Jeff Goodman staying with OU as final 4 pick.

[jackson_supersooner]

I would not be surprised to see the Sooners reach the Final Four because ... "they have tremendous guard play, and a couple of quality bigs with TaShawn Thomas and Ryan Spangler. This group, which added Thomas, could really score a year ago -- and now the Sooners are much better on the defensive end." -- Jeff Goodman

Good to see some Atleast picking us as a possible Final Four team.

 

[sperry]

This team has shown when its game is on they can beat just about anyone. They can also lose to anyone at anytime. Going to be an interesting post season for sure. Very high variance team.

 

[jackson_supersooner]

Agreed. Also noticed our strength of schedule is now up to 10th. And I think with our upcoming schedule it will stay in that area. It would be nice to go ATLEAST 5-3...preferably 6-2 and I would flip if we went 7-1.
RPI. DATE. OPP. TIME
122 Feb. 7 @ TCU 3:00 PM. W
14 Feb. 9 Iowa State 9:00 PM. W
80 Feb. 14 @ Kansas St. 8:00 PM. W
28 Feb. 17 Texas 9:00 PM. W
150 Feb. 21 @ Texas Tech 12:00 PM. W
122 Feb. 28 TCU 2:00 PM. W
14 Mar. 2 @ Iowa State. 12:00 AM. L
1 Mar. 7 Kansas 12:00 AM. L


That would put us at 21-9 and hopefully we can break this awful streak in Big 12 tourney and get 2 and PRAY for 3 wins! But 23-10(12-6) and a conference finals appearance would HAVE to put us in around a 4 seed.

 

[usedtobe1]

6-2 would be nice. The home game against ISU and on the road at KSU are games where we could stumble. On the other hand, I'm not ready to concede the home game against Kansas. KU will probably have already won the conference championship, and we have a chance to make a statement. If we're truly a 4 seed, we need to be able to beat them on our floor.

 

[TINY]

@kstate will be a tougher game than ku in Norman IMO.

 

[inoref]

Sweet 16 maybe, Not Final 4

 

[Laxtothemax12]

each guy listed 12 teams he thought could make it, doesn't necessarily mean he thinks we will (although he had us in it w/ Gonzaga winning it all). We were listed in his 12 but not anyone elses. But, 10 of the top 11 Kenpom teams from last year made the sweet 16 in the tourney (WSU lost to UK so it's really a wash). Not that computer ratings should mean everything, just a nice thing to notice since we are 9th as of today

 

[MercedeSooner]

Sweet 16 maybe, Not Final 4

Baby steps first. Considering this group has never won a March Tourney game yet I'm not going to get the pom pom's up.

 

[MI Sooner]

6-2 would be nice. The home game against ISU and on the road at KSU are games where we could stumble. On the other hand, I'm not ready to concede the home game against Kansas. KU will probably have already won the conference championship, and we have a chance to make a statement. If we're truly a 4 seed, we need to be able to beat them on our floor.

We would be favored by several points over Kansas today.

 

[WaymanFan]

This is OU's best defensive team in a long, long time. There is no question that if everything falls into place (meaning we get some reliable bench help), this team can make a deep run in the Tournament. However, they need to win a game in March before we get too far ahead of ourselves.

 

[sanguinetti]

We would be favored by several points over Kansas today.

in a game played where? you can't be serious.

if this team is a Sweet 16 team, this is a heroic season.

and a much needed one for Sooner sports (cough, football overexpectations....cough).

i like our guys and Lon but let's be serious.

 

[AltSooner33]

in a game played where? you can't be serious.

if this team is a Sweet 16 team, this is a heroic season.

and a much needed one for Sooner sports (cough, football overexpectations....cough).

i like our guys and Lon but let's be serious.

So you're really saying it would be a miracle for this team to make the sweet 16? I could see final 4, but what's so crazy about the sweet 16? And as far as Kansas goes, we had a great shot at beating them late in the game at Phog Allen. So it wouldn't be too surprising for OU to be a favorite over them at home right now.

 

[MichaelM]

in a game played where? you can't be serious.

Why is that a crazy idea? I think he'd be correct if Kansas came to town tomorrow.

Kansas was favored by 5.5 in Lawrence, and home court is usually worth 3 to 3.5. That means, if I'm not mistaken, OU would have been favored by 1 if it had been at home.

Just for comparison's sake, Sagarin's current ratings have Kansas above Oklahoma but would favor OU by 3 at home.

 

[Laxtothemax12]

They didn't miss a 3 (almost) in the first half, we were down by 19, and we still had a 4 point lead with 5 minutes to go...we could've beaten them in Lawrence so I don't see why not beat them at home

 

[WaymanFan]

They didn't miss a 3 (almost) in the first half, we were down by 19, and we still had a 4 point lead with 5 minutes to go...we could've beaten them in Lawrence so I don't see why not beat them at home

Yes, but we lost because the starters were too tired to close it out. We still need better bench play so the starters are refreshed for those final 4-5 minutes. That's ultimately what will shorten this team's ceiling. Our best hope is for Lattin to become a sophomore this March, Booker to play no worse than he did as a freshman, Bennett to provide some low-post defense, and Walker to provide some type of spark.

 

[MI Sooner]

Kansas gets more than 3-3.5 at home. That's an average for all NCAA teams. Jus look at recent lines against common opponents and the computer rankings, which the lines track pretty closely. We'd probably be a pk on a neutral court, and give them 4 at home.

 

[MI Sooner]

If you're so confident, what odds are you willing to give me that OU isn't favored over them when they come to Norman?

 

[jackson_supersooner]

I feel like every year when a team makes a run in the tourney they always have that one guy (usually a freshman) who goes from averaging 2.5 to averaging 10 in the tourney and gives them that extra boost. Not saying it WILL happen but it would be perfect if we had Lattin or Booker to do work like that. I would love
To see Lattin finally break out and put up a 10 and 7 in the tourney. I know west va he mainly got his shots cause of wide open dunks when he was left under the basket. But those are the kind of games that give a guy like him confidence and allows him to be able to trust his shot. I dunno I think this team can go as far as they want as long as they don't run into Kentucky, because there are only a handful of teams with the talent and size to beat them(how Texas hung with them I have no clue). I wouldn't think it would be impossible to beat duke, virginia, wisconscin(now), gonzaga, or a number of other top 10 teams. I don't feel like we have one GLARING weakness. We've got guys who can get us post points, we've got good 3 point shooters, we've shown we can handle a tough press, we have great defense, and we are starting to see buddy drive more and Woodards shot come around....oh gosh now I'm getting too excited haha

 

[DSMok1]

Kansas gets more than 3-3.5 at home. That's an average for all NCAA teams. Jus look at recent lines against common opponents and the computer rankings, which the lines track pretty closely. We'd probably be a pk on a neutral court, and give them 4 at home.

Kansas would be favored by about 1 on a neutral court, based on this: http://stats.inpredictable.com/rankings/ncaab.php

Basically, it's a composite of the betting lines.

 

[scrybe]

There's really no issue regarding what the KU-OU line would be if the two teams were playing on a neutral court. Our one remaining (regular season) game with the chickenhawks will be played at LNC. I believe MI Sooner is correct – we should be favored (probably by only 1-3 points) in that game.

That's not to say we'll win. But we can if we play two solid halves of basketball.