2015 NCAA Tournament Profile: Oklahoma Sooners

Record: 22-10

RPI: 19

BPI: 11

Conference: Big 12 Conference

How They Qualified: At-Large Berth

Region: No. 3 seed in East

 

Forget the fact that the Oklahoma Sooners lost 10 times this season. They played a very difficult schedule, hence their RPI and BPI rankings. The Sooners also resided in the Big 12, where basically more than half the conference was ranked in the top 25 on a weekly basis.

Did Oklahoma win the Big 12 regular season title? No. Leave that to the Kansas Jayhawks. Still, they challenged Kansas and every other Big 12 team for a conference title, and they also had a brutal out-of-conference slate. Needless to say, this team should be more than ready for the 2015 NCAA tournament.

 

What You Need to Know:

Leading Scorer: Buddy Hield (17.5 PPG)

Leading Rebounder: Ryan Spangler (8.0 RPG)

Leading Passer: Jordan Woodard (3.9 APG)

Bad Losses: Creighton, Washington

Good Wins: Butler, Baylor, Oklahoma State (x3), West Virginia, Iowa State, Kansas

 

Playing in the Big 12, the Sooners had plenty of opportunities to knock off teams that were ranked in the top 25, and they did (many times). Other wins that didn’t even crack that “Good Wins” category were victories against the UCLA Bruins and Texas Longhorns.

Here’s the deal: Buddy Hield was one of the best players in the country during the 2014-15 regular season, and he is one of the best players in the dance. Oklahoma is a solid team, but if it is going to make a run, Mr. Hield has to bring his A game. His C (heck, probably not even his B) game won’t cut it in the best tournament in sports.

Oklahoma has the talent to make a Final Four run this year, but we will just have to wait and see if it actually plays out like that.

The Oklahoma Sooners are dancing!

Trevor Lowry is a Content Associate at www.RantSports.com. If you’re a tweeter feel free to follow him @TheTrevorLowry, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.