Oklahoma Sooners Basketball

Renderings of the new Rock Creek Entertainment District in Oklahoma have been made public after the Norman City Council approved funding for the $1 billion project.

The district will be the centerpiece for a new arena that will be home to the Sooners' basketball and gymnastics programs.

Per Colton Sulley of The Oklahoman, the Norman City Council approved the project in a 5-4 vote on Wednesday. The total cost of the development project is $1.2 billion, with the new arena replacing the Lloyd Noble Center.

"Tonight, we saw strong leadership when our city needed it most," OU athletic director Joe Castiglione said in a statement after the vote (h/t Sulley). "This was indeed a vote for a transformative opportunity for the City of Norman and Cleveland County."

Despite the project's approval from the city council, Mason Young of the Tulsa World did note it is "likely" that citizens could file a referendum that would challenge the decision and set up a vote of the people that would determine if the city uses taxpayer money to fund the project.

There were two public hearings scheduled to discuss the project—on Sept. 4 and 17—to go over questions and opinions from local residents.

Per Young, Oklahoma University is expected to contribute $100 million of the $330 million total cost for the new arena and supporting infrastructure. He added that the Lloyd Noble Center will be used as a practice facility and other university events in the future.

In addition to a new arena, the proposed entertainment district will feature shops, restaurants, office space, new housing and a hotel.

The new arena is expected to include 8,000 seats for basketball games and gym meets, with the possibility of additional seats for other events.

The Lloyd Noble Center has a capacity of 10,967. It has been the home for Sooners' basketball since it opened in 1975.

Ryan Minor, a former two-sport Oklahoma Sooners star who played three seasons for the Baltimore Orioles before becoming a longtime minor-league coach in Maryland, died Friday after a battle with cancer.

Minor was 49 years old. He was diagnosed in September 2022 with Stage IV colon cancer and recently entered hospice.

The news was shared on social media by his twin brother, Damon Minor.

As a member of the OU basketball team, Minor was named the Big Eight Conference Player of the Year in 1995. He averaged 16.5 points per game through four seasons with the Sooners.

He also spent three seasons on the OU baseball team alongside Damon. Joined the roster late each spring after the conclusion of basketball season, Minor batted .266 with 11 home runs, 15 doubles and 43 RBIs in 203 career at-bats.

Minor contributed to one of the most dominant seasons in Oklahoma baseball history, when the team went 42-17 during the regular season before going undefeated in the NCAA Tournament on their way to a College World Series title.

He was selected in the third round of the 1996 NBA draft by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Instead, Minor went to the MLB, where he went on to make history with the Baltimore Orioles. He was the player who replaced Cal Ripken Jr. to end his consecutive games played streak at 2,632 against the New York Yankees on Sept. 20, 1998.

After spending parts of three seasons with the Orioles and one with the Montreal Expos, Minor ended his MLB career after 142 games.

He went on to become a longtime coach in the Orioles farm system. The Delmarva Shorebirds, the Single-A affiliate of the O's, honored Minor as the first Shorebirds jersey ever retired in an August ceremony.

He is survived by his wife, Allyson, and their daughters Regan and Finley.

Oklahoma guard Taylor Robertson is the most prolific three-point shooter in women's Division I basketball history.

The senior star made her 498th career three-point basket in the first quarter of Saturday's 86-78 loss to Iowa State.

Kelsey Mitchell, who played at Ohio State from 2014-18, was the record-holder with 497 made threes.

Robertson is a fifth-year season after receiving an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She surpassed Mitchell in one fewer game (138 to 139) and needed 151 fewer three-point attempts to break the record (1,135 to 1,286).

The Kansas native has been one of the best three-point shooters in the country since she arrived in college. She entered Saturday making 41.8 percent of her attempts behind the arc this season.

Robertson has never made fewer than 41 percent of her three-point attempts in each of her five seasons at Oklahoma. She is also the NCAA's active leader in free-throw percentage with a career 92.0 percent clip coming into Saturday.

The 5'11" guard has made at least 85 three-pointers in each of the previous four seasons. She entered today with 51 makes from behind the arc in 19 games.

If Robertson maintains her current pace, she could finish her college career with more than 530 three-pointers. She has a chance to get that number to around 550 if the Sooners make a deep run in the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments.

Despite Robertson's record-setting day, the Sooners are in a rut with back-to-back losses against Texas and Iowa State. They entered this week ranked No. 14 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll after winning 16 of their first 17 games.

The No. 3 Baylor men's basketball team suffered a 72-67 upset loss to Oklahoma in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament on Thursday night.

It's the second straight season that the Bears have won the regular-season conference title but failed to reach the championship game in the tournament. Baylor fell in the semifinals last year to Oklahoma State.

The Bears (26-6) had a six-point lead at halftime, but their defense fell apart in the final 20 minutes. Baylor surrendered 45 points to Oklahoma in the second half and allowed the Sooners to shoot 51 percent from the field in the game and 52.4 percent (11-of-21) from beyond the arc.

Baylor had four players score in double figures, led by James Akinjo's 16 points. But the team struggled with its efficiency, shooting 38.5 percent from the field. The Bears connected on just three of their 22 three-point attempts. Leading scorer Adam Flagler, who averaged 13.8 points this season, was held to two points on 1-of-10 shooting.

Oklahoma (18-14) was led by junior forward Jacob Groves, who had a team-high 15 points and nine rebounds. Umoja Gibson added 14 points, and Marvin Johnson had 12 off the bench. The Sooners will face the winner of Iowa State vs. Texas Tech in the semifinals on Friday.

The upset loss comes at an inopportune time for Baylor with the NCAA tournament right around the corner. The Bears will be looking to defend their 2021 national championship. It will be interesting to see if the loss will knock Baylor from one of the four No. 1 seeds in the Big Dance.

Benjamin Schroder, one of the top European basketball prospects, announced his commitment to the University of Oklahoma on Wednesday as part of its 2022 recruiting class.

Schroder, an 18-year-old forward who's been a standout at the youth level in Germany, told ESPN's Jonathan Givony that the Sooners' coaches played a key role in his decision.

"The recruiting process was a different experience from the very beginning," he said. "They seemed really to care about me, not only as a player, but also as a person. Head coach Porter Moser, associate head coach David Patrick and the whole coaching staff want to win championships."

Schroder played for the Oberhaching Tropics in Germany's Pro B League during the 2020-21 season. He averaged 11.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists while shooting 42.3 percent from the field across 12 appearances (10 starts), per RealGM.

The 6'7'' forward also produced standout performances with the German youth national teams at the U16 European Championship in 2019 and the FIBA U18 European Challengers earlier this year.

He averaged 16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game during the European Challengers and shot an eye-popping 71.0 percent from the field, per Givony.

Schroder told ESPN he's already finished high school and will take a gap year while potentially playing lower-division basketball in Germany before joining the Sooners.

"We talked to a lot of different schools, including some Ivy League programs and other schools from the ACC, Pac-12 and Big 12," he said. "I had five other scholarship offers, but I am absolutely sure about Oklahoma and wanted to commit during the early signing period to put the focus on my game again."

A promising two-way player, he explained his decision to play college basketball in the U.S. rather than professionally overseas is focused around learning the American style of play.

"I want to be the best basketball player I can become, while having as much fun as possible," Schroder told Givony. "The U.S. plays a different style of basketball and will give me a chance to work with the best coaches, facilities and physical programs in the world. I also love the States and hope it will be a good personal experience beside basketball."

His experience in Europe should allow him to become an instant-impact player for Oklahoma and gives him long-term NBA upside if his development arc continues at its current rate.

As rumors about the SEC moving closer to adding Texas and Oklahoma persist, the Big 12 is reportedly making an effort to keep its two signature programs from jumping ship. 

Per Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports, Big 12 officials are discussing a new financial structure that would increase revenue for Texas and Oklahoma. 

According to Dodd, the structure "would grant the Longhorns and Sooners an additional half-share annually (1.5 shares each), bumping their payouts to approximately $56 million per year."

In order to make the revenue balance out, the other schools in the conference would decrease their annual payouts. 

Dodd did note the topic came up during a conference call with conference officials and Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby on Thursday. 

The revenue increase plan was described to Dodd as being preliminary and "from the 50,000-foot level."

The Big 12 currently has a 13-year, $2.6 billion television contract with ESPN and Fox that pays each school around $20 million per year. That total doesn't include revenue earned from bowl games and the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments. 

Speculation about the Longhorns and Sooners switching conferences began on Wednesday. Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle reported both programs reached out to the SEC and an official announcement could happen “within a couple of weeks.”

Per ESPN's David M. Hale, both schools would likely have to pay the Big 12 "upward of $76 million apiece to buy out the remainder of their grant of media rights agreement, which runs until 2025."

Texas and Oklahoma are two charter members of the Big 12 when the conference began play in 1996. The two programs have combined to win 43 national championships in all sports over the past 25 years. 

Loyola University Chicago head coach Porter Moser is the next head coach at the University of Oklahoma, accepting the job Friday following the retirement of Lon Kruger. Matt Norlander of CBS Sports reported the deal is for six years. 

The Ramblers reportedly offered Moser a ten-year deal to remain with the mid-major program but couldn't keep him from leaving for the Big 12. 

In eight seasons at LUC, Moser compiled a 188-140 record, reached the Final Four in 2018 and went back to the Sweet Sixteen this year. The 52-year-old Illinois native moves onto his fourth head coaching job after previous stints at Illinois State (2003-2007) and Arkansas-Little Rock (2000-2003).

Moser is 293-241 overall as a head coach and built the Ramblers into a perennial contender in a Missouri Valley Conference known for elevating programs like Wichita State, Northern Iowa, Drake, Creighton and Bradley to the national stage. 

At Oklahoma, Moser inherits a Sooners team that reached the NCAA tournament seven times in ten years with Kruger (195-128) at the helm. Reaching the tournament will now be the standard expectation for Moser, who will have to prove he's capable of recruiting top talent to Norman in order to meet expectations. 

OU has produced a number of notable stars in recent years with Buddy Hield and Trae Young leading the way. 

On a macro level, the Moser hire comes at a pivotal moment on the college basketball coaching carousel. Chris Beard just left Texas Tech for Texas, Kansas signed Bill Self to a lifetime contract, Indiana hired Mike Woodsen, and North Carolina has one of the most desirable jobs in the country open following Thursday's retirement of Roy Williams. 

Loyola will now have to find Moser's replacement in a highly-competitive market. 

Before Moser made the Ramblers relevant again in 2017-18, the program hadn't made the NCAA tournament since 1985. Building on Moser's tenure won't be easy. 

Oklahoma men's basketball head coach Lon Kruger is retiring, per Jeff Goodman of Stadium.

Kruger, 68, has served as Oklahoma's coach since the 2011-12 season and has been a college coach since 1982.

Kruger has led Oklahoma to a 195-128 record in his 10 seasons at the helm, including seven NCAA tournament appearances and one Final Four berth. 

Previous stops included Texas-Rio Grande Valley (1982-86), Kansas State (1986-90), Florida (1990-96), Illinois (1996-00) and UNLV (2004-11). He's 674-432 for his career, with 20 Final Four appearances and two Final Four berths. 

As ESPN's Jeff Borzello noted, "Kruger is considered one of the more underrated coaches of his generation. One of only three coaches to lead five different programs to the NCAA tournament."

In his final season with the Sooners, Kruger led the team to a 16-11 record and a berth in the NCAA tournament, where they defeated Missouir before losing to undefeated Gonzaga in the second round. He'll leave behind one of the better coaching vacancies in college basketball, as the Sooners have reemerged as a major threat out of the Big 12. 

Oklahoma now has two basketball head-coaching vacancies, with women's head coach Sherri Coale retiring last week.

Oklahoma guard De'Vion Harmon told reporters Sunday that playing in a March Madness game would fulfill a lifelong dream. But he'll have to wait a bit longer to achieve it. 

Sooners coach Lon Kruger said Wednesday that Harmon returned a positive test for COVID-19 and he would miss the first two rounds of tournament play (h/t Jeff Goodman of Stadium).  

Harmon averaged 12.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game for Oklahoma this season. 

"Players have this as a goal, so it's so sad for De'Vion," Kruger said, per John E. Hoover of Sports Illustrated. "He's not gonna have that opportunity the first weekend. We challenged our guys to win a couple and so he can come back next weekend." 

Harmon, an All-Big 12 honorable mention, was the team's second-leading scorer behind Austin Reaves, who was named an Honorable Mention on the Associated Press All-American Team and earned a spot on the All-Big 12 first team. 

He made significant progress from his freshman year, hitting 47.7 percent of his shots from the field this year after shooting 36.4 percent through 31 appearances as a freshman. 

After a 15-10 campaign that ended in a quarterfinal loss to Kansas, the Sooners drew a No. 8 seed in the NCAA tournament. They are slated to tip off against No. 9 Missouri in first-round play on Saturday at 7:20 p.m. ET.