Another NCAA Tournament, at least on the men's side, that Oklahoma Sooners fans don't have a team to cheer for. Even last year, when the Sooners just barely snuck in, OU fans got about only a few hours of cheering, and that's all they've gotten in the last five years.
Yet, Sooner Nation and the rest of the country will still be glued to the TV once March Madness tips off this week. Outside of wanting to keep your bracket perfect, OU fans still have plenty of rooting interests throughout the NCAA Tournament, even if most of it is hate watching.
Any team playing Texas
This is the easy one, especially since Texas earned an NCAA Tournament bid that the Sooners deserved over the Longhorns. However, the Longhorns could lose before ever actually being in the tournament since they first have to play North Carolina State as part of the First Four in Dayton, Ohio, at 8:15 p.m. CT Tuesday on truTV.
If Texas wins, it earns the No. 11 seed and will have No. 6 BYU waiting on Thursday. Hopefully, we don't have to sit through a Texas win, let alone two, to validate even more that the Sooners belonged in that spot.
Troy Trojans
Nebraska has never won an NCAA Tournament game in its entire history, and that's just a funny stat for OU fans to enjoy. After a stellar season for the Cornhuskers, they have hope this is finally the year as a No. 4 seed, but the No. 13 Troy Trojans stand in the way to prove Nebraska is still cursed. Imagine being bad at basketball and not even being a football school.
Houston Cougars
Houston, a No. 2 seed out of the Big 12, is coached by former OU head coach Kelvin Sampson. Sooner Nation rallied around the Cougars last year as Sampson led them to the national championship game before falling to Florida. At 70 years old, Sampson is running out of opportunities to finally get that elusive national title that's escaped him throughout a successful career.
The Cougars' tournament run will start against No. 15 Idaho at 9:10 p.m. CT Thursday at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, so OU fans could even easily witness Sampson's Cougars in person. While in the Sooner State, Houston is even using the Sooners' facilities to practice, and when talking about his return to Oklahoma, Sampson pointed out that both of his kids graduated from OU, including Kellen Sampson, who played for OU and is now his dad's assistant.
Santa Clara Broncos
There are multiple underrated reasons for Oklahoma fans to cheer for the Santa Clara Broncos. One, they're an underdog that actually has a chance to make some noise as a No. 10 seed. The Broncos play No. 7 Kentucky first at 11:15 a.m. Friday, and the Wildcats are led by former Sooner Otega Oweh, who has beaten the Sooners three times since leaving Norman while averaging 26.3 points against his former team. Plus, Santa Clara gave Oklahomans Jalen Williams, who's now an All-Star guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder and a fan favorite.