As unbelievable as it seems for Sooner Nation that the Oklahoma men's basketball team could still make the NCAA Tournament, the Sooners' resume actually stacks up pretty well against other bubble teams with March Madness here.
Power Four conference tournaments start this week, with a few mid-major conferences already finished. The SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, which includes 13 projected NCAA Tournament teams, tips off Wednesday. The 14 seed Sooners play 11 seed Georgia in the first round while still needing one more win to go dancing.
Based on Joe Lunardi's latest ESPN Bracketology, there are 16 teams still on the bubble less than a week before Selection Sunday. Below is the resume for each and how it compares to OU's.
First, though, as a refresher, the NET rankings, which stand for the NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings, were developed as another metric to measure how good a college basketball team really is. The NET rankings take in account strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, offensive and defensive efficiency, and quality of wins and losses.
Here's how quadrants are broken down based on NET rankings, plus where the game was played.
- Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
- Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
- Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
- Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353
Team | Overall Record | Quad 1 | Quad 2 | Quad 3 | Quad 4 | NET Ranking | Current Projection |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Oklahoma | 19-12 | 6-10 | 4-1 | 2-1 | 7-0 | 45 | last four in |
Utah State | 25-6 | 2-3 | 7-3 | 5-0 | 10-0 | 37 | last four bye |
Arkansas | 19-12 | 6-9 | 2-3 | 4-0 | 7-0 | 39 | last four bye |
Baylor | 18-13 | 5-11 | 5-1 | 2-1 | 5-0 | 31 | last four bye |
San Diego State | 21-8 | 3-5 | 5-2 | 4-1 | 8-0 | 51 | last four bye |
Indiana | 19-12 | 4-12 | 5-0 | 6-0 | 4-0 | 52 | last four in |
Xavier | 21-10 | 1-8 | 8-2 | 5-0 | 7-0 | 44 | last four in |
Ohio State | 17-14 | 6-11 | 3-3 | 2-0 | 6-0 | 36 | last team in |
Boise State | 22-9 | 2-5 | 4-2 | 5-1 | 10-1 | 47 | first team out |
North Carolina | 20-12 | 1-11 | 7-0 | 6-1 | 6-0 | 40 | first four out |
Texas | 17-14 | 5-10 | 3-4 | 2-0 | 7-0 | 42 | first four out |
Colorado State | 22-9 | 1-5 | 6-2 | 4-2 | 11-0 | 54 | first four out |
Dayton | 22-9 | 3-3 | 4-5 | 7-1 | 7-0 | 67 | next four out |
Wake Forest | 21-10 | 2-7 | 6-1 | 7-2 | 6-0 | 69 | next four out |
Villanova | 18-13 | 2-7 | 5-3 | 5-2 | 6-1 | 53 | next four out |
UC Irvine | 27-5 | 1-0 | 3-3 | 11-2 | 11-0 | 62 | next four out |
Worth noting
- OU is tied with Arkansas and Ohio State for the most Quad 1 wins among bubble teams. Lunardi believes OU still needs one more win in the SEC tournament, which would put the Sooners at a group-high seven Quad 1 wins with neither Arkansas or Ohio State playing a Quad 1 game in their first tournament game.
- The Sooners are still one of the last four teams in with a play-in game, but really, none of the last four bye teams have a better resume than OU. The one that pops out is Arkansas. OU and Arkansas have identical overall records and the same number of Quad 1 wins, but the Sooners already beat the Razorbacks in Fayetteville this season. OU does have a Quad 3 loss Arkansas doesn't, but the head-to-head result should negate that.
- Even if OU loses to Georgia, it would be laughable if Utah State, Xavier, Boise State, North Carolina, Colorado State, Dayton, Wake Forest, Villanova or UC Irvine got in over the Sooners after comparing OU's schedule and wins to any of theirs.
- Texas also shouldn't get in over OU unless the Sooners lose the first round and the Longhorns win at least two in the SEC tournament.
- With those last three points, that leaves only four bubble teams that should have legit better chances of getting in over OU -- Baylor, San Diego State, Indiana and Ohio State. And an argument can still be made for the Sooners against all of them.