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Feeling blue? Yeah, me too.
I’m accustomed to seeing my Oklahoma Sooners in the Big Dance. No, it doesn’t happen every year, but it’s happened 20 times during my 28 years on this earth, which is a pretty solid number.
Anyway, I’m not one of those OU fans who religiously follows the football program while completely ignoring the men’s basketball program. Sure, I ignore women’s basketball, softball, gymnastics, volleyball, wrestling, rowing, tennis, track and sometimes baseball, but you have to care about a fairly popular game in which your school often excels at. Yeah, yeah, the NCAA Tournament and college basketball can be hot garbage at times, but I love watching my Sooners this time of year. That’s what makes all of this so difficult.
But fear not! There are plenty of things to satisfy Sooner fans during this dark period of time.
Watch Russell Westbrook chase history
The NBA record for triple-doubles in a season is within reach for Oklahoma’s most popular citizen, which mean’s he’ll be going even harder than he has been (if that’s even possible). He’s probably gonna end up averaging like 40, 15 and 15 during the final stretch of the regular season, and the frontrunner for the MVP Award will make us forget all about OU’s school-record 20 losses. But man... it’s a real shame that we won’t get to see him yell at KD again during the regular season.
“But I’m not a Thunder fan!”
“I don’t think Russell Westbrook deserves the MVP.”
“I think people should appreciate what Kevin Durant did for Oklahoma City.”
Relive the 2014 Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama
There’s never a bad time to watch this. Bless you, Eric Striker. Bless you.
Find a hobby
Turn off the TV, get off the couch and explore the world!
Have you ever tried fly fishing? It’s pretty difficult if you’ve never done it before, but being one with nature can be quite rewarding.
Do you golf? It’s expensive and incredibly frustrating, but you can drink beer while you’re doing it.
Don’t have time for a hobby? Well then you probably don’t have time for any of the stuff mentioned in this article, so just exit out of this page and get back to work.
Find a date
It’s probably easier to find a date this time of year, honestly. Other people have a dog in the fight during the month of March and end up spending their nights watching basketball, so it’s just a numbers thing. Additionally, some of those people may end up neglecting their girlfriend or boyfriend during the Big Dance. Who’s there to swoop in? A fan of a bad basketball team, that’s who!
Pretend to be a Kansas fan
Find an oversized shirt with ‘Big 12 Champions’ printed on it, buy some cargo shorts and avoid the sun for an extended period of time. BOOM! You’re a Kansas fan!
Watch Trae Young’s highlights
Trae Young is going to be a Sooner, so I think it’s safe to assume that OU will be back in the Big Dance next season.
Live in the past (by Tanner Brodess)
In case you weren’t aware, Oklahoma made the Final Four last season. Here’s how it went down:
Oklahoma 82, CSU Bakersfield 68
Oklahoma 85, VCU 81
Oklahoma 77, Texas A&M 63
Oklahoma 80, Oregon 68
Unfortunately, the Final Four was cancelled and Oklahoma was unable to compete for a title. It was really a shame, especially when considering that Oklahoma could’ve easily beaten Villanova in the semifinal. The Sooners defeated the Wildcats by 23 in December, so they definitely would’ve beaten them again, right?
Draw up blueprints for a new basketball arena (by Graham Dudley)
Let’s just face it — the Lloyd Noble Center is terrible. Yes, the facilities attached to it are up to par and are good enough in the eyes of recruits. However, fans would be more enthusiastic about attending games if they could watch them in a place that didn’t suck. Have you ever asked an opposing fan about the LNC experience? They’ll often bring up the lackluster venue before even mentioning the lackluster crowd. Why? Probably because they don’t blame us for not showing up.
I know you’re probably not an architect, but anything is better than what we currently have. There’s no question that it’s one of the worst college basketball venues in the country (at least at a high level). I acknowledge that basketball isn’t necessarily a priority for every OU fan, but I think an up-to-date arena would certainly help matters.
Heckle people from small schools (by Drew Hemingway)
Instead of wasting your time watching any part of the tournament outside of the Final Four, do what any Sooner fan worth his or her salt would do — start heckling the fans of small schools. Look, it's no secret that we Sooners have zero respect for schools that suck at (or don’t play) football. We’re in the South, so you should just embrace that attitude if you haven’t already. Many of the schools in the field are smaller than my high school, and frankly I have never heard of some of them. So when people start talking about Butler, or George Mason, or Gonzaga, just ask how their football program is doing. That should end the conversation before it even starts.
Compete in our bracket pool!
Despite the fact that the Sooners were terrible on the hardwood this season, we still love college hoops here at Crimson & Cream Machine. But in case you didn't know already, THIS IS MARCH, and watching the games and doing the research is no guarantee that you'll have any idea what's going to happen in the tournament. If you want to prove to the world that you're smarter than Me, Graham, Kartik, Matt, Steve, Tanner or anyone else who has written for us, now is your chance. Come join our NCAA Bracket Pool (password: ccmachine17) and dunk on us in front of the entire internet.
The winner of this year's bracket challenge will take home the following fabulous prizes:
- Internet bragging rights for the entire year.
- A Tweet and Facebook status from the CCM accounts bragging to the entire world about how smart you are.
So yeah, this is just for fun. But bragging rights are a powerful thing, and so help me, if I somehow find a way to win this thing, I am going to rub it in all of your faces for a long, long time. So for the good for CCM and SB Nation, join our bracket group (password: ccmachine17), and do a better job at picking these games than me or the rest of the jokers that write here.