The harsh reality of the end of the season often brings a lot of things into focus.

In Tulsa’s case, it made some things crystal clear. Without a significant talent infusion this year, TU will have a tough time making progress in the American Athletic and obtaining a postseason bid.

Getting whipped by a losing team like SMU in the conference tournament makes this spring’s signing period have a renewed sense of urgency, and this week’s commitment of Arkansas transfer Keyshawn Embery provides some hope.

It’s not like the cupboard is bare for a Tulsa team that finished 18-14, including 8-11 in AAC conference games. These are not the days of Jim King or the last two years of John Phillips. But there are some glaring deficiencies.

Tulsa needs shooting, shooting and more shooting. Period. The lack of consistent outside shooting is glaring. Going seven minute stretches without a field goal is ridiculous. Adding more than one outstanding shooter is paramount to Tulsa’s future success.

A lack of shooting was the primary reason why Tulsa’s only two road wins outside of Tulsa were at lowly Tulane and East Carolina. You can’t win on the road if you can’t shoot.

Improved athleticism, along with some desperately needed size inside, would also help a lot. Embery will bring some athleticism, and size would come if TU could get a commitment from 6-foot-11 Emmanuel Ugboh, who visited last week.

As for the coaching situation, the obvious question is about Frank Haith and his sixth and final year on his contract. If his contract isn’t extended, he would be, in essence, a lame duck coach, and that makes it hard to attract recruits or gather excitement among the program. However, sources explain that a two-year extension is coming soon, but there has been no official word from TU.

And the extension makes sense if Tulsa believes Haith can get the program back to where it belongs. He’ll need to continue to bring in talented players such as Embery and dynamic California point guard Isaiah Hill.

After all, this past year’s recruiting class had almost zero impact this season. Four eligible players who did very little, with one transferring in January. The only saving grace for the class may be Western Michigan transfer Reggie Jones, who will be eligible in 2019-2020.

Losing seniors DaQuan Jeffries and Sterling Taplin won’t help. Especially with Jeffries, who was a defensive force and the team’s leading scorer. His 13 points and 5.6 rebounds per game will be missed. Jeffries will be playing pro basketball somewhere next season.

Although Jeffries wasn’t a consistent or great offensive player, he could score. He is very athletic, which is a trait that the Golden Hurricane will most sorely miss.

Taplin was a solid point guard who played valiantly this year despite being clearly hobbled by a bum leg. He was obviously never the same after he injured his leg in the last minute of a loss to Nevada early in the season. Taplin tried, and wasn’t bad, but just wasn’t anywhere near as good as he had been as a junior.

The good news is that Tulsa returns six of its top eight players, as well as another extremely promising player in Western Michigan transfer Reggie Jones.

Whenever predicting what a team will be like, you first have to evaluate what you have coming back, then look at what is coming in. The following will be an analysis of Tulsa’s talent that is already on campus, plus the Hurricane's current 2019 signee.

Horne is clearly Tulsa’s player with the most potential, and he possibly could be Tulsa’s next star. A top 150 talent coming out of high school, the 6-foot-7 Horne had an impressive sophomore season coming off the bench.

His stats were impressive for a sophomore. He averaged 10.1 points and 4.9 rebounds in 22 minutes per game. He led the team in three-pointers with 49, and shot 37.4 percent from behind the arc, 43.9 percent from the field, and 81.8 percent from the free throw line. He was second on the team in blocks with 15, and steals with 23.

Horne will obviously be a starter next season, and should be a prolific scorer - something Tulsa desperately needs. He can nail three-pointers as well as driving the basket or shoot fade away jumpers.

When critics say Tulsa doesn’t have any major talent, they obviously aren’t paying attention to this guy.

Igbanu is Tulsa’s lone inside threat, and although undersized (his listing at 6-8 is exaggerated), he is strong when gets the ball, and his play has improved.

A Nigerian who only started playing basketball at age 14, Igbanu was second on the team in scoring at 12.5 points, and led the team with an average of 5.7 rebounds. He should have a terrific senior season.

If the 6-5 Korita could develop a dependable outside shot, he could have a monster senior season. Korita is a player that you keep thinking should be a really good outside shooter, but he shot 30.1 percent on three-pointers, making only 28.

What if Korita improves his shot like Lou Dawkins did for the 1994 season? After not being much of a scoring threat for three seasons, Dawkins became a legitimately solid outside shooter as a senior, which was one of the keys to Tulsa’s Sweet 16 run that year.

Korita has always been a terrific passer, with 47 assists and only 19 turnovers, and is also a good defender who knows exactly what everybody is supposed to do in TU’s matchup zone. His 12 rebounds in the season-ending loss to SMU showed his tenacity and improvement in a season where he averaged only 2.8 boards.

Scott is the type of player who is like a good utility baseball player. You want to play him quite a bit, and he is really valuable, but you don’t want to overexpose him. He does a lot of things well, but he isn’t likely to become a star.

Scott improved over his sophomore season, going from 5.9 points per game to 8.9 points. He made 41 three-pointers, shooting 39.4 percent on threes in 24.7 minutes per game, and also drives well to the basket. The highlight of his season was his buzzer-beating three-pointer in Tulsa’s home win over South Florida.

Toughness and grit are two of his best characteristics, which he showed when he fought through a foot injury that bothered him over the last part of the season.

With more consistent outside threats, Scott’s talents would be accentuated. He would get more open looks, and there wouldn’t be as much pressure on him.

Joiner should do fine as Tulsa’s starting point guard. He’s already played a lot at both guard positions, and is a good player and strong athlete. He definitely improved over his freshman season, going from an average of 3.8 points to 5.2 while playing 22.9 minutes per game.

The 6-3 Joiner can defend and rebound (fourth on the team at 3.0) and showed increased ability to penetrate to the bucket as the season went on.

Jackson is probably the team’s best athlete, and is Tulsa’s top returning defender. His emergence at the middle of the season was perhaps the team’s best story. He is already really good at driving to the bucket, shooting 60.2 percent on two-pointers while averaging 3.7 points.

The only thing keeping him from being a standout is his outside shooting. If he could develop even an average outside shot, the 6-2 Jackson could be really special over his final two seasons. It will take a lot of work in the offseason, but it can be done.

Jones is probably the key to the 2019-2020 season. The 6-6 wing has shown that he can shoot the ball at Western Michigan, where he averaged 9.4 and 10.1 points in his first two seasons there, while averaging 3.7 rebounds in his career. He made 36 threes on 40.4 percent shooting as a freshman, but fell off to 29.5 percent on 38 threes as a sophomore, when defenders were much more aware of him.

Listed as a guard/forward, Jones can drive to the basket, and made 80.8 percent of his free throws as a sophomore. He also averages just over a steal a game during his career.

If Jones can become a standout offensive threat for the Golden Hurricane, then they are a different team. If he can have some huge games and show consistency, a postseason run is possible. But if he doesn’t excel, then it could be another mediocre season.

The 5-11 point guard from Bakersfield, California has impressive credentials, and should get significant playing time as a true freshman. He really needs to push Joiner for a starting position, and at worst, be able to spell him. Hill could play alongside Joiner just like Joiner did with Taplin the last two seasons.

Hill appears to be the real thing. He’s a good athlete (won a slam dunk contest), passes well, gets steals and can shoot. And he can get off his shot against bigger, talented players, as seen on highlights against 6-5, five-star 2020 recruit Jalen Green.

For Tulsa to improve, a player like Hill must come through.

The 6-foot-8 Falokun was injured for much of the conference season, negating any chance of him having much of an impact. However, before his injury, he wasn’t playing much, although he was getting into the games.

He needs to be a decent inside threat to keep Horne from having to back up Igbanu inside. It is important to keep Horne and Igbanu in the game together as much as possible, and to keep Horne from playing the five position.

Falokun has shown flashes of his ability, but hasn’t gotten much of a chance to show what he can do. With two season of eligibility remaining, the lefty could still develop into a nice player.

Barnes didn’t show much despite playing almost every game. A good athlete, he didn’t display much court awareness, nor did he show the ability to shoot the ball. His shot didn’t look bad, but it just didn’t fall.

He would have to improve dramatically in those areas to see more playing time next season.

The 6-10 Hewitt was a good practice body, but showed no ability to help the team on the court when the lights came on. He performed well in his season of junior college ball before coming to TU, but it didn’t seem to carry over. Hewitt has the size Tulsa needs but must show marked improvement in order to be a contributor.

A walk-on with three years of eligibility left, the 6-0 point guard could get a few minutes of playing time per game next season. Observers have been impressed with his court savvy, and he can shoot. Christopoulos likely won’t be an impact player, but he could help out.

Tulsa already has a solid returning cast, with an expected starting lineup of returning players consisting of Igbanu, Horne, Korita, Scott and Joiner. Jackson, Jones and Hill project to be the first three off the bench, if they don’t crack the starting lineup, and should be Tulsa’s top eight players.

Keyshawn Embery could make a big difference next season if he is given a waiver by the NCAA in order to have immediate eligibility. Otherwise, he’ll have to sit out next season.

There is at least one more remaining scholarship. That number would grow if anyone decides to transfer.If Tulsa can land more impact recruits, like they did with Hill and Embery, then the Golden Hurricane could be dancing in March. If not, TU might struggle once again to see postseason play.