Sooners' late run can't change story's end
No matter how far this team goes, it still has a hire to make after last loss
I can’t make it make sense.
I can’t make it make sense, but the previously lost and perhaps still forgotten Oklahoma men, coached by a man bearing a striking resemblance to Porter Moser, are, who can believe it, on the periphery, at least, of the NCAA tournament.
Yes, the Sooners are just 17-14 overall and 7-11 in SEC play. On the other hand, here lately they’ve beaten Vanderbilt, a predicted No. 5-seed tournament team; Georgia, a predicted No. 8-seed tournament team; Auburn, a predicted No. 11-seed play-in tournament team; Missouri, a predicted No. 10-seed tournament team; and Texas, a predicted No. 10-seed tournament team.
If only they wouldn’t have lost nine straight games in the middle of the season, a few of them against those very same teams.
Still, back from the dead, here they are.
And, still, it’s hard to know who to root for.
To be sure, it’s an amazing last-gasp turnaround. It’s even a compliment to Moser his players have found their way back from the abyss, willing to play hard in the face of an all but lost cause.
It’s a bunch of things.
But mostly, it’s a conundrum.
Because Moser simply can’t be given another season.
Even if he makes the NCAA tournament, it will be just the second in five seasons. He’s spent almost no time in the polls, has had to rebuild his roster every offseason, has never approached breaking even in conference play and, for crying out loud, has long since lost the fans.
The program needs somebody to rally around and it can’t be him, because he breeds no confidence.
He’s had his chance.
It ought to be over.
Nonetheless, in a vacuum, what his team’s doing is a terrific story.
It could all go away beginning at 8:30 tonight, when OU (17-14, 7-11) tips off against South Carolina (13-18, 4-14) inside Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena at the SEC tournament.
But it hasn’t yet, so it lives.
The first thing to know about the mad science that might get the Sooners into the tournament is this:
ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi is almost always right and perhaps he could make sense of it for you if he were writing this column, but he’s not.
All I can do is offer the facts.
Though NET rating is the best predictor of NCAA tourney seeds, it can’t be foolproof, because OU’s makes no sense in the context of who might get in and who won’t.
For instance, Lunardi’s first four teams out are Indiana, Virginia Tech, Stanford and New Mexico, while his next four out are Cincinnati, Cal, OU and San Diego State.
Yet two of those first four teams carry NET rankings lower than OU’s. Virginia Tech’s is 55 and Stanford’s is 59.
OU’s is 54.
Cal, which Lunardi has one spot ahead of the Sooners, carries a 64 NET.
Huh?
As mentioned, there are games on the docket.
For starters, OU should absolutely beat South Carolina tonight.
Win it and the 11th-seed Sooners take on No. 6 Texas A&M (21-10, 11-7), a predicted No. 9-seed NCAA tournament team that beat OU 83-76 in College Station and 74-71 in Norman.
I like OU’s chances in that one, too, for the Aggies are no great shakes and it’s hard to beat anybody three times in a season.
Dismiss A&M and the Sooners take on No. 3 seed Arkansas (23-8, 13-5), which beat OU 83-79 in Norman on Jan. 27, the seventh of OU’s nine-game plunge.
The Razorbacks are a predicted No. 5-seed NCAA tournament team.
Just getting to the quarterfinal to face Arkansas would mean OU has won eight of its last 10 games, closing faster than several SEC teams currently projected in front of it, most notably Auburn, Texas and Missouri, each capable of playing in Nashville only once.
Texas plays Ole Miss today. Missouri gets the LSU-Kentucky winner on Thursday.
Not to mention, everybody seems to think the SEC will get 11 teams into the NCAA draw and, if the bracketology holds, OU would be the first one out.
But if it’s that close, it’s not just about what the Sooners must do, but what the Tigers, Longhorns and Tigers do, as well.
Indeed, two conference tournament victories could do a whole lot for OU.
Maybe that’s why they call it March Madness.
Ahhhh.
So, one more time:
OU cannot keep Moser.
It would be the ultimate disrespect to fans who want to get behind the program, have been behind the program, yet are rightfully tired of the program five years into Moser. It would also signal the athletic department losing interest in the program.
Also, this team’s kind of a great story, from dead to alive, beaten to proud.
And though the same characters fill both scenarios, one has nothing to do with the other.
Because Moser must go.
Though new on the job, Sooner athletic director Roger Denny must know this.