Soares transferring to OU

With each passing day, Oklahoma basketball seems to be checking the boxes it felt it needed to do with the transfer portal.

The Sooners began the week with six open spots, and it has been cut in half. The latest being former Oregon guard Rivaldo Soares, who announced his commitment to the Sooners on Saturday evening.

Soares, who played two years in junior college and two with the Ducks, made an official visit to Norman over the weekend. It’s not hard to connect the dots here, either, with OU assistant coach Armon Gates coaching Soares in Eugene last season.

Soares brings a lot to the table for the Sooners, in terms of leadership and experience. OU has been getting guys with multiple years of eligibility left in the portal, but it’s crucial to have those fifth-year seniors like Soares.

At 6-foot-6 and 205 pounds, Soares also brings a lot of size and good athletic ability to the Sooners backcourt.

Soares actually had his best performance as a Duck in one of his final outings, scoring 21 points with 10 rebounds in a first-round NIT victory.

He averaged 7.2 points per game and 3.6 rebounds. He had nine games where he scored at least 10 points last season.

Soares was the only official visitor of the weekend for the Sooners, but they made it count once again just as Porter Moser has done before during spring football game weekend.

No. 3 is in the fold with Soares, joining former Siena guard Javian McCollum and former Pittsburgh center John Hugley. They’re getting the versatility that was necessary and still have a couple of open scholarships to add more pieces to this puzzle.

OU knows what it wants from this portal group, and it might take some time, but Moser and company are accomplishing just that.