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With a heartbreaking loss to the Cyclones in the Big 12 tournament, all of the attention now turns to the NCAA tournament. With Selection Sunday looming in the next few days we thought we would take a shot at projecting what seed and in which bracket the Sooners will find themselves come Sunday. We will break the post down into 3 parts: 1) teams that will definitely be seeded ahead of the Sooners, 2) teams that could be seeded ahead of the Sooners, and 3) the Sooners final seeding in the tournament.
1. Teams that Will Definitely Be Seeded Ahead of the Sooners
-Kentucky
-Duke
-Villanova
-Virginia
-Wisconsin
-Arizona
-Gonzaga
-Kansas
While these are obvious, here are the top 8 seeds for the tourney
2. Teams that Could Be Seeded Ahead of the Sooners
- Maryland
They are a lock to be ahead of the Sooners. At 26-5 (14-4 in BIG) the Terrapins will almost assuredly be seeded higher than the Sooners.
-Notre Dame
They just beat Duke again. Most brackets had them as a 3 already, and this win solidifies it.
- Iowa St.
Many places had them at a 3 before their win against the Sooners tonight. They should be a 3 on Sunday. This would have probably been the spot the Sooners would be in, had they beaten the Cyclones.
-North Carolina
This is where it gets hairy for the Sooners. Beating the Virginia Cavaliers certainly gave the Tar Heels a huge push. If they beat Notre Dame and win the ACC tournament, then it would be hard for them to not get the nod over the Sooners. If you are hoping for a Sooners 3 seed, you need Notre Dame to win convincingly against UNC. The problem with being the last 3 seed, is that you end up likely having the Kentucky Wildcats in your side of the bracket.
3. Sooners Final Seeding in Tournament
The reality is Notre Dame and North Carolina winning today hurts the Sooners chances for a 3 seed and that might not be such a bad thing.While it might not be the higher seed, I would much rather the Sooners be in the bracket with any other 1 seed than Kentucky. In fact, I think that the Sooners match up very favorably against either Virginia or Villanova should they make it that far. For all of the reasons listed above we have the Sooners as a 4 seed, but favorably missing out on being in the same bracket as Kentucky.