BLOWING BUBBLES
The Sooners appear to be in good shape to get invited to the NCAA Tournament
NORMAN — March is approaching fast, and OU men's basketball looks to be in good shape for the NCAA Tournament.
The Sooners have built a resume that includes a win over a ranked opponent and a current .500 record in the Big 12.
ESPN college basketball and bracketology analyst Joe Lunar di joined the crew on Saturday's broadcast of OU at Kansas to talk about the So one rs' chances of making the tournament. While he came on during the second half, when the Sooners were losing to the Jayhawks, he had some positive things to say about OU's chances of making the NCAA Tournament.
“I don' t think Oklahoma' s anywhere near as close to the bubble, let's say, as they've been the last couple of years,” Lunardi said. “But certainly wouldn't want to suffer the dreaded bad loss here in the final two or three weeks.”
The loss to Kansas didn't help OU, but it also didn't hurt. The Sooners weren't expected to win, Lunardi said, but they needed to keep it “respectable.”
Lunardi has the Sooners as a No. 9 seed right now, playing No. 8-projected Rutgers in Spokane, Washington, in the first round of the tour nament. CBS Sports' Jerry Palm also has OU playing Rutgers in Spokane in the first round — but with OU as the No. 8 seed.
USA Today's projection has OU as a No. 9 seed playing No. 8 Michigan, and, just like the others, it projects the Sooners to go to Spokane.
The Sooners can make their case for the tournament stronger by continuing to win the winnable games left on its schedule.
“The key to move up in any power league is to win on the road, and can the Sooners do that down the stretch and then win winnable games at the Big 12 Tournament?” Lunardi said.
At 16-9 overall and 6- 6 in conference play, the Sooners are tied with West Virginia for fourth place in the conference. OU has some tough games ahead of it in conference play, but it also has some winnable games ahead.
The Sooner sc onti nu et he ir tough run on Tuesday with No. 1- ranked Baylor. OU is up to No. 45 in the NET rankings, which are used by the selection committee to help evaluate teams. And three of the Sooners' next four opponents are ranked higher than them in the NET rankings. Baylor and West Virginia are both in the top 10, and Texas Tech is No. 20. OU also plays Oklahoma State, Texas and TCU coming up.
Oklahoma has chances coming up to continue to improve its resume, but it is starting off in good shape, according to the analysts.
“This team will continue to get better ,” OU coach Lon Kruger said. “We know how good Baylor is. We look forward to that challenge on Tuesday.”