After suffering an upset to Pitt in the first round of the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament on Tuesday, Stanford head coach Kyle Smith obviously boosted his own team's NCAA Tournament resume for the selection committee to hear during his postgame press conference, but he also took the time to not just throw shade at the SEC, but specifically fellow bubble team Oklahoma.
Like the Sooners, Stanford is praying for one of those last few at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament come Selection Sunday this weekend, but unlike OU, the Cardinal just squandered their last chance to impress the committee and prove they deserve a spot after going one-and-done in their conference tournament. Since Stanford couldn't prove anything on the court, all Smith has left to do before Selection Sunday is to talk, and when a coach knows his own team's resume isn't quite good enough, he's forced to tear others down.
Kyle Smith rips SEC narrative while boosting ACC
"It'd be a shame if like Oklahoma gets to go last year being 6-12 in the SEC," Smith said with a chuckle. "And the ACC doesn't get rewarded the right way. I think our league is awesome. Any other bullet points you have for me? I'll put this on Twitter.
"I thought it was a farce last year when the SEC got this narrative or whatever. Our league's good. I'd be shocked if we're not in it."
Stanford coach Kyle Smith on his team’s case for the NCAA Tournament: “We have one of the best players in the country and got a lot of Quad 1 wins.”
— Josh Graham (@JoshGrahamShow) March 10, 2026
He adds, “It’d be a shame if Oklahoma gets to go last year — being 6-12 in the SEC — and the ACC isn’t rewarded the right way.”
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Stanford was one of multiple ACC teams the Sooners needed to lose in the first round of their tournament on Tuesday to raise them up on the list of bubble teams teams fighting to get in. Despite the upset, though, ESPN's Joe Lunardi still didn't budge Stanford from being the second team left out of the Big Dance behind Auburn.
As of Wednesday after the first day of action of Power Four conference tournaments, OU sits as the seventh team out of the 68-team field, according to Lunardi's latest projections. The difference between OU and Stanford, though, is that the Sooners still have opportunities ahead to impress and move up, starting with a matchup against South Carolina in the first round of the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament on Wednesday night.
Smith's example of OU getting in was based off last year when the Sooners snuck in with a losing conference record while enduring a historically good SEC. But a year later, the Sooners again have a losing record in SEC play but have a chance to go dancing thanks to another late winning streak. Smith is terrified history will repeat itself.
The flaw to Smith's argument, though, is that there's no evidence. The Cardinal didn't play a single SEC team this season, so there's no proof to show how they'd fare against that competition. Better yet, Stanford played and beat only two Power Four opponents in nonconference play in the Big Ten's Minnesota and Big 12's Colorado. Both earned the No. 11 seed in their respective conference tournaments while in the bottom half of their leagues.
Meanwhile, the Sooners' nonconference slate included Wisconsin, Nebraska, Wake Forest, Arizona State and Oklahoma State, plus mid-major powerhouse Gonzaga on the road. OU went 3-2 against Power Four nonconference opponents, then proceeded to play a tough conference slate than Stanford. Proof of that is the SEC projected to have 10 teams go dancing compared to eight from the ACC. Oklahoma State also beat Colorado on Tuesday night in the Big 12 Tournament.
The NET rankings also give the Sooners the upper hand at No. 52 and Stanford down at No. 62. If strength of schedule is what Smith wants to compare, he picked the wrong argument for the committee to analyze.