Oklahoma March Madness: Latest NCAA Tournament Chances for Sooners

Oklahoma entered Tuesday night with a golden opportunity to lock up an NCAA Tournament bid. The Sooners hosted No. 13 Kansas and blasted the perennial Big XII champions 81-68. The question now is no longer if Lon Kruger’s crew will make it, but how far can they climb seed-wise?

Tonight’s road contest at No. 18 Kansas State (6 p.m. EST, ESPN2) would be gravy for the Sooners, who are 19-11 (7-10 Big XII). It’ll be a rematch from the Wildcats’ 74-61 win in Norman back on Jan. 16.

During Kruger’s 8-year tenure, Oklahoma has made the tournament 6 times. This included an opening round exit last year, as the 10th-seeded Sooners dropped an 83-78 decision to Rhode Island.

Let’s take a look at the latest on their bracketology outlook, along with their resume and a few key wins and losses that stand out.

Oklahoma NCAA Tournament Resume

Oklahoma sprinted out to an 11-1 start in non-conference play, earning a No. 23 ranking in the AP Poll. That included a smattering of decent victories over No. 22 Wofford and Florida. Wins over major conference teams in Creighton, Southern Cal and Northwestern boost their strength of schedule, as all rank in the top-100 of the NET.

The problem is in the Big XII, as the Sooners absorbed a 5-game losing streak in late January and February. Their best in-conference win, outside of Kansas obviously, is either the sweep over TCU or over rival Texas. They are also just 1-8 against the top-half of the conference.

The only truly bad loss though was at West Virginia on Feb. 2. The Mountaineers are 12-18 and rank No. 106 in the NET. As far as the losing conference record, that hasn’t been that big of an issue according to the Washington Post.

Oklahoma Bracketology Breakdown

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi places Oklahoma at the No. 9 seed in the East Regional in his latest Bracketology. This would send the Sooners to the Columbus pod for an opening round matchup with Virginia Commonwealth. A win would likely send them to face Virginia (should the Cavaliers avoid repeating history against the No. 16 seed).

Jerry Palm of CBS Sports pegs them with a No. 9 seed out of the South. If they take pull off a mild upset against projected No. 8 seed Auburn, the Sooners would face the winner of Duke-Campbell in Columbia (S.C.).

Bracket Matrix aggregates 92 prognostications from across the internet. Oklahoma averages out to a 8.6, which puts them between an 8 and a 9-seed.

ESPN’s John Gasaway has the Sooners as one of his teams with “work to do,” they that work involves simply polishing an already tournament-worthy resume.

Shown as a No. 9 or 10-seed heading into the game against KU, Lon Kruger’s group has beaten Wofford at home, taken care of Florida on a neutral floor and now stands at 4-9 in Quad 1 games. OU will finish the regular season at Kansas State, so going into the Big 12 tournament at 19-12 and 7-11 is a very real possibility. Nevertheless, there are plenty of teams below the Sooners on the correct side of the mock cut line.

As stated before, tonight against the Wildcats is insurance. Make a run in the conference tournament, though, and who knows? Maybe there’s a chance at the No. 7 seed, which would avoid a potential game against a No. 1.

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