There's Gratitude and Love of the Game at Oklahoma, But Winning Just Didn't Follow

The expectations at Oklahoma are simple: win.

But the Sooners didn’t do that nearly enough this season, and after Wednesday night’s 57-49 loss to Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Tournament, Porter Moser’s second team is almost guaranteed to finish with a losing season.

Now just 15-17 this year, only a lifeline from the NIT and a red-hot run in that postseason tournament could produce even a winning record. That would be the program's first losing season since 2011-12, when Lon Kruger's first team finished 15-16.

In the age of the transfer portal, it was two transfers who sat on the dais Wednesday in the postgame press conference talking about their expectations when they decided to finish their careers at OU.

“My expectations were just to compete and have fun at an incredible university in the best conference in the nation,” super senior Tanner Groves said. “I’ll forever be grateful for the experience. Coach has given me an opportunity to get to play here and showcase my talents.”

Groves came to OU from Eastern Washington two years ago with his younger brother, Jacob. The Groves Bros were the core of Moser’s first two seasons in Norman. The 6-foot-10, 240-pound postman averaged 11.6 points and 5.8 rebounds last year and 10.2 and 7.2 this year.

“Regardless of wins and losses, I think it's more about the relationships you form and the people you meet along the way. Man, like we were talking about it in the locker room, and even on the team bus the last couple days, regardless about how many wins and losses we've had this year, you know, this has been one of the most fun teams I've been part of because of how together we are off the court. Always doing stuff together. So I mean, I think that's a big part of it, the relationships you form and the people you meet. That's been huge for me.”

Moser took the job and was just trying to keep as many remnants from Kruger's final team as he could. It wasn’t working. Then Groves entered the portal, and Moser’s fortunes changed.

“I’m going to remember just, in unprecedented times, sight unseen, hadn't met him, he never saw the campus, and he said he wanted to come to Oklahoma,” Moser said. “That, and he's given everything he's had since the day he walked on our campus. So that's what I'm going to remember about Tanner Groves.

“You can just see he's got this positive outlook about things. And he gave everything he had in unprecedented times. He said he wanted to come to Oklahoma and his team had three teammates on it at the time. He had never seen the campus, and he never met me or my staff. So just an incredible faith and belief. He believed in what we were going to do.

“And I think we fulfilled a lot of things for him. Except you asked about expectations, my expectation was to get in the tournament. My expectations is to take this program and be at a high level, and we didn't do that, not yet. And we've got to be better.”

Sherfield, a two-time transfer from Nevada via Wichita State, leads the Sooners in scoring at 15.9 points per game in his only season in Norman.

“My expectations were definitely to get to March Madness and win some games and advance,” Grant Sherfield said. “But it didn't happen. I can't hang on my head on it.”

Sherfield carried the squad offensively over the first half of the season but saw his productivity drop off over the second half of Big 12 play. He led the Sooners in scoring in 18 of their first 24 games, but wasn’t the leading scorer in any of the last five.

But like Groves, the 6-2, 201-pound Sherfield’s decision to come to Oklahoma was bigger than wins and losses.

“I’ve got to say, I formed so many great relationships on this team,” Sherfield said. “Before coming here, I didn't know how I felt about basketball. But this team brought the joy back — the joy of the game back for me, and I'm grateful for that. I'm actually happy to be playing basketball, so I mean, I just wouldn't change that for anything.”

“For him to say that,” Moser said, “that's humbling that he was impacted. He found the love of basketball. So I know we're trending in the right direction of how we're building that, but we've also got to trend it into where my expectations are to win.”

There’s consternation over the arena and Moser’s methods on the court and his ability to recruit dynamic scorers and elite talent. The Sooners’ coach faces another potential roster rebuild, and that could delay again the implementation of his “culture.”

Winning will solve a lot of that. That’s the expectation at OU — not just in basketball, but every sport. If the NIT stays away, this academic year both the football team (6-7) and the men’s basketball team (15-17) will have a losing record. 

That hasn’t happened since 1965-66.

Forget about the players — neither Moser nor football coach Brent Venables were born yet the last time that happened.

“Yeah, I mean, it's obviously disappointing to go out this way,” Groves said. “But I'm just honestly feeling grateful. That's really all that comes to mind. Just how grateful I am for the opportunity to get to play here, man. It's been an incredible experience … especially this year, we had some great wins. Just, you know, those are going to be memories that stick with me for the rest of the my life.”

“Yeah, I mean, Tanner said it best,” Sherfield said. “Yeah, I'm just grateful. This is the third program I've been to, so just being part of this program, I mean, it's brought the joy back to the game for me, for sure.”

Moser loves to hear those sentiments. But the competitor in him wants to hear them at the end of a winning season, maybe hoisting a trophy, cutting down nets and hanging a banner.

“It's a family atmosphere,” Moser said, “but coinciding with winning, you know? That's what I've done before.

“But my expectations are to do it with guys like you just heard — you know, you just heard some high-character guys that are talking about the way the locker room is, the way they are around each other. That's my expectation to have a program where they're all pulling for each other.

“But to go along with that, my expectation is to win, and there we fell short.”