OU Basketball: Taking Stock of Oklahoma's Roster Heading Into 2025-26

Barring mass portal carnage, which has not been a feature of Baranczyk’s program during her four years at the helm in Norman, everyone else is able to return. 

Beers will be a senior next year, and guard Payton Verhulst is also able to return after she was awarded a year of eligibility back last fall from her sophomore season at Louisville where she appeared in eight games before transferring. 

Baranczyk has an incredibly talented freshman class incoming, too. 

The nation’s top recruit, Aaliyah Chavez, committed to the Sooners last week, and she is primed to step into one of the spots in the starting lineup alongside Beers, Verhulst and Sahara Williams. 

Keziah Lofton, a 5-foot-11 guard from Bethany, OK, is also arriving this offseason, 

She was rated as the No. 33 overall prospect in the nation by 247Sports’ Composite Rankings and the seventh-best shooting guard. 

OU also holds the commitment of 6-2 forward Brooklyn Stewart. 

The Colorado Springs, CO, product is rated as the No. 58 overall player int he country and the No. 13 power forward in 247Sports’ Composite Rankings. 

If no other current Sooners transfer, Baranczyk and her staff will have two roster spots to fill in the portal — and Oklahoma needs no extra motivation to get to work. 

“Recruiting's the lifeblood of what you do,” Baranczyk said after the loss to UConn on Saturday. “We've got incredible people that work really hard, and they have never worked this hard, and they're going to work harder. And I think that's, they have both said it, we are, we're a blue-collar program, and I think a lot of people look at us and believe that. 

“I think the SEC has taken us to a different level from an exposure standpoint, so we have more interest in our program right now. We have a lot of people that have actually reached out to us. So I know it will continue to evolve because of the women in that locker room, but also we want to get better and we want to attract players that really want to take us to another level and want to have a great team to do it.”

Picking up a replacement for Liz Scott in the portal would be comfortable to help Beatrice Culliton and Landry Allen back up Beers. 

Adding another switchable forward with size would make sense as well, as the Sooners look stacked at guard with Verhulst, Chavez, Reyna Scott and Zya Vann.