The Oklahoma City Thunder are pegged to win the Western Conference according to nearly every pundit and even Vegas with Fanduel giving OKC +300 odds to win the conference, which is the best chance to win the conference placing ahead of Dallas, Denver, Minnesota, Phoenix and company.

Oklahoma City earns this spot for a good reason, after rattling off 57 wins a year ago, the Thunder have dramatically improved their roster this offseason. They went out in free agency and added Isaiah Hartenstein – inking him to the largest deal in franchise history – to sure up their front-court rotation which doomed them a year ago.

The improvements did not stop there, top executive Sam Presti started the summer with a splash on the trade market swapping out the poor-fitting Josh Giddey for Alex Caruso who fits like a glove as an All-defensive team member and a 40 percent 3-point shooter.

On Thursday, the NBA revealed the 82-game schedule for all 30 team and Oklahoma City will begin their 2024-25 campaign on the road in Denver taking on the Nuggets who own the third-best odds (+480) to win the West. This game will be part of TNT’s opening week coverage on Oct. 24.

Fanduel put out the opening line for this contest which sees the Oklahoma City Thunder check in as a two-and-a-half point underdog to open the season against the Nuggets. The over/under for this contest is set at 225.5 points.

Despite the offseason additions, it will be challenging to start the season 1-0 for Oklahoma City – traveling to Denver to battle the altitude right out of the shoot is no easy task, though the Thunder will get a sneak peek of playing in the Mile High City on Oct. 15 for a preseason date.

After this opening night battle, the Thunder will jet over to Chicago to take on the Giddey-led Bulls before opening their home slate against the Atlanta Hawks – despite opening up as an underdog the Thunder should finish that three-game stretch 2-1 at worst.

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Over the last three offseasons, Oklahoma has done quite well in the NCAA Transfer Portal.

The Sooners have landed starters or major contributors from Michigan, Texas, Tennessee, TCU, Oklahoma State, Indiana, Stanford, Cal, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, Texas Tech, Arizona, Arizona State, UCLA and North Carolina, plus potential starters from Washington, USC, Michigan State, Purdue, Baylor and Missouri.

But that’s just one side of today’s college football coin.

OU coaches have also mined for gold — and occasionally struck it rich — at schools in the Group of 5 conferences.

“As we know,” said head coach Brent Venables, “some of the best players in the NFL are Group of 5 players.”

For starters, Venables’ first team in Norman featured a left-handed quarterback from the American Athletic Conference. After transferring from Central Florida, all Dillon Gabriel did in two seasons at OU was complete 66 percent of his passes for 6,828 yards and 55 touchdowns with just 12 interceptions, plus scored 10 TDs himself.

That 2022 OU squad also included defensive starters from Hawaii (Jonah Laulu) and Wyoming (C.J. Coldon).

The 2023 Sooners rolled the dice on players from Utah State (Phil Paea), Texas State (Davon Sears) and Miami-OH (Caleb Shaffer) that didn’t produce much playing time, but ones from Appalachian State (Troy Everett) and Central Michigan (Luke Elzinga) did.

This year’s roster went after even more G5 talent, and so far, the returns are good.

Branson Hickman is projected to start at center after starring at SMU. Febechi Nwaiwu is projected to start at guard after two great seasons at North Texas. Caiden Woullard will get significant snaps at defensive end after an all-star career at Miami-OH. Dez Malone has impressed everyone at corner after standing out at San Diego State.

Beyond G5 schools, OU seems to have hit on two or three important transfers from the FCS level: running back Sam Franklin (Tennessee-Martin), tight end Bauer Sharp (Southeastern Louisiana), and kicker Tyler Keltner (East Tennessee State, followed by a year playing for his hometown Florida State Seminoles).

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Venables said he didn’t know if Group of 5 (and FCS) portal recruiting was replacing what some power conference schools have always used to bring in from the junior college level — but it might.

“It’s been proven, in the very short amount of time that the transfer window has been open, or been a thing, rather, that some elite players can come from there and can bridge the gap,” Venables said, “maybe give you a little bit better depth at that position, playmaking, those types of things as well.”

Tight end Jake Roberts, a Norman product who transferred to OU from Baylor, played the first three years of his career at North Texas under current Sooners offensive coordinator Seth Littrell.

What qualities translate from the G5 level to what’s now called the Power 4?

“A lot of people have asked a similar question and first of all they play great football down there,” Roberts said. “The competition is great. I think the biggest thing for me is I was able to get a lot of good experience as a younger player. You know the best teacher is repetition and experience. I think coming from North Texas, being able to get on the field a lot, get a lot of snaps, in-game experience, make mistakes, learn from them, I think that’s what’s helped me the most.”

Nwaiwu was a Freshman All-American and an All-Conference USA guard at UNT before deciding to come to Oklahoma.

“North Texas not being the biggest school, and especially me and my situation at North Texas, kind of teaches you how to work extremely hard,” Nwaiwu said. “And then when you’re coming over here it makes it a little bit easier because you’re blessed with a great coaching staff — not to say North Texas has a bad coaching staff at all. They have a phenomenal coaching staff and a phenomenal head coach. But you know what they say. At Oklahoma, it’s a little bit different. 

“ … But I think North Texas helped me really be able to be tough and take some losses and not look too much at my wins but keep my head in the right place.”

Malone, who earned All-Mountain West accolades as a two-year starter for the Aztecs, said when he left San Diego State, he simply wanted to go somewhere that would push him. 

“Somewhere that I can grow as a man,” he said. “That’s why, 10 seconds talking to Coach V, I knew he was a good man I could follow and could come up under. That’s one thing I was looking for that I kind of valued over a lot of different places.”

The difference in talent, Malone said, is very small.

“I would say, you know, probably it’s a little bit more athletes that are all capable of doing better things on the field,” Malone said. “It isn’t a crazy transition for me, I would say. I feel like confidence is everything. I feel like if you’re confident enough to go up against anybody, it really don’t matter. We definitely have a lot of great guys on this team to where you have to come to work, you know?”

Hickman was twice all-conference in the American Athletic Conference and a three-year starter at SMU. The Mustangs are beginning membership in the ACC this year, but Hickman will be playing in the SEC.

“I wanted to come to a school that was big and play in a big environment in the SEC,” Hickman said, “and OU’s close to home (Dallas), so I couldn’t be more excited.

“It was really hard because, I mean, I have a lot of friends at SMU. I respect the coaches at SMU. It was a really tough decision. But I felt like it’s what I needed to do for myself to get a new experience.”

Hickman played at OU last year as a member of the SMU offensive line, and his trip to Memorial Stadium and his performance against the Sooners in front of 84,186 fans left an impression on him. 

“I remember it was red and white everywhere,” he said. “It was pretty cool. We came out of the tunnel, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is big-time, real college football right here.’ I just knew that was something I wanted to be a part of one day.”

Roberts saw the step up in competition when he went from C-USA to the Big 12. He anticipates another step up this year going to the SEC.

“Well, we know it’s going to be a high level of play in the SEC,” he said. “I think the biggest difference going in is every week it’s going to be a challenge, and I guess what I’d say I’m most curious about — I’m excited to just play against the best competition every day, so that’s why I chose Oklahoma. I’m excited to be back playing against the best every week.”

G5 transfers have always sought greater opportunities on the P5/P4 level, though in most cases, it was NFL Draft-relatd. Now, in addition that, they also know there’s the possibility of landing a potentially much more lucrative NIL deal at a football powerhouse — conceivably life-changing, family-saving wealth. And OU and other blue bloods are able to use that potential to their advantage to land talented players. 

An all-conference player at a G5 school should be able to come in and help a program like Oklahoma. So far, that’s worked out well for the Sooner coaching staff.

“It’s helped us, the guys that have come,” Venables said. “They’ve been really good role players and even starters at a really pretty good level, and kind of the glue. And that’s what I look for. Instead of thinking about all of the different type of parts, I think the glue is the magic of putting a good roster together.”

STILLWATER — The 2024 college football season approaches with wide-ranging changes across the sport.

But in the locker room of Boone Pickens Stadium, familiarity abounds.

Oklahoma State, ranked No. 18 in the preseason, returns roughly 20 starters from a team that went 10-4 and reached the Big 12 Championship Game.

The Cowboys still have the reigning Doak Walker Award winner, Ollie Gordon II, at running back, and one of the most experienced quarterbacks in all of college football with seventh-year senior Alan Bowman.

The offensive line is full of veterans and the receiver group is loaded with playmakers. The defense has its share of stars, though it is less established than the offense.

Still, in the second year under defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo, growth is expected on that side of the ball.

With some new challengers atop the Big 12 Conference, the Cowboys enter the season with sights set on a third title game appearance in a four-year span. But what will it take to get there?

Here are five key questions to the season for Oklahoma State football:

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Can running back Ollie Gordon II contend for the Heisman Trophy?

You’ll often hear the Heisman referred to as a quarterback award these days, and unfortunately, that’s mostly true. Only four times in the 2000s has the award gone to another position — three running backs and a receiver.

So that means a lot of what Gordon needs to be considered a legitimate contender for the trophy is out of his hands. If he produces at a level like he did last year (he averaged 147.5 yards per game after becoming the featured back in Week 4) Gordon will have the numbers to garner consideration. 

But jumping into the top four, or threatening for the honor, will take team success. Gordon earned some votes last year on a 10-4 squad, but if he has the same numbers on a Big 12 title team that is destined for the playoff when the voting wraps up, his profile skyrockets.

Gordon has all the other tools needed to be considered, from his knack for highlight-reel plays to his magnetic personality in the media spotlight. 

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Where can quarterback Alan Bowman improve in his seventh year of college football?

While his detractors like to point at his touchdown-to-interception ratio of 15-to-14, that stat is only half-meaningful. Bowman had a lot of long passes that moved the Cowboys into the red zone, but were followed by touchdown runs from Gordon.

So the touchdown total doesn’t become bothersome unless the Cowboys are failing to score. And Bowman averaged over 293 yards per game after being named the full-time quarterback in Week 4. 

The only real area of concern is the 14 picks. That’s the number that must improve for OSU to maximize its potential. With another offseason behind him, and another preseason camp to build on, Bowman’s connection with his wideouts should be even stronger, which should help minimize his interceptions. 

How much better will the defense be?

Statistically, the only direction to go is up. The Cowboys ranked outside the top 85 nationally in essentially every key stat category last year, and outside the top 100 in some, like passing yards allowed (123rd out of 130 teams). The context that is missing from OSU’s statistical performance is the in-game changes that led to major turnarounds in games, like the wins over Kansas, Houston and BYU. 

That shows the ability in Nardo to adjust to what he’s seeing on the field. Additionally, as he moves into his second season at the Division I level, Nardo is showing he can mold his 3-3-5 defense to fit the talent of his players. The adjustments made to the scheme in spring will help the Cowboys take steps forward in some key areas of difficulty.

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What is the biggest key to defensive improvement?

It all starts with the pass rush. That’s why you’re going to see Collin Oliver used much more frequently as an edge rusher (more on that in the next question), because he’s the team’s most dangerous player in that situation. Gannon transfer Obi Ezeigbo has shown a quick first step off the line as well, and the veteran core of the defensive line has shown development with players like Jaleel Johnson and DeSean Brown working toward bigger roles.

The pass rush had been such a strong point for OSU’s defense in the 2021-23 seasons that its dropoff last year was a bit of a surprise. Not getting the pressure the Cowboys needed on the quarterback limited their big-play potential and left the defensive backs in tenuous situations that led to deep throws and big pass yardage. 

If the pass rush is improved this season, the defense will be notably better as a whole.

How different will the roles of Kendal Daniels and Collin Oliver be in this defense?

Let’s start with Oliver, who is still going to look like a linebacker at times, but will frequently be a standup defensive end, coming off the edge to use his speed off the line — which is his greatest weapon. Oliver has bulked back up to about 245 pounds, which is a weight he feels he can operate with good speed and agility on both sides of his hybrid role.

Daniels’ role at linebacker is harder to project, because he hasn’t really operated in that manner during games. While he’s still listed as a safety on the roster, Daniels says he’s a linebacker now, and the 6-foot-4, 235-pound redshirt junior has shown the physicality necessary for playing in the box, rushing the passer and taking on offensive linemen on an every-snap basis.

Scott Wright covers Oklahoma State athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Scott? He can be reached at swright@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @ScottWrightOK. Sign up for the Oklahoma State Cowboys newsletter to access more OSU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.