Oklahoma Basketball: Sooners Will Host Florida in Big 12/SEC Challenge
By Chip Rouse
In case you might have missed it, the schedule for the fourth annual Big 12/SEC Basketball Challenge is out, and the pairing for Oklahoma basketball will be with the Florida Gators.
The Sooners are a perfect 3-0 in the three previous years of the Big 12-SEC Challenge. OU won easily over Texas A&M in the first year and defeated Missouri in year two, both former Big 12 foes.
Last season, at LSU, the Sooners, behind Naismith and Wooden Award-winner Buddy Hield, came back from a double-digit second-half deficit to defeat the Tigers and their freshman sensation Ben Simmons and remain undefeated in the Challenge series with the SEC.
Some regression is expected in OU men’s basketball next season with the departure of arguably the best player in college basketball in Hield, but several of the way-too-early top-25 polls for next season, including ESPN.com, have the Sooners ranked in the top 20 to start the 2016-17 season.
Myron Metcalf of ESPN has ranked the matchups in next season’s Big 12/SEC Challenge based on their perceived headline and fan appeal. The Oklahoma-Florida matchup is the third most appealing, according to Metcalf, behind the games between Kansas and Kentucky, which will be played at Kentucky, and Texas A&M at West Virginia.
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ESPN.com has both Kansas and Kentucky ranked in the top five in its Way-Too-Early Top-25 Rankings for next season. West Virginia is ranked No. 15, Oklahoma No. 18 and Texas A&M No. 19 in the same poll.
Florida finished in the middle of the SEC pack last season, going 9-9 against conference foes and 21-15 overall, but the experts are projecting better things for the Gators next season.
OU, on the other hand, enjoyed one of the best season’s in program history in 2015-16, finishing with a record of 29-8 and a Final Four appearance. The Sooners lose three starters, but have two starters back in Jordan Woodard and Khadeem Lattin and a solid supporting cast that will be complemented and challenged by a talented recruiting class.