The Oklahoma women's basketball team is firmly in the 68-team NCAA Tournament field, but Jennie Baranczyk's squad is still on the bubble with just a few weeks left in the regular season.
Similar to the College Football Playoff Rankings to promote transparency, the NCAA releases a top 16 late in the season that represent the likely top-4 seeds, which get to host the first two rounds on campus in the women's tournament. In the first batch of rankings on Saturday, the Sooners were not only among the final set of teams getting to host, but was last in that tier at No. 16, leaving no margin for error if the Sooners want NCAA Tournament games at Lloyd Noble Center for the second year in a row.
Sooners in NCAA's first top 16 of 2026
The NCAA deemed UConn, UCLA, South Carolina and Vanderbilt as the No. 1 seeds, respectively. No. 2 seeds included Texas, Michigan, Louisville and LSU, followed by Ohio State, Duke, Iowa and TCU, respectively. The other No. 4 seeds ahead of OU were Maryland, Michigan State and Ole Miss.
ESPN Bracketologist Charlie Creme's latest bracket projections on Tuesday mirrored the same fate for the Sooners. Creme also had OU as a No. 4 seed hosting No. 5 North Carolina, No. 12 San Diego State and No. 13 Murray State, which also made the trip to Norman last year. Just last week, Creme had the Sooners as a No. 5 seed after losing back-to-back top-5 matchups against Texas and Vanderbilt. OU recovered last week with wins against Florida and then-No. 23 Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
At 19-6 and ranked 11th in the latest Associated Press Top 25 Poll, the Sooners can't afford another hiccup to maintain home-court advantage, which was vital in getting them to the Sweet 16 a year ago.
There are four games left on the Sooners' schedule, including at No. 24 Georgia, vs No. 21 Tennessee, vs Arkansas and at Missouri.
Back-to-back ranked matchups ahead this week give the Sooners an opportunity to not only solidify themselves in that coveted top 16, but likely even move up. However, another losing skid, even against top-25 foes, would be enough to drop OU from consideration and desperate for a run in the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament to change the selection committee's mind.