Slowly but surely the men’s Oklahoma basketball team is on the move, climbing to No. 19 in this week’s Coaches Poll.
Three weeks ago, with an 11-1 record, the Sooners cracked the nation’s top 25 for the first time this season. The voters in the Associated Press media poll had Oklahoma in the 25th spot. At the same time, however, the 32-member voting panel of the Coaches Poll still had the Sooners on the outside looking in.
Since that time, despite going just 2-2 against Big 12 opponents, OU has made a steady climb upward in the Coaches Poll. A week ago, Lon Kruger’s squad moved ahead of its No. 23 ranking in the AP Top 25, settling in at No. 22, according to the coaches.
This week, the Sooners continued their upward progression, up three spots in both the Associated Press and the Coaches polls, at No. 20 and 19, respectively.
Kansas (15-2, 4-1) and Texas Tech (15-1, 4-0) are at 8 and 9 in the Coaches Poll this week and remain on a collision course for a Feb. 2 showdown at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas. Along with Oklahoma, the Jayhawks and Red Raiders are the only Big 12 teams currently ranked in the top 25. Of those three schools, only Kansas began the season in the top 25.
The Sooners (13-3, 2-2) put their unblemished 5-0 home record on the line on Wednesday night when they host Kansas State (12-4, 2-2). K-State is just 1-3 away from home this season, but that one road win was last Saturday, a buzzer-beating 58-57 victory at Iowa State.
Back-to-back losses at Baylor and at home to Kansas State proved costly to the Cyclones, who dropped out of the top 25 in both polls. After a 17-point beatdown of 14-time defending conference champion Kansas two weekends ago, Iowa State had risen to No. 20 in the Associated Press rankings, the same spot occupied by Oklahoma this week.
Kansas began the season as the top-ranked team in both the AP and Coaches polls. Kansas State, West Virginia and TCU also ranked in the top 25, but have since fallen out of both polls