Oklahoma’s Offseason Guide as the Sooners Brace for Life Without Beers and Verhulst

The dust is only just settling on the 2025-2026 season, but Oklahoma must quickly turn its attention to the upcoming campaign.

Jennie Baranczyk’s squad made it to the Sweet 16 in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2010-2011, but OU will have to regroup without veterans Raegan Beers, Payton Verhulst and Beatrice Culliton next year.

The Sooners have shown they can hit it big both in the portal (with players like Verhulst and Beers) as well as through the high school ranks (as they did with Aaliyah Chavez), but the roster will look much different in Baranczyk’s sixth season as she looks to take Oklahoma back to the Elite Eight.

Massive Production Losses

Oklahoma Sooners, Raegan Beers and Payton Verhuls — Oklahoma seniors Raegan Beers and Payton Verhulst. | DOUG HOKE/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The experience lost for the Sooners will be paired with massive hits to production.

Beers earned First Team All-SEC and All-American honors in her final season with the Sooners.

She was second on the team in scoring with 15.8 points and she paced the team with 10.5 rebounds in 24.7 minutes per game.

Verhulst has been a massive piece of the offense for the past three seasons, and she averaged 12.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

There is no replacing a player like Beers, though the development of freshman Brooklyn Stewart down low was a nice development for Baranczyk’s program.

Chavez and Zya Vann will continue to shine with the basketball in their hands, but Verhulst’s size and versatility will likely have to be spread across a number of players on the roster next year.

Culliton gave Baranczyk another big option down low when Beers got into foul trouble, but again, Stewart will be heavily relied upon to take her game up a level next season.

Retention, Retention, Retention

Oklahoma Sooners, Aaliyah Chave — Retaining freshman Aaliyah Chavez will be Oklahoma's top priority this offseason. | Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

The biggest thing the Sooners need to do this offseason is lock down their future.

Chavez told The Oklahoman’s Colton Sulley that next year’s team will be “scary”, but the transfer portal era is unpredictable.

Though there are no obvious signs to indicate that Chavez is unhappy in Norman, the top priority will be ensuring that ESPN Freshman of the Year comes back next year.

After her, getting Sahara Williams back for her senior season will ensure the roster returns experience, versatility and fight.

Vann enjoyed a nice sophomore season and it’s hard to imagine her donning anything but an Oklahoma uniform, and the returns of Stewart, Cya Smith and Keziah Lofton will lay the foundation for next year’s roster.

The Sooners only carried 11 players on the roster this past season, so even without the offseason losses to graduation, OU was going to have room to add to the team.

Freshman Leelee Bell will be another addition.

The 6-foot-3 product of Minot, ND, is rated as the nation’s No. 22-ranked player per 247Sports.

Oklahoma also added 6-1 freshman Vienna Murray and Austrian guard Sina Hollerl.

Room to Grow

Oklahoma Sooners, Jennie Baranczy — Jennie Baranczyk will go right to work attacking the transfer portal to build her Oklahoma roster. | SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Adding another center via the transfer portal will be a major priority over the offseason.

The size in the SEC is apparent every night, and though the contributions from Stewart were nice, OU likely needs to add at least one player with additional size alongside Bell to round out the roster.

Sharpshooting doesn’t come cheap, but the Sooners could also use a knockdown 3-point shooter to help Chavez and Vann space the floor.

Oklahoma shot 29.2 percent from deep as a team, which barely ranks inside the top 250 in the country.

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The Sooners could also use an additional perimeter defender or two.

In contests against the top teams in the country like Texas, LSU and the second matchup with South Carolina, the gap in athleticism between those rosters and Oklahoma’s led to tough defensive stretches outside of the points those teams cashed in off turnovers.

Finding a piece like Kennady Tucker, who was able to take on a number of different defensive assignments, can guard against foul trouble and help the Sooners hang in the game on the other end of the floor during stretches where shots aren’t falling.

The transfer portal will open for a 15-day period on April 6. Players do not have to be committed to their new school by the time the portal window closes, they simply have to be in the portal to be eligible to transfer.