The Oklahoma Sooners have already been surviving and advancing a week before everyone else.
This time last week, the OU men's basketball team was on the outside looking in of the NCAA Tournament field and a loss away from likely being locked out. But after two wins since, including a top-15 upset, the Sooners now have the ticket in their hand but just need it punched to go to the Big Dance.
With March Madness officially tipping off for the Sooners with the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament on Wednesday, every prominent bracketologist has OU in the field of 68 but still considered a bubble team.
In his latest ESPN Bracketology on Tuesday, Joe Lunardi has OU as one of the last four in and playing Indiana to be the 11 seed in the Midwest Region. USA Today's Eddie Timanus also has the Sooners in a play-in game against Ohio State in the East Region. Both also have the SEC getting 13 teams in, with Texas as one of the first four out after its loss to OU on Saturday.
Jerry Palm of CBS Sports is even more confident in the Sooners' standing. He doesn't even have OU as one of his first four in. Palm projects the Sooners to get the 11 seed in the South Region and play 6 seed Memphis in the first round.
According to Lunardi during halftime of the Sooners' Red River Rivalry win, OU, with a win over Texas, still needs one more W in the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament to secure a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The most recent bracket projections since back that statement up.
The 14 seed Sooners will play 11 seed Georgia in the last game of the first round Wednesday night. A win would not only avenge an earlier loss to the Bulldogs, but also give the Sooners their seventh Quad 1 win of the season, three of which would come within a week's time. Even with an ugly 6-12 conference record, that's still an impressive resume for a bubble team.
What needs to happen for OU could be complex between NET rankings, quadrants, bid stealers, KenPom rankings, BPI and dozens other metrics, but, to oversimplify, the Sooners just need to win to be in.