The Oklahoma women's basketball team hasn't stepped on the court since getting thumped by LSU 112-78 in the quarterfinals of the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament, but the chances of the Sooners getting to host some NCAA Tournament games in Norman have still managed to increase.
The newest Associated Press Top 25 Poll was released on Monday with the Sooners at No. 10, and although that set of rankings don't technically factor into the selection committee's process for seeding teams in the NCAA Tournament, it was still another unbiased reflection of the perception of OU even after such an ugly loss in its last outing.
Newest AP Top 25 Poll a promising outlook for Sooners' NCAA Tournament seeding hopes
Top 4 seeds get to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. That would include the top 16 overall seeds, which would put the Sooners in a comfortable position with their top-10 national ranking.
There was some fear of the Sooners losing their hosting rights after ESPN Bracketologist Charlie Creme dropped OU from a No. 3 seed to No. 4 in his bracket projections after the Sooners' blowout loss to LSU. The Sooners couldn't afford to slip anymore in order to stay home, but that was on Saturday when OU was right on the edge, and conference tournaments have concluded since then to create a clearer picture for what might happen on Selection Sunday.
In Creme's latest projections on Tuesday, he still had OU as a 4 seed hosting No. 5 Michigan State, No. 12 Murray State and No. 13 Colorado State at Lloyd Noble Center. That also still had the Sooners traveling to Fort Worth if they return to the Sweet 16 and for the Elite Eight.
The biggest change in Creme's predictions since Saturday was Texas beating South Carolina in the SEC Tournament Championship Game and getting bumped higher among the top seeds. With that, barring any upsets, No. 1 Texas would be waiting on the Sooners in Fort Worth for a Red River Rivalry in the Sweet 16. On Saturday, Creme had UConn as the No. 1 seed paired with OU in the Lone Star State.
This matchup actually works out better for the Sooners, no matter how dominant Texas just looked in the SEC Tournament. The Longhorns beat OU 78-70 this season in Austin. OU star freshman Aaliyah Chavez was off with only 11 points while leading the Sooners with an 18.4 average. The fact the Sooners still kept it close on the road while Chavez struggled by her standards and that a rivalry makes even more chaos possible makes this a much more favorable road for OU than meeting UConn in the Sweet 16 in back-to-back years.
Step 1, though, is for the selection committee to agree with these projections that the Sooners deserve home-court advantage, then they must take advantage of that to earn that rematch with Texas.