Here’s how you can catch the NIT bracket announcement.

Fans of the Oklahoma Sooners have been sitting on pins and needles over the past 36 hours, and they finally got their answer Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the news they wanted, as OU ended up as one of the “First Four Out” of the NCAA Tournament field.

The Sooners certainly gave the committee plenty of reasons to exclude them, but when looking at the competition for the final spots, OU should have been in over 17-14 Michigan and 18-13 Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights were 77th in NET, suffering losses to Lafayette, UMass DePaul and Penn State. Meanwhile, Michigan has a comparable record to the Sooners and lost to a common opponent — UCF. The most puzzling part is that the Big Ten was fourth in conference RPI and got nine teams into the field. Doesn’t make a ton of sense!

At any rate, OU will now await its announced spot in the NIT field, and they could potentially find themselves hosting a game or two. Here’s how you can watch the selection show:

Date: Sunday, March 13

Time: 8 p.m. CT

TV: ESPNU

Streaming: Watch ESPN and ESPN+

OU will learn its postseason fate during the NCAA Tournament Selection Sunday show on CBS.

Following a win over Baylor and a one-point loss to Texas Tech, most considered the Oklahoma Sooners to be a viable candidate for one of the final at-large spots for the NCAA Tournament. However, some tough breaks in the other conference tournaments have many people thinking that OU’s valiant showing at the Big 12 Tournament might have been too little, too late.

Most notably, Richmond’s Sunday win over top-seeded Davidson in the A10 Tournament has people feeling a bit more pessimistic. Virginia Tech’s ACC Championship triumph, Texas A&M’s SEC run and Indiana’s upset of Illinois haven’t exactly helped matters either.

At any rate, we will all find out OU’s fate during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show, which starts at 5 p.m. CT on CBS. The live stream can be found on NCAA March Madness Live or Paramount+. Once the bracket is revealed, you can find opening betting lines via DraftKings.

It’s been a while since Sooner fans have truly “sweated it” on this day. Lon Kruger’s Trae Young-led team entered the day in a complete spiral, but we knew they would get in whether they deserved it or not. Kelvin Sampson’s 2003-04 team made the NIT but wasn’t really THAT close to an NCAA bid. A season that comes to mind is Sampson’s 1998-99 campaign, which saw the Sooners sneak in as a 13-seed and make a run to the Sweet 16. Essentially, it’s been over two decades since the program has been in this position on this day.

It won’t surprise me if OU ends up being the first team left out, so one has to wonder what position this team would be in if the ball had just bounced the Sooners’ way in one of the team’s many close defeats. To put it lightly, there are an awful lot of “what-ifs” with this team and this season, but they’ve shown us what we can expect from Moser’s program from an effort and preparation standpoint.

No matter what happens today, I’m optimistic for the future.

A win would’ve locked up an NCAA Tournament spot, but Oklahoma will now have to wait for Selection Sunday to discover its postseason fate.

A win would’ve all but locked up a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but the Oklahoma Sooners came up just short, falling to the Texas Tech Red Raiders by a score of 56-55.

Having turned it over 11 times in the first half yet again, Oklahoma fittingly entered the intermission trailing by 11. A lot of teams would have folded in that situation when facing a team of Tech caliber, but this team has been nothing if not resilient for the entirety of Porter Moser’s first season, and they simply seized control of the game for the majority of the second half. It reached a point in which Tech almost looked helpless offensively, and when OU began limiting turnovers on the other end, you knew this would become a thriller.

Oklahoma would lead by a score of 47-44 with 7:25 remaining, but Tech would answer with a 6-0 run of its own to flip the deficit. From that point forward, it was a slugfest between two fatigued fighters. A few questionable calls down the stretch helped Tech secure a 56-54 advantage in the closing moments before Jacob Groves was sent to the line with a pair of free throws. The first one went down, but the second would have to be tipped out for an offensive rebound. It ended up in the hands of Umoja Gibson, who drove it to the basket before being tangled up as time expired.

Oklahoma entered the game right in the middle of the NCAA Tournament bubble, and very little went the Sooners’ way in the other tournaments. Texas A&M’s win over Auburn, Indiana’s win over Illinois and Virginia Tech’s win over North Carolina could indeed prove costly, and OU will certainly be sweating it on Selection Sunday. I think this team deserves a bid, and I think the NET ranking might end up carrying them into the Big Dance in the end, but I’d probably call it a coin flip at this point.

March Madness, indeed.

Oklahoma has placed itself right on the bubble, but an upset of Texas Tech would surely send the Sooners dancing.

With a huge win over the Baylor Bears, the Oklahoma Sooners have placed themselves right on the bubble, but an upset of the Texas Tech Red Raiders will surely send them dancing.

Oklahoma (18-14, 7-11) vs. Texas Tech (24-8, 12-6): Friday, 8:30 p.m. CT at T-Mobile Center (Kansas City, Mo.)

TV/Live Stream: ESPN+

Commentary: Jon Sciambi, Fran Fraschilla and Kris Budden

Radio: Sooner Sports Radio Network (KRXO 107.7 FM The Franchise in Oklahoma City; KTBZ 1430 AM in Tulsa; Varsity Radio App) with Toby Rowland and Kevin Henry announcing

Line: Texas Tech -7.5 per DraftKings

Quick Notes

• Bracketology: Oklahoma currently sits in the “First Four Out” in the most recent bracket entry from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. Additionally, OU is in the field in 45 of 129 major bracket submissions on Bracket Matrix (sourced from various publications and pundits) prior to the vital tilt with Texas Tech. The Sooners would likely still be in the conversation with a loss tonight, but a win would make them all but a shoe-in.
• Elsewhere: Some breaks have gone against the Sooners today (Texas A&M over Auburn, Indiana over Illinois), and fellow bubble team Dayton narrowly avoided a loss to 10-seed UMass in the A10 Tournament. However, OU fans can still root for losses from Wyoming (vs. Boise State, 8:30 p.m. CT), SMU (vs. Tulsa, currently in progress), Virginia Tech (vs. North Carolina, 8:30 p.m. CT), and VCU (vs. Richmond, 7:30 p.m. CT) as the night goes on.
• Prediction: I’m not sure the Sooners continue their Cinderella run tonight, but my hunch is that OU’s stellar NET ranking is being undersold by a number of notable pundits. My guess? OU falls in a valiant effort tonight, gets one of the last bids in the tournament and makes an appearance in Dayton next week. No matter how those chips fall, you have to be proud of how this team has fought down the stretch, and Porter Moser deserves a tip of the cap.

NORMAN – No. 7 seed Oklahoma (18-14, 7-11 Big 12) continues its journey in the 2022 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship Friday, March 11 against No. 3 seed Texas Tech (24-8, 12-6 Big 12) in the semifinal round at T-Mobile Center.

The Sooners needed to pick up a huge win, and Porter Moser’s guys did just that.

Coming off of three straight wins to end the regular season, the Oklahoma Sooners still had some serious work left to do if they hoped to crash the NCAA Tournament party. Porter Moser’s guys were clearly up for the challenge, upsetting the No. 3 Baylor Bears by a score of 72-67 and putting themselves squarely in the conversation for a bid to the Big Dance.

The Sooners came out of the game looking like a team who had done a lot of homework on its opponent, spending the entire first half either leading or sitting neck-and-neck with the defending national champs. Unfortunately, turnover woes stuck again, as the Sooners committed 11 turnovers to Baylor’s one. A 33-27 halftime deficit wasn’t a hopeless situation, but most OU fans felt like this would be yet another valiant, losing effort.

If there’s one thing this team has shown us this season, it’s that they never seem to get down on themselves, and they responded by storing out of the gate thanks to some timely threes from Tanner and Jacob Groves. The latter, younger brother came up huge in the second half, scoring 12 of his 15 points on 4-of-5 shooting after intermission.

OU and Baylor entered the under-12 timeout tied at 46, but the Sooners found yet another jolt, going on a 9-0 run thanks to some borderline-electrifying play from the younger Groves, Marvin Johnson and Jalen Hill.

The Sooners were able to keep the Bears at arm’s length until Baylor press forced a pair of turnovers and subsequent bucks, bringing it back to a 63-62 OU advantage with 2:45 remaining. Luckily, Jordan Goldwire and Umoja Gibson answered the call, punctuated by Gibson’s and-one to make it 66-62 at the 48-second mark. OU would bring it home from there and pull out a signature win for the head coach.

OU is now squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble, and the win could conceivably be enough to do the job. However, a win tomorrow evening against the winner of Texas Tech-Iowa State would lock up a spot, and Moser seems determined to go even further than that. If OU can sustain the defensive intensity and keep the turnovers in check, this team might not be done making some noise.

OU will play at 8:30 p.m. CT (at the earliest) tomorrow evening, and the game will be one either ESPN or ESPN2.