A week ago, it looked like Oklahoma head coach Porter Moser should be house shopping with a looming move from losing his job. Now, he can at least start window shopping for some dancing shoes, because he might have his team in the Big Dance.
The 11-seed Sooners late Thursday night absolutely dominated No. 6 Texas A&M 83-63 in the second round of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament to advance to a quarterfinal matchup with No. 3 Arkansas on Friday after back-to-back blowout victories to start the postseason.
Sooners on NCAA Tournament bubble after Porter Moser turnaround
ESPN's Joe Lunardi said on Wednesday night that OU needed three wins in the SEC Tournament to even be seriously considered for a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but as everything seems to be going right for a team that was doing everything wrong just two months ago, the Sooners' magic number seems to be down to one, as in, one more win and at least one more year of Porter Moser.
Moser's seat had never been hotter during a blistering cold January in which the Sooners went 1-8. OU suffered a nine-game losing streak that went into February and was just one more loss away from being the worst skid in program history. At that point, the season seemed like a wash and Moser was a dead walking out the door of Lloyd Noble Center.
The Sooners' losing streak finally ended with a road upset of then-No. 15 Vanderbilt. OU is 8-2 since ending its miserable streak and is riding a six-game winning streak that includes two blowout victories in the SEC Tournament and avenging five previous conference losses, and suddenly had the Sooners as an NCAA Tournament bubble team.
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The fact the Sooners' last four wins were against teams that had already beaten them before proves this is not the same team in March. And in the midst of all this, ESPN reported this week that "things were trending toward" OU keeping Moser around for 2026-27.
A glass half empty says a good coach should have never had his team in such a low spot to begin with, but a glass half full says it was a masterclass coaching job by Moser to turn things around. No matter how you fill your glass, there has to be respect for Moser and his team.
After the win over Texas A&M, Lunardi jumped OU as his first team out of the 68-team field. The first team in? Texas, which the Sooners beat on the road less than a week ago. USA Today also upgraded OU as its second team out behind New Mexico.
A win against Arkansas on Thursday night should get the Sooners an invitation to the dance as long as no one swipes it away by Selection Sunday. However, a run to an SEC title, which all of a sudden actually seems possible for these Sooners, would punch their ticket with no questions asked.
The Sooners keep fighting to play another day as Porter Moser keeps fighting to coach another year.