A win at West Virginia

[SoonerinNC]

Could give the Sooners a big jump start. They would be in position to sweep West Virginia, TCU and Texas Tech.

Then it appears we have a chance to split with all of the other conference teams except Kansas.

Least likely appears to be Baylor and Oklahoma State. Baylor is Jeckyl/Hyde and OSU being a rival game gives us a shot though.

If we can manage at least a split with Baylor, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Iowa State and Texas we would then be 11-7 (overall 20-10) and positioned to play a lower seeded team in the first round of the conference tournament. 11-7 would likely be in the top 5 in the conference. A failure to split with one of the above would still leave us at 10-8 and probably still in the top 5.

Our team seems to be evolving around Osby, Pledger, M'Baye, Buddy and Hornbeak. I also expect Clark, Cousins and Fitz to fit in better as the season goes along. Grooms will be Grooms and a solid fallback if Hornbeak falters.

A loss at West Virginia leaves us a little behind the 8 ball though and forces us to split with all 5 or steal one we are not expected to have much a chance.

 

[StatGeek]

Yeah, this game is huge right off the bat.

 

[AdaSooner]

Nice overview of the season ahead, SoonerinNC!

This team has struggled with what should have been relatively easy victories at home, so any conference road win this season will be a bonus.

Having said all of that, I'm encouraged by what have seen in the last couple of games. For the most part, our defense has been solid. Osby has been consistently good all season. Now, there are signs that M'Baye may be coming out of his shell. While he has all but disappeared in some games, he has also scored in double figures in six so far, logging 16 and 14 points in the last two. He finished with 19 points in the first game with WVU. Additionally, Clark has showed that he may be ready for better things ahead, albeit not often enough to hang your hat on how well he will perform in every game.

As usual, guard play will be the key going forward. Aside from Pledger and Hield, who have also been inconsistent at times, you never know what to expect from the rest of the back court players in our rotation? I still believe that Hornbeak, Cousins and Grooms are capable. They're defense has been good, they're just not consistent on offense.

No doubt about it, a win in Morgantown to kick off the season would be HUGE! It won't be easy, that's for sure.

 

[WTSooner]

I do agree that sweeping WVU, TT, and TCU would be a great help in obtaining a record that might get us to the Dance. I'm guessing we slip up on at least one of those though.

Wish we played that @UT game earlier in the year. They might have righted the ship by late February. Might have been a game we could have stolen had we played them early in the conference schedule.

 

[DenverSooner]

I hope playing all the road games, tournament games and field house games pays off so that OU is ready to play outside of the LNC. A win at WVU would be a great start to conference play. With that said, I think WVU will defend their home court well. It is the longest road trip in the conference and I believe WVU has solid fan support (but I am not sure about this).

 

[Krugerfan52]

I think both of the games against WVU are huge IMO. I think they go a long way in determining whether or not we are in the middle of the pack or the bottom.

WVU has been bad so far but they were picked high in the Big 12 in the preaseason. They are similar to OU IMO in that they could finish anywhere from 4th to 8th.

 

[Chaser728]

I think that the next four games will be very telling. If we can somehow be 3-1 going into the game with Texas, that would be huge; and I think at that point we will have the confidence to take down Texas! Each of these first four games are winnable, and could very well dictate a NCAA Tournament Selection, or no Post Season whatsoever. Now, obviously, it is a long season. However, IMO this four game stretch will either catapult us to great heights ("heights" relative to our past 3 seasons' success or lack thereof) or send us down another long road of frustrating BIG XII play.