The NCAA Tournament is the postseason prize that every college team plays for, and for three Oklahoma basketball seniors, it is their third and final time around the block.
Christian James, Rashard Odomes and Jamuni McNeace were all on the 2016 Sooner team that was West Regional champion and advanced to the Final Four. They were all freshman then.
The same three were on last year’s OU squad with one-and-done Sooner superstar Trae Young that tipped off in the very first game of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, only the experience was much less memorable as the Sooners didn’t make it out of the first round, losing to Rhode Island in overtime.
That brings us up to date, with the tip-off of 2019 March Madness. For Oklahoma, the madness gets underway in Columbia, South Carolina, on Friday, with the No. 9 Sooners taking on No. 8 Mississippi.
Oklahoma Sooners Basketball
We have five bold predictions for the Sooners as they get ready to make their 32nd appearance in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship:
Jamuni McNeace will play and be a key factor despite limited minutes. McNeace started nine of the first 10 games this season for the Sooners, but he has been in and out of the lineup since late December because of a foot and ankle injury. He hobbled off the floor in Oklahoma Big 12 Tournament loss to West Virginia and was listed as questionable for the NCAA Tournament.
The 6-foot, 10-inch senior center was seen wearing a boot on his right foot during the Sooners’ NCAA selection announcement on Sunday, but he practiced on Tuesday and head coach Lon Kruger said McNeace would be available to play in OU’s opening NCAA Tournament matchup with Ole Miss, but he wouldn’t say how much that would be.
McNeace is averaging close to five points and four rebounds per game, but his real value is as a rim protector and his size and length in the paint. Even though he is far from full strength and will likely play only limited minutes, expect the five-year senior to gut it out and give the Sooners a big lift when he is in the game on Friday.
Oklahoma will start slow but finish strong. After losing in the Big 12 Tournament, the Sooners will not have seen game action in nine days when they take the court Friday in Columbia, South Carolina, to face Ole Miss. Don’t be surprised if OU gets off to a sluggish start to begin the contest, but look for them to get their rhythm going later in the opening half and hit their stride after halftime.
Brady Manek will lead the OU scoring attack against Ole Miss and finish with a double-double. The sophomore forward has scored in double figures in 22 of the Sooners’ 32 games this season and hit a season-high of 22 points in OU’s one-point loss to West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament.
Manek has recorded a double-double (double digits in points and rebounds in the same game) five times this season. He has reached double figures in the scoring column 11 times in his last 14 games. When Manek scores in double figures the Sooners are 26-11 this season.
He not only will reach double figures in points against Ole Miss, but also grab at least 10 rebounds to record his sixth double-double of the season.
OU will command the boards and outrebound Ole Miss by a plus-5 margin. Oklahoma leads the Big 12 and ranks 20th among NCAA Division I teams in defensive rebounding. Despite this, the Sooners have been outrebounded in 10 of their last 12 games. This played a big factor in OU’s six game losing streak in the middle of the conference season.
The Sooners’ size and length advantage over Ole Miss will allow Oklahoma to gain a plus-5 or better rebounding edge, which will translate into more scoring opportunities for the Sooners.
The Sooners will hold on at the end and pull off the mild upset to move on.
The game should be close (under 10 points) over the last eight minutes, but the Sooners will hold off their SEC opponent at the end and survive to play again on Sunday, most likely against No. 1 Virginia. Ole Miss is an excellent free-throw shooting team (best in the SEC), so they will make the game close right down to the end, but the “W” will go to Oklahoma, giving the Sooners their first NCAA Tournament win since 2016.