Although ESPN's Joe Lunardi suddenly has the surging Oklahoma Sooners on the NCAA Tournament bubble, they still likely need to win the rest of the way, including next week's SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, to get in, but the pieces seem to be falling right into place for the OU men.
As of now after beating Missouri 80-64 on Tuesday to improve to 6-11 in conference play, the Sooners stand as the No. 12 seed for the SEC Tournament. They could jump to the No. 11 seed with a victory over Texas on Saturday in Austin, which is likely needed regardless for any sort of March Madness hope. However, there's really no bad option for the Sooners of the two, with both spots setting OU up nicely for a needed run during a time of the year when anything is possible.
Sooners surging at perfect time with favorable matchups ahead
With how the bracket currently sits, the Sooners would get No. 13 Mississippi State in the first round. The Bulldogs beat OU 72-53 in the second game of the conference schedule, but the Sooners are playing their best basketball right now for that revenge game while Mississippi State has lost four in a row.
If the Sooners got revenge against Mississippi State, they would get No. 5 Missouri next. OU just handled the Tigers a week before that third meeting would happen. Mizzou also needed two buzzer-beaters to beat the Sooners in Columbia in their first matchup.
The Sooners earning the No. 11 seed also paves a smooth road to the quarterfinals. No. 14 Ole Miss would likely be first up, and OU handled the Rebels in the SEC opener while playing poorly. No. 6 Vanderbilt would then likely be waiting. The Sooners beat Vandy 92-91 last month in Nashville, and the Commodores have been struggling ever since.
Once in the quarterfinals in either of these situations, the Sooners would be one of the hottest teams in college basketball on a six-game winning streak at the perfect time. From there, anything could happen with things finally going OU's way after hanging with just about every SEC opponent throughout the season, but almost always failing to finish.
However, with chaos surely to unfold, six straight wins to put OU at 19-14 could even be enough to once again sneak the Sooners into the NCAA Tournament thanks to a late streak and loaded schedule. At the very least, the possibility of the Sooners dancing grows with every win when that seemed impossible when March started.