OU, OSU going different directions
There was no real solemnity in one locker room after one Bedlam team’s Big 12 Tournament loss.
Players were beat up physically but not afraid to smile, talk with confidence about the future and appreciate the accomplishments to this point of the season, despite their latest loss.
In the other Bedlam locker room, the air was that of a funeral. There were no smiles and little optimism, at least in tone if not words.
But the team that looked and sounded defeated will likely continue on. Despite its struggles, which started in mid-January and persisted into March, Oklahoma appears in the NCAA Tournament.
The Sooners could have to start the tournament earlier than most in a First Four game in Dayton, Ohio, on Tuesday or Wednesday, but the Sooners will almost assuredly earn a spot in the 68-team field that will be announced Sunday.
That’s thanks to a series of resume-building wins over the season’s first two months that included road wins at Wichita State and TCU and neutral-site wins over USC and Oregon.
Oklahoma State’s immediate future is much less certain, but having fought its way from college basketball purgatory — and the looming presence of an FBI investigation that rocked all of college basketball but hit close to home in Stillwater after the preseason arrest of an assistant coach — the Cowboys were only hopeful despite Thursday’s loss to Kansas.
“My next three days are going to be great,” Cowboys coach Mike Boynton said after the loss. “I don’t know what I’m going to do right now, but I’ll get a chance to spend some time with my wife and kids and start thinking about how we prepare for next week.”
Jeffrey Carroll acknowledged there would be some anxiety over the next 72 hours but wasn’t anywhere close to being down in the dumps.
“The sun will come up tomorrow,” Carroll said. “It’ll be kind of slow, just do some praying and the chips will fall where they may.”
That wasn’t the attitude about 20 hours earlier after Oklahoma fell to those same Cowboys.
Players mostly stared straight forward, the only conversation coming in hushed tones.
Oklahoma center Jamuni McNeace wouldn’t even speak when addressed, just twice pointing to teammate Kameron McGusty sitting next to him.
McGusty spoke barely above a whisper, virtually the only sound coming from the spacious Sprint Center locker room.
“I believe so,” was the only thing McGusty said when asked if the Sooners deserved to be in the NCAA Tournament.
Trae Young was looking down at his phone when asked to speak about the game and the Sooners’ fates.
Young pointed out to a hall in the locker room, preferring to talk there instead of where the options were a respectful whisper or a loud break in the library-like silence.
“Instead of us taking control, we left it in the committee’s hands so I think if they make the right decision, we’ll be in but you don’t know now,” Young said. “We left it in their hands. We’ve got to be readymade to play, and that’s not a good way to go out but definitely the biggest roller coaster season of college basketball.”