Payton Pritchard didn’t plan on following in his parents’ footsteps when he took a visit to Oklahoma earlier this month. He just wanted to put the school under consideration like a handful of other options.
In the end, being the next Pritchard in Norman was too difficult to pass up. The four-star junior committed to the Sooners on Tuesday.
“I just think it’s a great fit,” Pritchard told ESPN.com. “It kind of just felt home. I loved the community there. I just felt really comfortable. The players were great, the coaches were just awesome.
“The direction they’re going. They want to win, and they’re making it to March Madness every year now. Coach [Lon] Kruger gets his players ready. Their player development is really good.”
Both of Pritchard’s parents went to Oklahoma, with his father playing tight end on the football team. He still has family in the area too, which will make the move from his West Linn, Oregon, home easier.
ESPN’s No. 46 prospect in the junior class, Pritchard is looking to continue Oklahoma’s recent success. He was impressed by the Sooners’ up-tempo style; OU ranked seventh nationally in scoring last season (82.2 ppg). Sophomore Jordan Woodard will likely still be on campus when Pritchard arrives, and Pritchard is eager to learn from Woodard.
“His quickness, his court vision. He plays really good defense,” Pritchard said. “As a point guard, the way they play, I can really push it. Get up and down the floor. Play hard defense. Just be able to be a floor general. I can get everybody involved, I’m a winner, I just compete. Just whatever the coaches ask me to do, that’s what I’ll do.”
Pritchard, a 6-foot-2 point guard, is Oklahoma’s highest-ranked commit since Kruger took over the program in 2011. Pritchard chose the Sooners over finalists Wisconsin, Oregon, Gonzaga and Villanova, and he is the first pledge in the 2016 class for the Sooners.
It wasn’t always the plan to make a decision while he was still early in his junior year, but Pritchard was convinced after his recent campus visit.
“I was ready to get it over with,” he said. “I knew where I wanted to go, and I didn’t want to drag it out.”
Pritchard’s commitment caps off a great few days for the Oklahoma program. Late Saturday night, the Sooners received word that Houston transfer TaShawn Thomas was eligible to play immediately. And on Sunday, they blew out Southeastern Louisiana to open the season.
The Sooners (1-0) travel to Creighton (2-0) on Wednesday.
