Oklahoma lost its sixth straight game and ninth of its past 11 at Kansas on Monday. While the Jayhawks can make a lot of teams look bad at home, the Sooners were especially uncompetitive. The wheels have come completely off the Sooner Schooner.
I felt that the committee overseeded the Sooners in their top 16 reveal on Feb. 11, which is partly why their slide in my bracket has been relatively slow. However, Oklahoma is now getting into dangerous territory historically.
In the 24 seasons that I have been tracking the tournament selection process, only one team that did not finish at least four games above .500 has received an at-large bid. That team was Georgia in 2001 and it played a schedule the likes of which we have never seen before or since, so no team gets compared to those Bulldogs. Note that this is trivia, not criteria, but it is as reliable an indicator as trivia gets.
Oklahoma currently sits at 16-11. It would still make the tournament if it started today, but the Sooners have to stop the bleeding. They do have a schedule that gives them a chance. Oklahoma has home games left with Kansas State, a fellow bubbler, and last-place Iowa State. Those are sandwiched around a trip to Baylor, the hottest team in the league.
Playing .500 basketball the rest of the way will likely get the Sooners into the field. That will also require a significant improvement in their current level of play.
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vs. Boston College, 7 p.m. ET The Wolfpack have four high-quality wins and they need those because the rest of their résumé is pretty bad. That includes a terrible non-conference schedule and two bad losses. They cannot afford any more of the latter, but that is the opportunity in front of them Tuesday. | |
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vs. West Virginia, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2 Baylor is one of a handful of teams making a late charge to try to get on the bracket. The Bears have won five straight, including home victories over Big 12 co-leaders Kansas and Texas Tech. There are no easy games left on Baylor's schedule, so now that it has gotten hot, it needs to stay hot, or at least hot-ish. | |
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vs. Creighton, 7 p.m. ET, FS1 Butler has a decent record and has played a good schedule, but the Bulldogs have a poor record against tournament quality teams. They are only 3-8 against teams currently in my bracket with a difficult schedule remaining. This is Butler's home finale and it would help to send the seniors out as winners. | |
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vs. Kentucky, 9 p.m. ET, ESPN Arkansas is what Arkansas always is -- great at home, not so much away from home. The Hogs are at home against Kentucky, a young team that has struggled on the road in league play. Arkansas cannot prove itself as road warriors Tuesday, but home-court heroes need to keep winning at home when they can. | |
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vs. Indiana, 9 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network The Huskers took a big blow to their tournament hopes over the weekend when they lost at Illinois, which was their first quadrant 3 loss of the season. Their margin for error is about gone if they harbor any at-large hopes, so this is a must-win. | |
In for now
| Team | RPI | SOS | Next game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama (17-10) | 34 | 13 | Feb. 21, 8:30 p.m. ET @ Auburn |
| Arkansas (19-8) | 26 | 47 | Feb. 20, 9 p.m. ET vs. Kentucky |
| Florida St. (19-8) | 45 | 70 | Feb. 25, 6 p.m. ET @ NC State |
| Houston (21-5) | 19 | 83 | Feb. 22, 9 p.m. ET @ Memphis |
| TCU (18-9) | 22 | 13 | Feb. 21, 8 p.m. ET @ Iowa St. |
| Texas A&M (17-10) | 21 | 6 | Feb. 20, 7 p.m. ET vs. Miss. State |
On the fence
| Team | RPI | SOS | Next game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kansas St. (19-8) | 56 | 72 | Feb. 21, 9 p.m. ET vs. Texas |
| Miami (Fla.) (19-8) | 32 | 56 | Feb. 24, 2 p.m. ET vs. Boston College |
| Middle Tenn. (22-5) | 23 | 92 | Feb. 24, 7 p.m. ET vs. UAB |
| NC State (18-9) | 61 | 64 | Feb. 20, 7 p.m. ET vs. Boston College |
| Providence (17-10) | 37 | 21 | Feb. 21, 6:30 p.m. ET vs. Seton Hall |
| UCLA (19-8) | 48 | 66 | Feb. 22, 9 p.m. ET @ Utah |
| Va. Tech (19-8) | 55 | 81 | Feb. 21, 7 p.m. ET vs. Clemson |
Work to do
| Team | RPI | SOS | Next game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baylor (17-10) | 47 | 26 | Feb. 20, 7 p.m. ET vs. W. Virginia |
| Boise St. (21-6) | 51 | 121 | Feb. 21, 9 p.m. ET @ Colorado St. |
| Butler (18-10) | 39 | 23 | Feb. 20, 7 p.m. ET vs. Creighton |
| Florida (17-10) | 64 | 42 | Feb. 21, 9 p.m. ET @ Tennessee |
| Georgia (15-11) | 66 | 45 | Feb. 21, 6:30 p.m. ET @ S. Carolina |
| Louisville (18-9) | 52 | 36 | Feb. 21, 9 p.m. ET @ Duke |
| Marquette (15-11) | 57 | 16 | Feb. 21, 8 p.m. ET vs. St. John's |
| Nebraska (20-9) | 60 | 97 | Feb. 20, 9 p.m. ET vs. Indiana |
| New Mex. St. (22-5) | 46 | 136 | Feb. 22, 9 p.m. ET vs. Chicago St. |
| Penn St. (19-10) | 76 | 88 | Feb. 21, 7 p.m. ET vs. Michigan |
| St. Bona. (20-6) | 27 | 88 | Feb. 21, 7 p.m. ET vs. Duquesne |
| Syracuse (18-9) | 38 | 28 | Feb. 21, 7 p.m. ET vs. N. Carolina |
| Temple (15-12) | 44 | 9 | Feb. 25, 2 p.m. ET vs. UCF |
| Texas (16-11) | 53 | 19 | Feb. 21, 9 p.m. ET @ Kansas St. |
| USC (19-9) | 42 | 51 | Feb. 21, 10:30 p.m. ET @ Colorado |
| Utah (17-9) | 50 | 65 | Feb. 22, 9 p.m. ET vs. UCLA |
| Washington (18-9) | 49 | 35 | Feb. 22, 9 p.m. ET @ Stanford |
| Western Ky. (20-7) | 58 | 103 | Feb. 22, 8 p.m. ET vs. Charlotte |
