Stormin in Norman
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Oklahoma basketball: Early projections have Sooners ‘dancing’ again in 2021

By Chip Rouse

AMES, IA - FEBRUARY 25: Head coach Lon Kruger of the Oklahoma Sooners coaches from the bench in the second half of play against the Iowa State Cyclones at Hilton Coliseum on February 25, 2019 in Ames, Iowa. The Iowa State Cyclones won 78-61 over the Oklahoma Sooners. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)
AMES, IA - FEBRUARY 25: Head coach Lon Kruger of the Oklahoma Sooners coaches from the bench in the second half of play against the Iowa State Cyclones at Hilton Coliseum on February 25, 2019 in Ames, Iowa. The Iowa State Cyclones won 78-61 over the Oklahoma Sooners. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images) /
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Next season will be Lon Kruger’s 10th as head coach of men’s Oklahoma basketball.

Norman is the sixth stop in the 68-year-old Sooner head coach’s 34 seasons as a college head coach, but it also is his longest.

In his nine seasons at Oklahoma, Kruger has taken the Sooners to the NCAA Tournament six times, and that number would actually be seven if March Madness had not been cancelled this year because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Kruger is the sixth longest-tenured of Oklahoma’s 13 head coaches in the 110-year history of the program and ranks fifth all-time in number of OU victories. Including this year, Kruger has taken seven Sooner teams to the NCAA Tournament. That ranks third all-time among OU head coaches, but is closing in on Billy Tubbs and Kelvin Sampson, whose teams made 9 and 11 appearances, respectively.

It should also be pointed out that Oklahoma is the fifth different school Kruger has taken to the NCAA Tournament for a grand total of 20 appearances, including two Final Four teams (1994 Florida and 2016 Oklahoma).

Oklahoma has all but one player returning from the 2019-20 team that was projected by ESPN Bracketology guru Joe Lunardi as a nine seed in this year’s March Madness that never tipped off. In his way-too-early Bracketology crystal ball for next year’s tournament, he sees the Sooners on the 10 line and one of seven Big 12 teams projected to make it into the Big Dance a year from now.

Here is some OU basketball trivia that I would bet few Sooner fans are aware of: The Sooners have been a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament more than any other seed. Five times since the 1979 season the Sooners have been awarded a No. 1 seed, and four times they have been a No. 2 seed. They have also been a No. 10 seed four times.

As a one of two seed, OU’s NCAA Tournament record is a combined 25-9. As a one through four seed, Oklahoma teams are 30-15 in NCAA Tournament games.

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