I’m sitting here in my ‘studio’ now ready to opine on OU being knocked out of the NCAA Tournament this week-end…..and here’s the way I see it.
OU in a mythical way…. my Sooners were NC State’s sixth victim this Saturday night when the 11th seeded Wolfpack routed North Carolina to win their fifth game in five days in the ACC Tournament.
OU being on the bubble as they were because of their own inabililty to beat Texas Tech and Texas at home came home to roost. OU in fact…should have been a 22-10 team and firmly off the bubble, but they weren’t because they didn’t take care of their business at home against two second tier Big 12 teams this season.
As a brackateer myself….I gave the Sooners some slack on losing at home to Kansas and Houston, but against two middle of the road teams like Texas and Tech were this season….no way.
That week…when OU lost those two home games was when the trajectory of OU’s season changed. I was there. I could feel it. The loss of cofidence the OU players themselves started to display in the uber physical Big 12. BTW was palpable. After seeing the bracket yesterday….I don’t think one Big 12 team will make the Final Four since Iowa State is paired in the Eastern Regional with UConn, Illinois, and Auburn.
When DJ Burns handled the vastly overhyped Tarheels….the Sooners were done by my calculations given their NCAA Net ranking of 46. Two years ago in Porter’s first season in Norman…the Sooners missed the tournament with a Net of 31. So, yeah, what the Committee did with the Sooners did not shock me. I was prepared for it.
Now, what the committee did with UConn and the Eastern Region did in fact blow my mind. I would even say it appears a group of drug addict derelicts drew up that bracket.
What the Committee did was in fact pair the clear No. 1 seed and defending champs with the winners of the Big 12, SEC, and Big 10 tournaments.
If I’m an Auburn, Iowa State, or Illinois fan…I’m livid. But as a Sooner who had a ball sittting on the floor this season….I have no problem with the way OU was handled by the Committee. I had a gas following the Sooners from the floor and healthy permitting…plan on doing it again next season as the Sooners play their first season of SEC basketball.
Now..in closing..as far as not playing in the NIT…in this age of the Portal and NIL… the NIT shouldn’t even exist any longer. How in the world can any program in reality even commit to this after thought’tournament’?
The Portal opened today. Who even knows who is going to be playing on any of these teams by Thursday?
Porter and Joe C, but here’s the thing you two guys have decide this week. You have to decide how much and far you can go with your mens’ basketball program acting like NIL and the Portal don’t run the world of college basketball.
Get yourself a basketball NIL/Guru and and make OU basketball what it should be.
Good luck to Coach Jennie and the women. They’re going dancing as they should be.
MJ