carries any bad weight, but he's going to be pest for other teams to deal with.
***
And a pre-emptive have a nice Tuesday, fellas. Pearl's second birthday (!!) is Tuesday, so I'll be pretty out of pocket all/most of the day.
He has been quick to say in the past how he has been looking forward to July, and it has arrived. What's clear from the first few weeks is that Moser isn't gonna be bashful and isn't gonna be afraid.
That might be the No. 1 biggest adjustment just for me. Comfortable isn't exactly the word I wanna use here, but throughout the last few years, you sorta knew who Lon Kruger was going to go after hard and who the staff was gonna let go b/c it wasn't worth the fight (?), maybe?
Moser seems to have that Jamar Cain attitude. The "I've been recruiting against the big boys for years at smaller schools so I'm not backing down now" type of attitude. If you could win battles at Loyola, no reason to think you can't compete at OU.
Obviously, OU isn't gonna win over every single elite recruit and it would be unfair to say four-star or bust, but you can also pretty much guarantee Moser and company are gonna go after anybody they think fits, regardless of high/low ranking.
That's where the assistant crew is really coming in, too. Something we've talked about before. Emanuel Dildy locking down the Midwest. KT Turner knows all about Texas. David Patrick has head coaching experience AND ties galore to international prospects.
So even though Moser didn't have a high school camp, they've definitely made this last month count.
Start here. No. 1, because it's an elite OKPreps recruit, so this will be the first time Moser will really have that battle. You knew Garrison was gonna be a pretty big name, but like an OU football offer, a KU basketball offer just wakes up everybody.
No. 2, it's a Team Griffin thing. MoKan Elite and Team Griffin need to be staples of Moser's base, IMO. Dildy is locked in with MoKan, and I have confidence Moser is gonna fare very well with Team Griffin.
"You can't fake his energy. Maybe for a few minutes or so, but not the whole time. That's who Porter is," said someone closely associated with Team Griffin.
Here's your first example. Once committed to Illinois and an Illinois kid, now Storr is headed to IMG Academy and Moser is just going to keep on coming. Storr is supposed to be on a KU visit right now, so we should get a better feel of things after that.
Early word? OU knocked this visit out of the park. Problem becomes a lot of other schools have thought that as well with Ejiofor. Expected to announce prob late-July-ish with a couple of more visits on the horizon. But the reviews were very positive in talking to those with knowledge of Ejiofor's recruitment.
Here we go again with Moser not afraid to look wherever. New Hampshire? What in the what? The next Krutwig, next Groves? You can already see that's what Moser likes about his game. Rivals basketball guys have already said flat out that Campbell is gonna be a Rivals 150 name in their next update. Campbell began his Notre Dame official visit today and it will go through Wednesday.
OU will be hosting Walsh for an official visit later this week (Wed-Fri). Texas Tech has been considered the favorite for a while, but with all the changes, eh, who knows?
This is KT Turner at work.
"He's a future head coach. Moser was smart to get him."
I fully expect Walter to blow up during the July LIVE evaluation period.
Lloyd will be taking his official visit this week, starting tomorrow. Hey, where's the Hawg Lock guy? Because everyone I've talked to has said Lloyd is a Hawg Lock heading into this visit. Still, he did delay his initial commitment to give Moser a chance.
***
Sum up? Moser's energy at Loyola hasn't dipped at all since arriving at OU. He gets to recruit at a higher level but still with that underdog attitude. He's doing a great job of accentuating OU's positives, things like the facilities, the Jordan connection, the way Trae Young is playing, being able to show players examples of what he believes they can be going forward. He's talking up OU as if he's been there forever instead of the reality of not even having been there three months.
***
I think Rick Issanza stays, I do. The deadline for a non-grad transfer to be immediate eligible for the 2021-22 season is July 1 (Thursday). Once you enter the portal, it's sorta up to the coaches how they want to handle things. Moser has let Issanza practice and both sides are coming more together than drifting apart. It wouldn't be big minutes by any means, but if you ask me June 28, I think Issanza is a Sooner this upcoming season.
***
I still believe Alston Mason is gonna need a year to get fully acclimated to college basketball, but the things we thought about Bijan Cortes and CJ Noland remain true after the first month of being on campus.
Cortes just knows what to do to bring out the best in everybody. Tremendous basketball IQ and a point guard who can score. Noland is just so built right now. Bryce Daub's goal is to make sure Noland never carries any bad weight, but he's going to be pest for other teams to deal with.
***
And a pre-emptive have a nice Tuesday, fellas. Pearl's second birthday (!!) is Tuesday, so I'll be pretty out of pocket all/most of the day.
