There is only one men’s college basketball team in our state that has made it to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament: the Oklahoma Sooners. It is the first time since 2021 that the Sooners have made the NCAA Tournament.

Oklahoma, the No. 8 seed in the West Regional, will face No. 9-seed Connecticut in the first round of the tournament on Friday at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C. Game time is 8:25 p.m. Central, on TNT.

UConn comes into the matchup with a 23-10 overall record and the Huskies were 14-6 in the Big East, finishing third in the conference. OU had a regular season record of 20-13, 6-12 in the SEC. If the Sooners beat the Huskies, they will play Sunday against the winner of Friday’s contest between No. 1 seed Florida (30-4) and No. 16 seed Norfolk State (24-10).

This will be the fifth time these two teams have met, with the Sooners holding a 3-1 series record. The teams met four straight years, with the Sooners winning in 2001-02 (69-67 in Hartford), 2002-03 (73-63 in Norman) and 2004-05 (77-65 in Norman). The Huskies’ win came in 2003-04 (86-59 in Storrs).

The Sooners are one of 14 SEC teams to make the field, a record for an individual conference. OU is making its 34th NCAA Tournament appearance and has a 42-33 record in the tournament.

The Huskies are 65% favorites to win the game and are ranked No. 32, while the Sooners are ranked No. 43. UConn’s record against Top 25 opponents this season is 5-2, and OU went 5-9 against Top 25 foes.

However, the Sooners had the 33rd toughest schedule in the country while the Huskies schedule ranked 78th toughest.

UConn enters the tournament on a role, they have won seven of their last ten games. On the other hand, OU went 4-6 in their last ten games.

The Huskies are led by point guard Tristen Newton, who averaged 15.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 6.2 assists per game. The Sooners are led by senior forward Jalon Moore and freshman guard Jeremiah Fears. Moore has an average of 16.0 points and 5.8 rebounds per game. Fears has averaged 17.0 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game, this season.

TOURNAMENT BRACKET

I’m not very good at predicting who will make it to the Final Four. My tournament brackets over the years have proven that. However, it would be truly difficult to pick against the four No. 1 seeds: Auburn, Duke, Florida, and Houston.

All those teams have had great success this season. Auburn enters the tournament with a 28-5 record overall and 15-3 in the SEC. Duke is 31-3, 19-1 ACC. Florida was undefeated in their nonconference schedule and went 30-4, 14-4 SEC. Houston finished the regular season 30-4, 19-1 Big 12.