Sooner Nation has lost hope in the Oklahoma men's basketball team, but apparently Joe Lunardi hasn't yet.
In his latest ESPN Bracketology released Tuesday, Lunardi still projects the Sooners to make the field of 68 and go dancing as one of the last four teams in. OU joins San Diego State, Wake Forest and Arkansas, which the Sooners beat earlier this season, as Lunardi's last four teams in.
Being a last team in would mean a first-round game for the Sooners. OU would play San Diego State to earn the 11 seed in the East Region and play No. 6 UCLA in the second round, which many consider the real beginning of the tournament.
The Sooners would travel to Denver, Colorado, where No. 3 Arizona and No. 14 Utah Valley would also compete. Newark, New Jersey, is host of the East Region, which Duke is the projected top seed of.
This is OU's lowest projected seed so far this season, but being in consideration at all is somewhat of a surprise considering the Sooners' recent struggles.
Although 16-9 overall, the Sooners are 3-9 in SEC play and on a four-game losing streak. OU's first three games of the losing streak were to ranked teams, but were blowouts with an average margin of defeat of 23.3 points. The Sooners then lost to lowly LSU on Saturday, which most assumed popped OU's bubble as a Quadrant 3 loss.
The defeat to LSU dropped OU out of the top 50 in the NET rankings to No. 52, the lowest all season. LSU and South Carolina are the only SEC teams ranked lower than OU in the NET rankings.
While beating up on each other, Lunardi still projects the SEC to send 13 teams to The Big Dance, which was the most among all conferences. That includes top overall seed Auburn, No. 1 Florida, No. 1 Alabama, No. 2 Texas A&M, No. 2 Tennessee, No. 3 Kentucky, No. 5 Missouri, No. 6 Ole Miss, No. 7 Mississippi State, No. 10 Texas, No. 11 Vanderbilt, No. 12 Oklahoma and No. 12 Arkansas.
All of the Sooners' remaining six opponents during the regular season are projected to make the NCAA Tournament. OU plays projected 1 seed and second-ranked Florida on Tuesday night.