The Oklahoma Sooners' men's basketball season surprisingly isn't over yet, and it could have a few days worth of life left.
The Sooners on Wednesday night in Las Vegas play old Big 12 foe Colorado in the first round of the College Basketball Crown. According to FanDuel, the Sooners should move on to Saturday's semifinals as comfortable 9.5-point favorites as of Wednesday morning thanks to Colorado's depleted roster.
Sooners growing favorites over depleted Buffaloes
OU opened as just a 5.5-point favorite, but that spread inflated as Colorado's top players started dropping like flies. Three of the Buffaloes' four leading scorers from the regular season have already started heading to the Transfer Portal, even though it does not open until Tuesday.
Colorado will be without leading scorer guard Isaiah Johnson, who averaged 16.9 points a game. Forwards Sebastian Rancik, who averaged 12.3, and Bangot Dak, who averaged 11.5, are also on their way out. The Sooners tend to struggle down low, and Dak, at a towering 7-foot, and Rancik, listed at 6-foot-11, certainly would have wreaked havoc, but now OU will suddenly have the upper-hand where it usually falters.
Meanwhile, the Sooners are basically at full-strength minus three reserves in sophomore guard Dayton Forsythe, redshirt senior guard Jeff Nwankwo and freshman forward Andreas Holst. None were major contributors during the regular season.
A loss would also end the careers of starters Nijel Pack, Tae Davis and Mohamed Wague. So while Colorado is missing three of its best players, the Sooners' top trio is not only there, but has extra motivation. Pack led the Sooners with 16.5 points and was stellar down the stretch, whil Davis averaged 12.5 and Wague put up 7.1.
Pack was instrumental in the Sooners' late surge, winning six of their last seven games to even get on the NCAA Tournament. It's been almost three weeks since the Sooners stepped on the court in their loss to Arkansas in the SEC Tournament, but there's no reason to believe they aren't still one of the hottest teams in college basketball.
With the programs headed in opposite directions, there seems to be no reason to believe the Sooners lose this one unless it's some cruel April Fools joke to OU fans.
Prediction: Oklahoma 84, Colorado 72
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.