A win or two more in the regular season or a win over Texas Tech in the Big 12 conference tournament would have been enough to get the Oklahoma Sooners Men’s Basketball team into the NCAA Tournament. While on the cusp, it’s unlikely [autotag]Porter Moser[/autotag]’s first Sooners team would have been able to do enough to make a run.
And that’s kinda where Oklahoma has been in basketball more often than not. The Sooners are typically competitive in a deep Big 12 basketball conference that has a strong argument to be considered the best in the nation. Unfortunately, that competitiveness hasn’t bled over into consistent tournament appearances or title runs.
But they’ve had several really good teams over the course of the last 40 years, but came up just short in their bid to snag that elusive NCAA championship. Looking at some of the best teams to never win a title, Erick Smith of USA TODAY Sports included the Oklahoma Sooners as one of the best programs to never win a title.
Besides making the Final Four in 1939 and 1947, the Sooners had no NCAA history to speak of before Billy Tubbs arrived in 1980. They were seeded No. 1 four times in a six-year span starting in 1984 and lost the national championship game in 1998 to Kansas. In total, Oklahoma is equal with Gonzaga in being a No. 1 seed five times. Only six teams have done it more. Kelvin Sampson and Lon Kruger also led the school to the Final Four in 2002 and 2016, respectively, giving the school five national semifinal appearances. – Smith, USA TODAY Sports
The Oklahoma Sooners have been able to attract superstar players over the years and that’s helped keep the program relevant. At some point though, they’ll need to come away with a title to establish themselves as a basketball school.
That’s the task ahead of Porter Moser. To turn the Oklahoma Sooners into an annual participant in March Madness and build them into a title contender.
It was a promising first year for Moser, but the struggles through January and February revealed a program that has work to do. Now in his first full offseason, Moser can begin building his recruiting and transfer portal classes to help the Sooners get back toward the top of the Big 12.
The good news is the Sooners have a solid foundation to build upon.
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