The last two times a men’s Oklahoma basketball team advanced as far as the Final Four, the Kansas Jayhawks were there as well.
That was supposed to be the case this season also, or that’s what everyone assumed after the Sooners punched their ticket to Houston on as the champions of the West Region with an 80-68 win on Saturday over No. 1 seed Oregon.
Oklahoma was the first of the four 2016 Final Four berths to be decided and was set to play the winner of the South Regional final between No. 1 overall seed Kansas and No. 2 Villanova.
Ever since the NCAA Tournament selections came out a couple of weeks ago, one of the intriguing story lines has been the potential of the Sooners and the Jayhawks meeting for a third time this season in one of the national semifinal games on April 2 at NRG Stadium in Houston.
Oklahoma’s win over Oregon brought this scenario one step closer to becoming reality. A Kansas victory over Villanova would seal the deal. Only Villanova had other ideas and, as a result, the Jayhawks were unable to fulfill their end of the bargain.
The No. 2-seeded Wildcats grabbed Kansas by the throat and never let go, holding the high-powered Jayhawks to a season-low 59 points while putting up 64 themselves. So instead of a dream rematch between Kansas and the Sooners, the Jayhawks are headed home and Villanova will stand in for Kansas as OU’s Final Four opponent next weekend in Houston.
That is just the way it has to be. So instead of getting to prove out the notion that it is extremely difficult to beat a team three times in the same season, now the Sooners must find a way to ward off the revenge factor that Villanova is certain to have after losing by 21 points to this same Oklahoma team much earlier this season.
Oh, well, that is one of the reasons, I suppose, why they refer to this tournament as March Madness. In truth, it becomes March Happiness for a select few and March Sadness for many.
As far as the Oklahoma Sooners are concerned, they’re still dancin’ – and after this weekend only four teams will be able to say that – and that makes Sooner fans overwrought with happiness.