Oklahoma still has over a month of basketball left to play, but, at least according to ESPN's Neil Paine, the Sooners are already just playing for pride.
Paine on Tuesday released a bubble watch for the NCAA Tournament while sorting teams by conference in four different tiers: "Locks," "Should be in," "Work to do," and "Long shots." With 12 SEC teams mentioned in the article, the Sooners are so far out of the NCAA Tournament conversation that they weren't even considered "Long shots."
OU basketball collapse leaves Sooners invisible in NCAA Tournament bubble talk
The Sooners are trying to stay above .500 at this point in the season while suffering through what's become an eight-game losing streak in SEC play. OU started the season 10-3 and was destined to go dancing for the second straight season under Porter Moser, but after winning their conference opener against Ole Miss, the Sooners have lost eight in a row since while plummeting to the bottom of SEC standings.
The SEC once again being one of the toughest conferences in college basketball hinders the Sooners even more. It actually benefitted OU last season after sneaking into the NCAA Tournament despite a losing conference record thanks to a stout strength of schedule and late winning streak. However, with the way things are going and no longer having a future NBA Draft lottery pick on their roster, a miracle turnaround doesn't look to be in the Sooners' future this time with what's ahead.
According to Paine, five SEC squads are already locks to make the NCAA Tournament in March, including Vanderbilt, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee. OU already had to suffer defeats to Florida, Alabama and Arkansas, but Vanderbilt and Tennessee still await, and both of those games are on the road.
Paine believes Auburn, Kentucky, Texas A&M and Georgia should also get in as long as they don't drop off dramatically. All four of those teams still remain on OU's schedule, and Texas A&M already beat the Sooners once before.
Those that are still needing to pad their resume to get in included Texas and Missouri, and while based on Paine's assessment those would seem like the best possible wins for the Sooners, they already lost to both of them. OU will play Mizzou and Texas again back-to-back in the final two contests of the regular season, and likely the finally games of the Moser era.
LSU was the only "Long shot" mentioned, while OU was joined by Ole Miss, South Carolina and Mississippi State as teams not even mentioned. Even among bottom-dwellers, though, the Sooners only beat Ole Miss and don't have any of the three left on their schedule.
If there's any hope from this bleak outlook, it would be that maybe since the Sooners have nothing else to play for, the search for OU's next head coach can start sooner than later.