March Madness is coming to OKC in 2026: History of NCAA Tournament games in Oklahoma

The men’s basketball NCAA Tournament opens Thursday and Friday in first-round sites near and far. From right up the road in Wichita, Kansas, all the way to Seattle and Providence, Rhode Island.

Big-league cities like Denver, Cleveland and Milwaukee are hosting, as are college basketball hotbeds like Lexington, Kentucky, and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Next year it’s Oklahoma City’s turn.

The men’s NCAA Tournament is coming to OKC for the first time since 2016, when OU played at what was then Chesapeake Energy Arena on its way to a Final Four run.

We celebrated in 2020 when Oklahoma City was awarded the bid, but 2026 felt like a long way off. So long you might have forgotten about it. Now it’s almost here.

Paycom Center will host first-and second-round matchups while a new downtown arena is being constructed on the other side of Reno Avenue where the Myriad once stood.

The Myriad hosted Bryce Drew’s game-winning shot for Valparaiso in 1998. Paycom Center was the setting as Bucknell stunned Kansas in 2005 before Northern Iowa did the same in 2010. Our current arena will host one last Big Dance in 2026, and more Oklahoma City NCAA Tournament memories will surely be made inside the new building.

As we look forward to next March, here’s a look back at the history of men’s basketball NCAA Tournament games in Oklahoma City and elsewhere in the state:

NCAA Tournament games in Oklahoma City

Oklahoma City has hosted games in eight NCAA Tournaments.

1957: Oklahoma City University, led by coach Abe Lemons and star center Hub Reed, played a first-round game at Capitol Hill High School against Loyola (Louisiana). OCU won 76-55.

1977: The Myriad hosted the Midwest Regional — the first and only time Oklahoma City hosted a regional. Marquette beat Kansas State and Wake Forest to win the regional. Marquette then beat Charlotte and North Carolina in the Final Four to win the national championship.

1994: No. 1 seed Arkansas, which went on to win the national championship, beat No. 16 seed North Carolina A&T and No. 9 seed Georgetown at the Myriad. No. 12 seed Tulsa upset No. 5 seed UCLA, which led to a Tulsa vs. No. 4 seed Oklahoma State matchup in the second round. Tulsa upset OSU 82-80 in Oklahoma City before losing to Arkansas in the Sweet 16 in Dallas.

1998: Bryce Drew’s buzzer-beater inside the Myriad is one of the most iconic shots in tournament history. No. 13 seed Valparaiso upset No. 4 seed Ole Miss. Valpo then beat Florida State to advance to its only Sweet 16 in school history. The Myriad hosted another huge upset as Cuttino Mobley and No. 8 seed Rhode Island beat Paul Pierce and No. 1 seed Kansas.

2003: The brand new Ford Center hosted No. 1 seed OU in wins against South Carolina State and Cal. Second-seeded Kansas squeaked past 15th-seeded Utah State 64-61. The Jayhawks made it all the way to the national title game, losing to Carmelo Anthony and Syracuse — the team that also bounced OU.

2005: No. 2 seed OSU got to play in front of the home crowd in wins against Southeastern Louisiana and Southern Illinois. Much more memorable is what happened to Kansas. The third-seeded Jayhawks were upset by No. 14 seed Bucknell. KU’s streak of 21 consecutive first-round victories was snapped.

2010: Another nightmare for Kansas in Oklahoma City. Not in Round 1, but in Round 2 against No. 9 seed Northern Iowa. Ali Farokhmanesh joined Drew in the hall of NCAA Tournament legends.

2016: OKC was a fitting starting line for OU’s Final Four run. No. 10 seed VCU gave OU a second-round scare, but the Sooners survived. Six years after stunning Kansas, No. 11 seed Northern Iowa slayed another Big 12 opponent in No. 6 seed Texas. Then came one of the most confounding collapses we’ve ever seen. Northern Iowa led Texas A&M by 10 points with less than 30 seconds in regulation left before Alex Caruso and the Aggies mounted the improbable comeback to force overtime. Texas A&M finished the job in double overtime.

Northern Iowa's Ali Farokhmanesh (5) shoots a 3-point shot to put the Panthers up 66-62 behind Kansas' Tyrel Reed (14) late in the second half during the NCAA Tournament second-round game at the Ford Center on March 20, 2010. UNI upset KU, 69-67.

NCAA Tournament games elsewhere in Oklahoma

Stillwater: OSU, then Oklahoma A&M, beat Rice before falling to Bradley in a 1954 regional played in Stillwater. OSU beat Loyola (Louisiana) in a 1958 tournament game in Stillwater.

El Reno: OCU lost to Bradley at El Reno High School in the first round of the 1955 NCAA Tournament.

Tulsa: The 1974 Midwest Regional was played at Oral Roberts’ Mabee Center. Kansas beat Oral Roberts in the regional final. Tulsa has hosted first-and second-round games in seven tournaments — four times at Mabee Center (1975, 1978, 1982, 1985) and three times at BOK Center (2011, 2017, 2019). BOK Center is set to host again in 2028.

Norman: Lloyd Noble Center hosted first-round games in 1977, two years after the building opened. Kansas State beat Providence and Wake Forest beat Arkansas.

Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC to host 2026 NCAA Tournament: History of March Madness in Oklahoma

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