Oklahoma has hit their biggest rough patch of the year at essentially the worst time as they concluded the regular season on a four-game losing streak after falling at the hands of Texas on Thursday night. The loss dropped the Sooners all the way down to seventh in the Big 12 entering the conference tournament after being toward the top the bulk of the season.
With the losing streak, Oklahoma’s projected seed in USA TODAY Sports Bracketology for the NCAA Tournament also continues to dip down as they come in as No. 5 seed in the latest projections. Placed in the East Region, they would take on the winner of a play-in game between Drake and Colorado State.
Should they get through the first round, they could potentially see a familiar foe of a few years ago with No. 4 seed Villanova. The top-3 seeds in the region are No. 1 Michigan, No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 West Virginia. The interesting aspect there, of course, is that the Sooners already beat the Crimson Tide this season and also knocked off the Mountaineers twice.
So, all things considered this really isn’t the worst draw considering the clumsy way they have closed the season. While Villanova is a daunting No. 4 seed, Michigan still looks just a slight notch below both Gonzaga and Baylor and the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds would both be teams Oklahoma has shown they can beat.
That being said, the Sooners really need to find a way to pick up some wins in Kansas City this week to try and improve their placement as much as possible. Falling down into a No. 6 seed, or worse, is obviously something they need to find a way to avoid to try and make a run to at least the second week of the tournament. Once you get to the Sweet 16, all bets are off. It is about finding the easiest path to that point, which you get by improving your seed as much as possible.
Oklahoma will return to action in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament on Wednesday night against Iowa State.
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