There is a new tall man in Norman, and his name is Hannes Polla. Polla is an inch shorter than McNeace and several years behind him in experience level, but his presence will give the Sooners added strength inside and at the rim and another weapon with which to create offensive and defensive mismatches.
A native of Finland, Polla is the second European student-athlete to play for OU head coach Lon Kruger (Amath M’Baye, from France, who played at Oklahoma for one season, in 2012-13, was the other).
Polla was coached high school in Finland by Hanno Motolla, who played for two seasons in the NBA under Kruger when he was coach of the Atlanta Hawks.