Ready to move on after the disappointing Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl? You can officially turn that page to Oklahoma basketball as the Sooners begin the Big 12 gauntlet Saturday afternoon with Kansas State coming to Lloyd Noble Center.

For those who might not know much about Lon Kruger’s bunch so far this season, a little primer as to what you’ve missed and what this team is all about.

OU (9-3)

Points: Kristian Doolittle (16.7)

Rebounds: Doolittle (8.9)

Assists: Jamal Bieniemy (2.8)

Pick your poison

Yes, Doolittle leads the team in points and rebounds, but this group has definitely become a three-headed monster with Doolittle, Austin Reaves and Brady Manek.

Manek averages 15.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game, while Reaves has found his role rather easily at 16.3 points and 5.7 rebounds.

OU has rarely had all three played at a high level at the same time, but it has made the Sooners a tough cover because you don’t know which one(s) are going to have the hot hand.

All three will no doubt have to deliver with the conference grind ahead.

“It’s a great time of year. We knew we have 18 tough conference games ahead,” Kruger said. “Everyone is going to be a challenge. Guys are making progress. We kind of forget that we only have three who played in a Big 12 game before. They’ve made progress. We’re consistently getting better defensively. We’re starting to improve in our shot selection and hope we start making more shots.

Experience to pay off down the road

OU didn’t dominate the non-conference slate like it had the last couple of years, but the Sooners are hoping the experience they’ve gained from being on the road or neutral sites so much will help against the Big 12.

OU went a full month (Nov. 21-Dec. 21) without a home game, and it took a toll on the Sooners with losses at Wichita State and Creighton.

“Just understanding that we lost three games on the road to three good teams – the environment at Wichita State, the environment in Omaha against Creighton prepped us well for what lies ahead in conference games,” Kruger said. “Hopefully we learned a lot from that. The value of each possession – we’ve taken pretty good care of the ball relative to turnovers, but our shot selection has to improve.”

OU has certainly been battle-tested at home, too, as the Sooners have had to rally from halftime deficits multiple times this season at LNC.

OU’s best lineup is…?

Still finding that out, which is so interesting considering usually have a great idea of what the best five for Kruger is going to look like.

“Not even now, we don’t know who is going to play what role as much as we’d like to two weeks from now,” Kruger said. “It kind of is based on results, which is always is, and we’ve kind been up and down all over the board with that.”

Heading into the season, the hype was about the depth. Now maybe that depth hasn’t been there as consistently as OU would have liked, but the Sooners are entering conference play with having nine players average at least 10 minutes.

Starting lineups have fluctuated, and being a starter certainly has not guaranteed being out there during crunch time.

“It’s still a work in progress, maybe more so than we’d like at the start of conference play, but maybe not surprisingly given that we have nine new guys,” Kruger said.

Harmon’s time to shine?

One of the big recent moves has been De’Vion Harmon coming off the bench and starting Alondes Williams.

Harmon is playing well in that role, while still feels like quite a bit of an adjustment for Williams being comfortable.

Really, the search is for a fourth option. If it comes from either of them or from Jamal Bieniemy, it doesn’t matter. A fourth consistent option would make this a very difficult team to defend.

“Jamal has come along and is doing really well. I think he’ll make more shots,” Kruger said. “De’Vion is playing his best basketball right now and energizing us coming off the bench. He’s handled that remarkably well with a great attitude and a great work ethic.

“Alondes is still going to give us a lot more. We’re trying to inch him along perhaps to play with more confidence and make some shots, which I think he can do down the stretch.”

Harmon had five assists Monday, after only having 25 in the previous 11 games.

It’s grind time

Look at the league, no slouches once again. Kansas and Baylor are squarely in the top 10 national rankings. West Virginia has been a huge surprise, while Texas Tech is still making noise.

Add in some good non-conference wins from teams like Texas and Oklahoma State, and you know it’s about to get tough in the trenches.

“We’ve learned a lot from these 11-12 games that we’ve played so far, but it’s going to be more physical, more contact,” Kruger said. “Rebounding is critical. We have to keep improving on that and value each possession. You can’t be up six and make one casual play, then be an eight-point run for the other team. Learning all of those things through experience is always helpful.”

No stretch is ever easy, but OU heads to Texas and Iowa State next week before coming home to face KU in its first four conference games. A chance to sink or swim rather quickly.