There's something for Sooner Nation to be proud of year-around.
With Oklahoma making the NCAA Baseball Championship on Monday, the Sooners were included in a group of only 14 schools that made a college football bowl game, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and NCAA baseball tournament during the 2024-2025 school year.
In even more rarified air, OU was also one of only six schools to make the postseason in six of the most major college sports, including football, women’s volleyball, men’s and women’s basketball, softball, and baseball. And that doesn't even include a national championship in women's gymnastics.
Sooners in rare company for overall athletics success
Joining OU on the small list of six schools was Texas, North Carolina, Oregon, Ole Miss and Tennessee. Added to the list of 14 for men's sports success was Alabama, Clemson, Vanderbilt, Louisville, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas and Duke.
This success in all nearly every sport came during the Sooners' first year in the SEC, which brought an escalation of competition for every sport, especially the ones OU are traditionally best in.
SEC is famous for its football prestige. The Sooners took a beating in their first SEC slate, but still managed to reach bowl eligibility at 6-6 after upsetting Alabama 24-3 in Norman in the last home game of the season. OU ended up in the Armed Forces Bowl and lost to Navy with a depleted roster.
The next best sports for the SEC are softball and baseball. OU's softball dynasty took some lumps early on, but still wound up back in the Women's College World Series as the highest-seeded team still standing. Proof of the SEC's strength is that five teams from the conference made the eight-team field for the WCWS, which starts this week.
On the baseball diamond, the Sooners had a strong 11-0 start before an SEC gauntlet slowed them down, but still not enough to miss the postseason. The men's basketball team had a similar path but with more lows before a late run as the SEC surprised the college basketball world as the toughest conference in decades this past season.
Between baseball in regionals, softball in the WCWS and men's golf making match play, the Sooners still have a chance to add three more national championships on top of the one women's gymnastics already won this year. Some athletic departments go lifetimes without the opportunities OU accomplishes in just a year.
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