Porter Moser Makes Oklahoma’s NCAA Tournament Case
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Before Oklahoma’s game on Wednesday with TCU, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi billed the game as a “win and you’re in” kind of game when it came to Bracketology.
So, with their 77-70 loss to TCU, is Oklahoma, well, out?
Coach Porter Moser doesn’t think so, and he had his team’s credentials at the ready when the question came up.
“We have zero Quad 2, 3 or 4 losses,” Moser said. “Like I said, we were 18-6 full strength.”
Oklahoma’s NCAA NET ranking was No. 42 on Wednesday. Moser is correct — there were no “bad losses” OU’s ledger. But the Sooners are also 3-6 on the road and 4-11 against Quad 1 opponents, or the elite teams they’ve faced.
Will that work against them? Moser doesn’t think so.
“You look at our defense,” Moser said. “We were No. 31 going into the game and TCU has one of the best offensive (rankings). … Our offense is the Top 50.”
One thing working in Moser’s favor is that going into the game TCU was more precarious ground than OU, as least in Lunardi’s eyes. While the Horned Frogs were one of the Last Four Byes, which is an area teams are slotted before they fall on the bubble, the Sooners were comfortably in as a No. 9 seed.
After the game, Lunardi had both OU and TCU as No. 11 seeds.
Another thing working in his favor is that the injury bug he has been fighting looks like it will pass.
The 18-6 full-strength record he referenced was his team’s record with no injuries. Then John Hugley, one of their forwards was hurt. Then it was talented guard Rivaldo Soares. Now it’s their All-Big 12 guard Javian McCollum, who was held out of Wednesday’s game with a nagging shoulder issue.
Moser said it’s likely all three will be ready to go this weekend, even though the Sooners have eight days off. He said Soares could have played on Thursday at Oklahoma beaten TCU.
In his eyes, his team has already made its case. His players believe it, too.
“Yeah. I mean, shoot, like coach said, this week we got three guys down right now and they’ll be back,” guard Milos Uzan said. “I’m super excited for them to come back. I do think we will be in this tournament, so I’m excited for them to come back and (we can) come back with a healthy team.”
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
