Oklahoma basketball: Sooner men return to top-25 national ranking
By Chip Rouse
After a one-week absence, the Oklahoma basketball men are back among the top-25 teams in college basketball.
With a pair of wins at home last week over BYU and Oklahoma State, the Sooners (18-6-6-5) moved into the No. 25 spot in the Associated Press Top 25 this week and did even better among the voters in the Coaches Poll, checking in at No. 23.
The Big Ten and Big 12 both have five teams ranked this week. At No. 3 in both major polls, Houston is the highest-ranked Big 12 team, followed by No. 6 Kansas (No. 7 in the Coaches Poll), No. 12 Baylor (13 in Coaches Poll) and No. 19 BYU (17 in Coaches Poll).
The Sooners face one of the more difficult schedules in college basketball over the next four weeks. Four of the next seven teams OU will go up against are ranked in the top 15. And that doesn't include road games at Texas and Oklahoma State and a home contest against a good Cincinnati team.
By contrast, the OU men are ranked 30th in the NCAA Division I NET rankings. Five other Big 12 teams (Houston, Kansas, BYU, Iowa State and Baylor) rank in the top 15. The Sooners also rank 30th in this week's ESPN Power Index.
Oklahoma is at No. 12 Baylor on Tuesday this week to begin its treacherous seven-game swing to finish out the regular season and back home on Saturday to host No. 6 Kansas.
The Sooner women, currently in first place in the Big 12 standings with an 11-1 conference record, are ranked 23rd this week in the Associated Press poll.