Bracketology: Oklahoma Nervously Awaits Selection Sunday on the Right Side of the Bubble
The final hours leading up to Selection Sunday will be uncomfortable for Oklahoma.
Porter Moser’s Sooners, who stand at 20-12 after falling to TCU in the Big 12 Tournament without guards Javian McCollum and Rivaldo Soares and forward John Hugley IV, aren’t concerned about missing the Big Dance.
But playing their way into the NCAA Tournament field via the First Four in Dayton, OH, now appears to be very much on the table.
Saturday morning, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projects that OU is one of the last four teams to make the field, playing Virginia in Dayton.
CBS’ Jerry Palm is higher on Oklahoma. He has the Sooners as a 10-seed, taking on Boise State in the same section of the draw as 2-seed Arizona.
Palm has St. John’s, Northwestern, Pittsburgh and Texas A&M as the last four teams in the field.
Friday was not kind to Oklahoma’s hopes of avoiding the play-in games.
Mississippi State’s upset over Tennessee and Texas A&M’s victory over Kentucky potentially vaulted both SEC schools over the Sooners, as Oklahoma entered the week above their future conference cohorts in both Lunardi and Palm’s projections.
Late Friday night, Colorado’s win over Washington State out west did OU no favors, too.
But Purdue’s win over Michigan State, Connecticut’s thrilling performance against St. John’s and Illinois’ dramatic victory over Ohio State halted momentum of teams trying to overtake Oklahoma, as well as stopped the Buckeyes from stealing an NCAA Tournament bid outright.
Still, bid-stealers loom large on Saturday.
Oregon dumped Arizona out of the Pac 12 Tournament, and if the Ducks topple Colorado at 8 p.m. on FOX, Oregon will bump somebody out of the field of 68.
Disaster could strike in the ACC as well.
North Carolina has been the class of the field in the nation’s capitol, but NC State has already ousted Duke and outlasted Virginia in overtime on Friday.
If the Wolf Pack can upset the Tar Heels at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, another tournament bid will go to a team previously on the outside looking in.
Even in Lunardi’s projection, the Sooners are insulated from a couple of upsets in conference title games.
Three teams sit behind OU in the ESPN projections — St. John’s, Virginia and New Mexico — though New Mexico could leap the Sooners if the Lobos prevail over San Diego State in the Mountain West Championship Game at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Oklahoma will learn its fate a 5 p.m. on Sunday when the full NCAA Tournament field is unveiled on CBS.
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