2026 Bracketology

[SoonerDutch]

I know you’re kidding, but I do see people make the latter point seriously, as if the coach or team should get credit for a portion of the schedule they have no control over. Something tells me Moser would prefer to still be playing Bradley and Missouri State in conference.

I’m not really following you, I haven’t seen anyone on this board suggest what you’re implying…

Regardless, I agree with you & others that Moser over-scheduling the truly awful teams has cost OU over the years. It will hurt OU on the margins even if they dominate in-conference (unlikely).

Ideal mix to me is soft enough to get to 20 wins for the eye test, by playing 100-200 type teams as the cupcakes. Committee is getting more analytics-friendly but still think padding wins helps more than they publicly admit. Definitely helps with the media convo. Sure we disagree on that and that’s fine.

 

[WichitaSooner]

I’m not really following you, I haven’t seen anyone on this board suggest what you’re implying…

Regardless, I agree with you & others that Moser over-scheduling the truly awful teams has cost OU over the years. It will hurt OU on the margins even if they dominate in-conference (unlikely).

Ideal mix to me is soft enough to get to 20 wins for the eye test, by playing 100-200 type teams as the cupcakes. Committee is getting more analytics-friendly but still think padding wins helps more than they publicly admit. Definitely helps with the media convo. Sure we disagree on that and that’s fine.

Oh people on this board have definitely made that argument. One in particular has argued for years that our noncon schedule doesn’t matter because we play in a great conference that gives us plenty of chances for quality wins.

I think win totals certainly mattered for many years, but not for at least the past half decade, probably longer. We have seen more and more power conference teams make the field with very “bad” records because their profile is strong, while teams that fatten up on cupcakes get left out.

 

[SoonerDutch]

Oh people on this board have definitely made that argument. One in particular has argued for years that our noncon schedule doesn’t matter because we play in a great conference that gives us plenty of chances for quality wins.

I think win totals certainly mattered for many years, but not for at least the past half decade, probably longer. We have seen more and more power conference teams make the field with very “bad” records because their profile is strong, while teams that fatten up on cupcakes get left out.

Yeah, I agree to disagree. 2024 UVA & 2025 UNC are two examples but again can disagree obviously!

I do see people make the latter point seriously, as if the coach or team should get credit for a portion of the schedule they have no control over.

Some have argued that out of conference SOS shouldn’t be a factor (to be clear, I agree with you that it should be a factor - both by the committee & by perpetual bubble OU that it will likely be under Moser), but arguing that overall SOS is a metric that the committee is considering is not the same as what you’re suggesting - that people are claiming that Moser should get credit for conference strength. Are you arguing that the committee does not consider overall SOS?

 

[SoonerBounce13]

nonconf sos should not matter. Overall SOS and how you did against the different quads should matter.
It is dumb to break down into 2 different schedules.

 

[BoulderSooner]

first four out on On3 today also

2026 NCAA Tournament Predictions: Updated Bracketology projections as non-conference resumes solidify

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