Don't look now, but, uh, the Oklahoma Sooners have all of a sudden put themselves on the NCAA Tournament bubble.
ESPN's Joe Lunardi on Tuesday night released an updated Bracketology outlook, and down at the very bottom were the Sooners making their first appearance since January. Lunardi's latest update came shortly after OU beat Missouri 80-64 for Senior Night at Lloyd Noble Center for its third win a row after being left for dead throughout SEC play.
Joe Lunardi has Sooners on bubble with March Madness near
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) March 4, 2026
Lunardi's updated projection still makes OU a long shot, but it means the Sooners at least have a chance to go dancing, which would have been laughable even a week ago. The Sooners have been fighting to stay above .500 at 16-14 and are 6-11 in SEC play. It's worth noting that OU got into the NCAA Tournament last year with a losing conference record thanks to a late winning streak.
After winning their SEC opener against Ole Miss, the Sooners lost nine straight games, which was one loss away from matching the worst losing streak in program history. But apparently Porter Moser and Brent Venables assemble the same kind of teams, because these Sooners are hard to kill.
Since that losing streak ended with an upset of then-No. 15 Vanderbilt on the road, OU is 5-2 with wins over projected NCAA Tournament or bubble teams Vanderbilt, Georgia, Auburn and Mizzou. Those five wins also include three in a row of 12-plus points.
What helps the Sooners' NCAA Tournament case even more is that they've endured a loaded schedule with nine Quadrant 1 games and won four of those against Wake Forest, Vandy, Georgia and LSU. Their recent victories over Auburn and Mizzou were Quad 2 wins.
That's boosted the Sooners to No. 62 in NET rankings, which is technically high enough to be included in the 68-team field (although automatic mid-major bids disrupt those numbers).
Right now, Lunardi has 10 teams ahead of OU in line to get a berth into the NCAA Tournament. One of those is Auburn, which the Sooners already beat. Unfortunately for OU, though, most of the teams have some favorable matchups ahead.
Although there's now hope and Moser might believe, it's likely already too little, too late for the Sooners and Moser's time in Oklahoma. OU has run out of time to impress the selection committee with just one regular-season game left against Texas on Saturday in Austin. The SEC Men's Basketball Tournament will be full of Quad 1 opportunities for the Sooners, but without a miracle run, they will play their last game of the season there.