Oklahoma basketball: Can OU make a surprising tournament run?

The path is navigable

As the No. 9 seed, the Sooners will not only have to beat a higher-ranked No. 8, but also potentially a No. 1 to make it to the Sweet 16. In any other bracket that seems like a daunting task, but No. 8-seeded Ole Miss isn’t exactly a tournament regular. The Rebels are in their first NCAA Tournament contest since 2015, while OU players are in their third Big Dance in the past four seasons.

The Sooners would next have to play the No. 1-seeded Virginia Cavaliers (if all goes according to plan), and yes Virginia isn’t exactly a slouch with a 29-3 overall record, but the Cavs have been susceptable to the upset in previous years, including a last year when they became the first-ever No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 seed in a 74-54 rout by UMBC. The Cavs were more recently upset by No. 4 seeded Florida State for an early exit in the ACC Tournament.

In the Sweet 16 the Sooners could see either Kansas State or Wisconsin, two teams that beat Oklahoma in the regular season, but Oklahoma was competitive against.

Now after that could come a matchup with No. 2 seed Tennessee and Rick Barnes, a coach Lon Kruger knows very well from his days at Texas. The Sooners would certainly have a talent gap in that game, but the coaching familiarity might fall in OU’s favor.

Does anyone expect the Sooners to make it this far? No, but there is at least one potential path to a deep surprising tournament run.