It wasn’t smooth, but Oklahoma will surely take it.
The Sooners needed a win against TCU on Saturday to maintain their position in the NCAA Tournament race. Lon Kruger and Oklahoma got behind by 20 in the first half, 17 with 10:22 left in the game and then 13 with just over four minutes left to play.
By game’s end, Austin Reaves had scored a career-high 41 points and etched his name into Oklahoma basketball lore by willing his team to victory. Reaves made a game-winning shot with half a second left to give the Sooners their first and only lead of the game at 78-76.
The question many wondered was if Oklahoma could somehow sneak in with a loss and a good enough resume. The question now is whether the Sooners will be a 10 or 9-seed come selection Sunday a week from now.
In the latest Bracket Matrix, which includes the likes of ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, CBS’ Sports Jerry Palm and YAHOO, Oklahoma is in 99 of the 99 submitted brackets for bracketology. The Sooners have an average seed of 9.61 and are in a tight, five-team group that consists of USC, Rutgers, Indiana, Texas Tech and Arizona State. Oklahoma has been seeded by bracketologists as high as eighth.
Kruger and the Sooners will start the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday night as the 3-seed and will take on 6-seed West Virginia in Kansas City at 8 p.m. CT.
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