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Oklahoma basketball: Joe Lunardi has OU barely squeezing into NCAA Tournament

By Chip Rouse

Oklahoma's Grant Sherfield (25) passes the ball as OCU's Avery Jackson defends during a college basketball exhibition game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Oklahoma City University Starts (OCU) at Loyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.Ou Men S Basketball
Oklahoma's Grant Sherfield (25) passes the ball as OCU's Avery Jackson defends during a college basketball exhibition game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Oklahoma City University Starts (OCU) at Loyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022.Ou Men S Basketball /
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ESPN “Bracketology” guru Joe Lunardi has issued his initial NCAA Tournament projections for 2022-23, and he has the Oklahoma basketball team narrowly squeaking into March Madness this season as the last of seven Big 12 entrants.

I’m sure he may be rethinking his early evaluation of Porter Moser’s Sooner squad after OU’s lackluster performance in a 52-51 loss to Sam Houston State in the season opener for both teams on Monday.

The Sooners didn’t look anything like an NCAA Tournament team in shooting just 37.2 percent for the game and committing 21 turnovers. Oklahoma squandered a 14-point second-half lead and was outscored 23-8 in the final 10 minutes of the game.

Oklahoma won’t have it any easier in its second game of the season on Friday. The Sooners will host an Arkansas-Pine Bluff team that lost by just one point 73-72 at TCU earlier this week. The Golden Lions of UAPB led for most of the game against the 14th-ranked Horned Frogs and at one point in the first half led by as much a 29-9.

That is going to be another serious challenge for the Sooners, especially if they play the way they did in the season opener.

Lunardi currently has Oklahoma on the 11 line but trending down in his preseason NCAA Tournament projection and one of the last four byes (not having to play a play-in game) to make it into the 64-team field.

Here is Lunardi’s projection for the other six Big 12 teams he has making the NCAA Tournament this season:

Kansas:    2 seed

Baylor:     2 seed

Texas:      2 seed

TCU:         5 seed

Texas Tech:  6 seed

Oklahoma State:    10 seed

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