Just when Porter Moser’s Sooners wanted to extradite themselves from the March Madness bubble, Chris Beard and his physical Longhorns put the mistake prone Sooners right back on it.
OU fought, scratched, and bled their way back fighting uphill all night only to lose in overtime 80-78 to the Longhorns.
On a night when Tanner and brother Jacob opted to be the Sooners going invisible into the night, EJ Harkless, Jalen Hill and Moj Gibson, plus Jordan Goldwire and Ethan Chargois brought the Sooners all the way back to have a very real chance of winning the game on the last possession of regulation.
Coming off a timeout in the offensive zone with 15.2 seconds left, Chris Beard basically called the last shot for the Sooners when he played off of Ethan Chargois and got the Sooner shot he desired from them with a three not even close clanking off the rim by the seldom three-point shooter Ethan Chargois.
In overtime it was back and forth, but both EJ Harkless and Moj Gibson committed unforced turnovers and that was basically the ball game as the Sooners threw up a half-court desperation shot at the buzzer.
OU came into the game with a Tournament net rating of No. 37, but the Sooners at this point need wins, not just computers.
OU drops to 14-12 overall and 4-9 in the Big 12 where we all knew coming into this Big 12 season… 8-10 conference-wise was a realistic ceiling for these Sooners.
OU has five conference games left and there is a path if the Sooners simply win at home versus O-State and West Virginia. Lose either of those games and then the Sooners simply do not deserve to be in the Tournament. No more me pleading their case because of a difficult schedule.
The road games are at Iowa State, Kansas State, and Texas Tech. Again, if the Sooners cannot win one of these road games — then I would say they don’t deserve to in the tournament with the exception of them winning at the minimum one game in the Big 12 post-season tournament.
Having written all of this…I still think if OU could make the field they could win a game or two in the NCAA Tournament. Two rounds would be their ceiling, but in their defense these guys have played one very tough schedule when you figure they not only played the Big 12 schedule, but played Auburn, Arkansas, and Florida as well.
On a bright spot, both EJ Harkless and Jordan Goldwire have stepped up in a significant way. Jalen Hill played one of his best games of the season last night. Chargois can do some things on those nights when Tanner Grove can’t adjust to physicality of the game.
Some bench scoring would be nice, but in truth since the road win at West Virginia the Sooner bench hasn’t been much.
I’m sure Porter Moser is still preaching to his team just like I am on my blog. You’re there, you’re close, but close only matters to computers, not the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.
Up next…the Iowa State Cyclones in what is one of the toughest gyms to visit in the rugged Big 12. If OU doesn’t end up making the field… what will haunt them is losing at home to the TCU Horn Frogs who just last night lost at home to Iowa State.
BOOMER!
Editor’s note: You see, this is what I would describe as a brutally honest write-up of a game the Sooners really needed to win. Not some rainbows and butterflies bullshit like we get from the end of every Thunder game from their broadcast crew.
You win with humility, and you lose with brutal honesty attached if you want to get better moving forward from the loss.
MJ