What's The Matter With Oklahoma?
The divisive squad at the center of college basketball's civil war
When the SEC and Big Ten cannibalized the rest of college basketball, we knew there would be some digestive problems. The Oklahoma Sooners this year have turned those slight inklings of a hiccup into a full blown ulcer. Oklahoma is the most polarizing team in the history of NCAA Tournament selection process, and if invited to the NCAA Tournament, will spark one of the greatest backlashes the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee has ever faced. This one would make last year’s reaction to Virginia’s inclusion at the expense of Indiana State look like pleasant small talk. The worst part? Oklahoma probably deserves the bid. Welcome to college basketball in the super conference era.
Oklahoma has not lost to a single team outside of the SEC this season. They didn’t just play Directional State A&M, either. Oklahoma beat Arizona, newcomer power to their old Big XII, resurgent Louisville of the ACC, upstart Michigan in the Big Ten, and even survived a scare from Providence of the Big East. Even more remarkable, Oklahoma beat all of these teams away from their home arena, duking it out on neutral courts rather than friendly confines. As the champaign popped on New Year’s Eve, Oklahoma had done everything that could have been asked of them, and the nation had taken notice. The Sooners sat proudly in the #12 spot of the AP Poll. So, why in the world would this not be a tournament team?
First, Oklahoma lost four straight to open conference play, eliminating any chance of holding on to an AP Poll ranking as the new year got underway. Another long losing streak in February plunged Oklahoma to the bottom of the league standings with a torrid 3-10 record, as the halcyon days of beating Arizona and Louisville on back-to-back days seemed but a distant memory. The Sooners finished the regular season as the 13th best squad in their own conference. So, why in the world would this be a tournament team?
The duality of Oklahoma’s season reflects the growing disparities and paradoxes that threatens to rip apart college sports. The reason Oklahoma won all of those early season games is because they have done well to leverage their alumni financial resources and conference TV deal to maximize their players, facilities, and staff. The reason they lost 12 of their 18 conference games is that everyone else in the SEC has that exact same advantage. The league dominated non-conference play, posting a ridiculous 185-23 record, including a 30-4 mark against the traditional power ACC and a 14-2 posting against the more recently dominant Big XII that they stole Oklahoma and Texas from. The problem? Nobody cares. Fans still think of the conferences as roughly equivalent, so the idea that a 6-12 SEC team should make the tournament over a 13-7 ACC team or, god forbid, an 18-2 Big West team is outrageous. The fact that it fits into a bigger conspiracy of the ‘SEC Bias’ that permeates college football only fans the flames that something nefarious is afoot. This is just the reality of the conference constriction that has occurred over the last few years. With more of the big money programs in fewer leagues, teams that may genuinely be better than the rest of college basketball are going to struggle in conference play because that’s where they actually play their peers.
As you can imagine, I have a clear side in this. I’m a wonky blogger who loves the WCC and talks about low majors regularly, my battles lines are firmly drawn. I was on the front lines fighting for last year’s 32-7 Indiana State Sycamores to make the dance over the ho-hum power conference teams with middling records. I couldn’t have felt more vindicated when the Sycamores blitzed through the NIT and proved they belonged somewhere better. No one wants to watch a 6-12 Oklahoma team over UC San Diego, VCU, or Boise State. That’s not what the NCAA Tournament is about.
The problem is that I’ve watched Oklahoma this year. They’re fantastic. They have an 18-year-old point guard with an awesome skillset, a goofy white guy who’s great on the glass, and a cadre of former mid major stars who have adapted well into new roles. KenPom ranks Oklahoma higher in efficiency margin than tournament teams New Mexico, Memphis, and even that UC San Diego team that supposedly deserves it more. If Oklahoma makes the tournament and receives a decent matchup, I’d be rather inclined to take the Sooners. Everything about this debate should put me on the other side, but I can’t forget the team I saw in November and December. I’m supposed to punish them for losing games to Kentucky, Florida, Missouri, Tennessee, Auburn, Texas A&M twice, and Alabama, when other teams in consideration might not have had to play anybody like that all season. I just can’t do it.
But, once again I ask, is that what the NCAA Tournament is really about? People like me who live and breathe this stuff getting to see the team who, pushes glasses up on nose, are actually really high in the efficiency metrics and have played a really tough schedule and when you adjust for tempo yadda yadda yadda? Maybe, the NCAA Tournament should be about the things that have made it the most popular postseason format of any major sport. Maybe, it should reward the teams who do the things fans care about: winning their conference, getting better as the season goes on, being exciting to see on a bracket. Maybe, the teams that have done so should get an ‘unfair advantage.’ What’s fair about schools like Oklahoma conspiring against other taxpayer funded universities in their state to take a larger slice of TV revenues? What’s fair about Oklahoma making the tournament when they would never, ever, step foot in one of the mid major teams gyms for a game? Why shouldn’t we give a nod to the schools who perform nearly as well as Oklahoma despite a massive gulf in monetary prowess? Because Oklahoma will win their opening round game 1.69345% of the time more often?
March Madness has never been about finding the best team. We’d play seven game series and tell the 16 seeds to take a hike if that was the case. We’d let KenPom and his brainiac algorithm tell us who should be there rather than lumpy athletic directors and random conference officials in some bizarre hotel suite. But nobody wants that. People want an exciting, novel, and dramatic experience that makes their overly analyzed, strictly regimented lives a little more interesting. If that means a team which I think is rather good at basketball doesn’t get to prove it to the few people that will care in a month, that’s fine by me. Oklahoma can kick rocks. At least until I pick them to the Final Four on my bracket.
The Sooners play tonight at 9:30 EDT in the SEC Tournament against Georgia. If they win, they will likely make the NCAA Tournament.
