Early successes help Sooners make tourney
The resume that lifted Oklahoma into the NCAA Tournament was put together in two crucial parts.
The Sooners, somewhat surprisingly, avoided a First Four assignment and earned a No. 10 seed. They’ll open the tournament against No. 7-seed Rhode Island on Thursday in Pittsburgh (11:15 a.m., CBS).
The first part started about 18 months ago, when OU director of basketball operations Mike Shepherd — with plenty of help from Sooners coach Lon Kruger and athletic director Joe Castiglione — started constructing the schedule.
Kruger and Shepherd, who have been together for years dating back to Kruger’s days at Kansas State, have always tried to be aggressive scheduling.
Sometimes that can blow up, as it did last year when the Sooners lost to Northern Iowa, Wisconsin, Wichita State, Memphis and Auburn before Christmas.
But this season, that aggressive scheduling paid off in a big way.
“We’re always going to go out there and look for quality opponents that give us good exposure,” Shepherd said. “Obviously, playing Wichita State, playing USC in LA, those are good opportunities to do that. Sometimes when those opportunities come up, you’re not necessarily sure exactly how that’s all going to play out.”
The second part of that, of course, is needing to win those games.
Oklahoma did that this year. The Sooners won at Wichita State, took two of three in Portland, including a key win over Oregon, beating USC on a neutral floor in Los Angeles and blowing out Northwestern at home.
It was that stretch of November and December success that went a long way toward getting the Sooners into the field.
“I think the key, too, with what Mike Shepherd and Joe Castiglione — the originators of the schedule — that was huge,” Kruger said. “These guys win games, but to play those games in December and win those is why we’re in the tournament.”
Selection committee chairman Bruce Rasmussen of Creighton agreed.
“We look at the entire body of work,” Rasmussen said. “The games in November, December and January mean the same as February and March.
“They had enough on their resume to get in.”
Kruger heaped praise on Shepherd after learning the Sooners were in the field.
“Shep’s done a good job of anticipating and trying to put together the RPI teams that need to be played, and obviously we never shied away from strong schedules in nonconference.”
Oklahoma is in the tournament for the first time since the 2016 Final Four run.
The Sooners rose to No. 3 in the nation in mid-January before a swoon left their NCAA Tournament hopes in jeopardy.
Oklahoma started the season 14-2, rising to No. 4 in the nation before a precipitous drop.
The Sooners lost 11 of their last 15 games, including a 71-60 decision to Oklahoma State on Wednesday in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.
Oklahoma did win two of its final three regular-season games, both at home.