The madness never stops in college basketball.
Less than a month after the 2024-25 college basketball season ended with the Florida Gators as national champions, Joe Lunardi has already put out ESPN Bracketololgy for the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Sooner Nation were frequent readers of Lunardi's as the Oklahoma Sooners were on bubble watch most of last season before making a late run and slipping into the NCAA Tournament as a 9-seed. Well, Lunardi has the Sooners getting in the same way again next year, just hopefully this time with less drama and headaches.
First ESPN Bracketology for 2026 includes Sooners
In his first ESPN Bracketology for 2026, Lunardi has the Sooners as a 9-seed again in the Midwest Region playing 8-seed Oregon. This would again put OU at the dreaded 8-9 spot, where a win is just rewarded with a 1-seed. In this case, it would be Purdue, which is known to come up short during March Madness.
Obviously all these projections are being made before a game is even tipped and the transfer portal still has traffic. According to Lunardi, most of his projections are made based on who teams lost and gained through recruiting and the transfer portal, plus who moved on to the NBA. His projections will also be updated monthly throughout the offseason.
After finally going dancing in his fourth season leading the Sooners, Porter Moser has assembled his best transfer class yet at OU. First, he added Notre Dame transfer forward Tae Davis, helping fill the Sooners' need for big men.
The Sooners' next three additions were all top-50 prospects, according to 247Sports. OU landed guards Xzayvier Brown and Nijel Pack. Brown, whose step-father also joined Moser's staff as an assistant, is the highest-rated prospect, ranked at No. 33.
Most recently, OU got a commitment from Alabama transfer forward Derrion Reid, who was a five-star recruit in the 2024 class.
The Sooners' biggest splash of the offseason, though, was hiring NBA All-Star and former Sooner Trae Young as assistant general manager. Young also donated $1 million to OU men's basketball. All of OU's transfer additions came after Young's move.