Sweet 16 looming
For the first time since 2013, the Oklahoma women's basketball team is in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
The 3-seed Sooners handled the 6-seed Iowa Hawkeyes 96-62 on Monday at Lloyd Noble Center to punch their long-awaited ticket to the Sweet 16. Now, OU gets the 2-seed UConn Huskies at 4:30 p.m. CT Saturday in Spokane, Washington. The game will be on ESPN. The winner of OU-UConn will play the winner from 1-seed USC and 5-seed Kansas State on Monday.
Top-10 SEC softball
As will be a weekly occurrence from now on, OU softball will have a three-game series against a ranked team this weekend at Love's Field. The No. 2 Sooners will host the No. 10 Tennessee Volunteers for a series that starts at 6:30 p.m. CT Friday in Norman.
By its extremely high standards, it's been a rather shaky week for OU, which dropped a spot from No. 1 to No. 2 in this week's rankings. The Sooners on Saturday lost to Missouri 3-1 for their first loss of the season that snapped a 31-game winning streak that dated back to last year. On Wednesday, the Sooners were in slugfest with Wichita State they eventually won 19-16.
The Sooners need a pitcher other than Sam Landry to step up to get through this weekend unscathed.
The OU baseball team also has a top-15 matchup this weekend when the No. 9 Sooners travel to No. 12 Alabama for a three-game series.
Recruiting decisions made
It was a heck of a recruiting week in Norman for a random week in March.
A day after the Sooners made the Sweet 16, they landed a commitment from Aaliyah Chavez, the No. 1 recruit in the 2025 class. Trae Young predicted Chavez to become the next face of women's basketball in Norman.
The football team, though, got the opposite news as women's basketball. Kaydin Jones, whose dad Kejuan Jones played running back at OU, chose Oklahoma State from a final group that included OU, Kansas, Louisville, Tennessee and Vanderbilt. Like his dad was, Jones is a standout running back from Jenks High School who is a top-5 prospect in the state from the 2026 class.