Oklahoma basketball: Sooner men break into top 10 this week at No. 9
By Chip Rouse
The slow rise of the Oklahoma basketball men up the national rankings continued this week as the Sooners moved into the top 10 in both major polls at No. 9.
This will be a challenging week for the No. 9 team in the country, however, as the Sooners head south for a Wednesday night contest against an unranked but very talented TCU team and then north over the weekend for a top-10 showdown at No. 3 Kansas. TCU came very close to upsetting the Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse this past weekend, losing by just two points, 83-81, after leading for most of the second half.
Oklahoma's 13-1 record represents the Sooners' best start to a season since 2015-16, when OU advanced to the Final Four for the fifth time in program history. The No. 9 national ranking is the best by the OU men since a No. 7 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25 late in the 2020-21 season.
Six teams out of the Big 12 are ranked this week in the Associated Press Top 25, including three in the top 10. Houston (14-0) is the highest-ranked of the Big 12 teams in the No. 2 position behind top-ranked Purdue out of the Big Ten. Kansas (13-1) is right behind Houston at No. 3. Baylor (12-2) is ranked No. 14 this week followed by No, 18 BYU (12-2) and Texas (11-3) at 25.
There were three other Big 12 teams (Cincinnati, TCU and Texas Tech) that received votes in the AP poll.