Oklahoma Sooners make NCAA Tournament for first time under Porter Moser
For the first time under fourth-year head coach Porter Moser, the Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team has been selected for the NCAA National Championship Tournament. OU was one of 14 teams from the SEC to make the big dance in 2025, a new record for the most bids by a conference.
The Sooners are a nine-seed in the tournament's West Region. Their initial game will be against the two-time defending national champions, the UConn Huskies, on Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Oklahoma (20-13) went undefeated in nonconference play this year and hung on to make the tournament a 6-12 record in SEC play. Oklahoma was buoyed by wins over Arizona, Michigan, Louisville, Mississippi State, Missouri, and Vanderbilt. It helped its cause by beating Georgia in the SEC Tournament and hanging tough in close losses to Kentucky and Ole Miss in recent weeks.
It's OU's first appearance in the tournament since Lon Kruger's final season as the head coach back in the 2021 tournament that was impacted by COVID-19. Kruger retired following the 2020-2021 season, and Moser was hired. After missing the tournament entirely in his first three seasons in Norman, he's put the Sooners back in the bracket in 2025.
Oklahoma is DANCING! #MarchMadness@OU_MBBallpic.twitter.com/pG9NikCYvn
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 16, 2025
The Sooners will take on the two-time defending national champion UConn Huskies. The Huskies, led by head coach Dan Hurley, are just an eight-seed this season. The SEC Tournament champion Florida Gators earned the one seed in the West Regional. If the Sooners are able to get past UConn in the first round, they'll have a date with Gators in the round of 32. The last time the Sooners played Florida, the Gators ran OU off the court in Gainesville to the tune of a 22-point loss. That was the last of a five-game losing streak that appeared to bury Oklahoma's tournament chances.
However, the Sooners went 3-2 in the final five games of the regular season, picking up ranked wins over Missouri and Mississippi State along with a road victory over their Red River Rivals, the Texas Longhorns.
The NCAA road ahead won't be an easy one, but over the last month, the Sooners have been playing arguably their best basketball of the season led by true freshman phenom Jeremiah Fears.
Get your Brackets for the 2025 NCAA men's basketball tournament.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma Sooners make NCAA Tournament as a 9-seed
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