The Oklahoma basketball Sooners were the country’s No. 1 team at the beginning of this week, and they remain so, despite falling just short at Iowa State.
Now the Sooners face round two on Saturday of back-to-back road games against ranked opponents. It doesn’t get much harder than that, but after all, we are talking about the Big 12, the No. 1 conference in college basketball.
Most college basketball analysts are forecasting as many as seven of the 10 Big 12 teams will make the NCAA Tournament field this season, and four of those teams are currently ranked in the nation’s top-25 in both major polls. Heading that list are the Oklahoma Sooners, who on Monday moved into the top spot in both polls for the first time since the 1989-90 season.
OU’s first game out of the chute after becoming the country’s No. 1 team resulted in the Sooners’ second loss in 17 games this season. Despite coming up on the short end of a very close score against 19th-ranked Iowa State, Oklahoma remains No. 1 and gets a second chance in the same week to prove to the country that it deserves to be there. But for a second straight game, the Sooners must go on the road and face another top-25 opponent in the Baylor Bears.
Here is how the number one will work in the Sooners favor the second time around on Saturday. Oklahoma’s No. 1 player and the country’s No. 2 scorer, Buddy Hield, will come out firing and turn his nation-leading three-point accuracy into a nightmare defensive assignment for host Baylor.
The Sooners, led by senior Ryan Spangler and sophomore Khadeem Lattin, are No. 1 in the Big 12 in rebounding, and they will need every bit of that board work if they are going to prevail against the very physical Baylor Bears, who this week ranked 13th in the Associated Press poll.
Since 2010, Baylor and Oklahoma have split 14 games. Prior to that, however, the Sooners had won 30 consecutive games against the Bears.
Here is the big One, though. Baylor is 0-6 all-time against teams ranked No. 1 in the AP poll. And through this weekend, at least, the Sooners are No. 1 in all of college basketball. Saturday will be their chance to disavow and dispel the heartbreak and disappointment incurred at the beginning of the week at Iowa State.