Oklahoma quietly finds perfect consolation after March Madness heartbreak

The Oklahoma Sooners' 2025-26 men's basketball season isn't over yet, after all.

After being the first team left out of the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday, the Sooners on Monday were included in the eight-team field for the second-ever College Basketball Crown, which debuted just last season as another postseason tournament option for misfit teams that did not make the Big Dance.

Sooners competing in College Basketball Crown after missing NCAA Tournament

The Sooners will play former Big 12 foe Colorado in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. CT Wednesday, April 1. The winner of that will then meet the victor between Baylor and Minnesota. The other side of the bracket includes Stanford vs. West Virginia and Rutgers vs. Creighton.

Colorado went 17-15 this season and just lost to Oklahoma State 92-83 in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament last week. The Sooners handled OSU 85-76 in a neutral-site nonconference meeting in December.

"We were obviously extremely disappointed to not be selected for the NCAA Tournament as we felt we played some of the best basketball in the country down the stretch, winning six of our last seven and eight of our last 11 against SEC teams," OU head coach Porter Moser said a statement. "Our guys were devastated Sunday night. We spent time talking about whether to continue our season in another tournament and we decided as a group we wanted to do that.

"We're not ready for this ride to end and we want to keep competing together. The Crown had a very successful first year in 2025 and is comprised of all high-major teams. We're looking forward to the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas and pursue a championship."

The College Basketball Crown will be hosted in Las Vegas on April 1-5. The quarterfinals will be on FS1, with the semis and final on FOX. The semifinals at T-Mobile Arena on April 4 will be the same day as the NCAA Tournament Final Four, with the championship on April 5, which is Easter Sunday. Talk about poor planning for a tournament already with limited popularity.

The Sooners also had the option to compete in the NIT, but apparently preferred the College Basketball Crown, which awards a $500,000 NIL prize pool. OU athletic director Roger Denny just recently decided to bring back head coach Porter Moser for at least one more season while vowing to give the program more resources to succeed, particularly in NIL, so a title in this tournament would benefit Moser's cause and future Sooners.

Although it's not the Sooners' ultimate goal of competing for a title in the NCAA Tournament, the reality is OU wasn't going to make a deep run anyway after going 19-15 this season, so this could be the Sooners' best set-up for next season as Moser should have everything he needs to not only make the NCAA Tournament, but win some games once there.