Exceeding Our Seed/NCAA History

[Crimson King]

This was a subject in an earlier thread about coaches. No matter who the head man is, this has been tough for us to do.

I count 4 times we have exceeded our seed since 1979: 1979 (Sweet 16), 1987 (Sweet 16), 1999 (Sweet 16), and 2002 (Final Four). I think we have 24 NCAA appearances in that span (I could be off a little), which would make that happening 1/6 of the time. I don't even want to add up the times we've exited earlier than our seed warranted.

5 times we've been a 1 seed, and we just have 5 Elite 8s or better to show during that time frame.

Sometimes they don't hurt so bad--like Taj's disappearing act vs. Utah or the expected exit to UW-Milwaukee. This one hurt along the lines of Wayman's last game, the Jaspers, and Indiana St.

Just snakebit. It's maddening.

 

[MichaelM]

This is like those rankings of most underachieving football teams. It's hard to overachieve if you're consistently ranked high. OU has had a double-digit seed only five times in that span and won two games as one.

(And just for the benefit of a certain segment of the forum's population: JEFF CAPEL WAS NEVER UPSET IN THE TOURNAMENT!!!!11!1!1one)

 

[MI Sooner]

This is like those rankings of most underachieving football teams. It's hard to overachieve if you're consistently ranked high. OU has had a double-digit seed only five times in that span and won two games as one.

(And just for the benefit of a certain segment of the forum's population: JEFF CAPEL WAS NEVER UPSET IN THE TOURNAMENT!!!!11!1!1one)

It might be hard to overachieve, but it's also hard to underachieve by as much as we have.

 

[WaymanFan]

For the record (and not that it's of any extra comfort), we've exceeded our seed 5 times. Keep in mind that a #1 seed exceeds their seed if they win more than four games (we won 5 back in '88).

The frustrating part is not so much that we've only exceeded our seed five times, but that we've done worse than our seed 12 times. In two of the years we exceeded our seed, we still lost to a lower-seeded team, so that makes 14 NCAA Tourney losses to lower-seeded teams. Now, add some more frustrating losses in games which we were the slightly lower seed, but didn't even show up for the game - 1996, 2008 and 2013 qualify. All of that has to wear a bit thin on older fans like myself.

There is a parallel to all of this which makes some sense. B-O-B made a really good point in the Scott Drew crow-eating thread about Baylor having too much talent to be a #6 seed in the first place. In the 5 years we exceeded our seed, we were either under-seeded (1979), under-achieved during the regular season (1987 and 1999) or just a great team (1988 and 2002). That's the thing with OU basketball - we're seldom under-seeded, have had only two GREAT teams in my lifetime, and (most importantly) we rarely under-achieve during the regular season (let's forget 2010 for a moment).

Most of the years we lost to a lower-seeded team, OU was seeded MUCH HIGHER than their preseason rankings. That means we've been blessed with some great coaching through the years. Granted, that's not an excuse for losing to the likes of Dayton, SW Louisiana, Manhattan and Indiana State, but it is a reason...and it's a reason a lot of coaches struggle in March after their team had an unexpectedly terrific regular season.

Again, while these March flameouts have happened to us more than most schools, I'll argue that a lot of it is really because our head coach squeezed the most out of their talent for that season. A perfect example is what the play-by-play announcer said during the OU-NDSU game (I'm paraphrasing): "This is not a typical 12/5 matchup because I just don't see much of a difference in talent."

 

[Swans]

Wonder how many times Dook has exceeded their seed in the last 25 years. Wonder how many times they've been a one seed and not made the final four.

 

[MsProudSooner]

Seedings might have meant something in the past, but not any more.

 

[sperry]

Wonder how many times Dook has exceeded their seed in the last 25 years. Wonder how many times they've been a one seed and not made the final four.

Probably quite often. They've also got 4 titles in that span to help swallow that pill. Kansas is the only other team I can think of that consistently doesn't live up to it's seed while also not really winning a whole lot (alhtough they do have the '08 title).

 

[MercedeSooner]

Wonder how many times Dook has exceeded their seed in the last 25 years. Wonder how many times they've been a one seed and not made the final four.

They've been upset plenty and I think a lot of it has to do with their system where they play a mid major style with a stretch 4 and no size - sadly when the pieces fit for them like Zoubek stepping up inside in 2010 you can end up winning it all.

 

[Crimson King]

WaymanFan, you cheered me up. I think.

Its the back-loaded nature of the game. I think we'd rather finish 5th in the conference and be in Sweet 16. Today anyway.

 

[WaymanFan]

WaymanFan, you cheered me up. I think.

Its the back-loaded nature of the game. I think we'd rather finish 5th in the conference and be in Sweet 16. Today anyway.

Here's a simple way to look at it. Which season do you have more fond memories of, 1999 or 2001? In '99, we under-achieved just a bit during the season. That was the year Kelvin wouldn't let the players use the home locker room after an embarrassing loss to a mid-major. We had two future NBA players which neither was a freshman, yet we were the last entry into the Dance...and wound up in the Sweet 16. Two short years later, Kelvin literally squeezed out every bit of talent on that team, especially after losing JR Raymond during the season. Despite no 1st team, 2nd team or 3rd team All-Big XII players, OU won the Conference Tournament and got a #4 seed in the Dance...then proceeded to lose to Indiana State in Round One.

To be perfectly honest, it's a tough call for me, but I'm going with 1999. I just remember jumping up and down like a 10 year old when we beat #4 seed Arizona in Round One. The Big XII Tournament was really special for me in 2001, but that memory didn't quite have the same impact as the '99 Tourney wins. There is no right or wrong which team one liked more, just personal preference.

 

[WTSooner]

Here's a simple way to look at it. Which season do you have more fond memories of, 1999 or 2001? In '99, we under-achieved just a bit during the season. That was the year Kelvin wouldn't let the players use the home locker room after an embarrassing loss to a mid-major. We had two future NBA players which neither was a freshman, yet we were the last entry into the Dance...and wound up in the Sweet 16. Two short years later, Kelvin literally squeezed out every bit of talent on that team, especially after losing JR Raymond during the season. Despite no 1st team, 2nd team or 3rd team All-Big XII players, OU won the Conference Tournament and got a #4 seed in the Dance...then proceeded to lose to Indiana State in Round One.

To be perfectly honest, it's a tough call for me, but I'm going with 1999. I just remember jumping up and down like a 10 year old when we beat #4 seed Arizona in Round One. The Big XII Tournament was really special for me in 2001, but that memory didn't quite have the same impact as the '99 Tourney wins. There is no right or wrong which team one liked more, just personal preference.

Not really fair since injury and a dismissal for the main reasons for that loss to Indiana State.