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Oklahoma basketball: Joe Lunardi has moved Sooners to the 9 line

By Chip Rouse

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - MARCH 22: A detail view of chairs on the bench during the first round game between the Mississippi Rebels and the Oklahoma Sooners of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Colonial Life Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - MARCH 22: A detail view of chairs on the bench during the first round game between the Mississippi Rebels and the Oklahoma Sooners of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Colonial Life Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images) /
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Joe Lunardi, the king of “Bracketology,” has liked what he has seen out of Oklahoma basketball in the month of January.

With three more games to go this month, starting with a home game Saturday against No. 9 Kansas, the Sooners have been steadily moving up in Lunardi’s 2021 NCAA Tournament projections.

Lunardi’s latest Bracketology projections have Oklahoma as a No. 9 seed.

That may not sound all that exciting considering the Big 12 has four teams (Baylor, Texas, Kansas Texas Tech and West Virginia) projected on the three line or higher and seven out of the 10 teams in the conference slated to make the tournament field.

On Jan. 8, Lunardi didn’t even list the Sooners as one of the 68 teams projected to make it into the NCAA Tournament. A week later, he had Oklahoma in the 68-team field, but only narrowly so, projected as a No. 11 seed (designated as one of the “last four in” and having to win a play-in game to officially make it into the tournament.

Oklahoma is 3-2 so far this month, including a win over then-No. 9-ranked West Virginia. The Sooners’ two losses have come on the road against No. 2 Baylor and then No. 6 Kansas. OU lost by four points at Kansas in a game that wasn’t decided until the closing seconds of the game.

As of this writing, Lunardi has the No, 1 seeds as Gonzaga, Baylor, Villanova and Texas. Kansas and Texas Tech are projected No. 3 seeds.

The other two Big 12 teams Lunardi has making March Madness this year are West Virginia, listed as a No, 4 seed, and Oklahoma State, an eight seed.

This is clearly a moving target and could easily change over the next week, when the Sooners will go up against four consecutive ranked teams.

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