Oklahoma knew it needed to win games at the Big 12 tournament to reach the NCAA Tournament. Apparently, OU needed to win all of them.
The field of 64 was announced Monday, and for the first time since 2003, the Sooners’ season won’t extend into June.
“I’m shocked,” OU coach Sunny Golloway said shortly after the field was announced. “This is tough.”
As either a head coach or an assistant Golloway had guided a team to every NCAA Tournament since 1997. He thought the string would continue this year after the Sooners beat Missouri and Oklahoma State at Bricktown Ballpark.
But it wasn’t enough to impress the NCAA Tournament selection committee. The Big 12 had six teams receive bids with three going in as top seeds and regional hosts.
Texas, Missouri and Texas A&M; all received top seeds in regionals they will host. Oklahoma State, Nebraska and Baylor all received at-large bids and went in as No. 3 seeds. The Cowboys will be in the Arkansas regional. Nebraska was shipped to Arizona State and the Bears are at Rice.
The six bids tied for second most for the conference, but most expected the Sooners to join the group and match last season’s total of seven.
OU (34-24) finished the season at No. 27 in the RPI. Since the field had been expanded to 64 teams, no team with an RPI under 30 had been left out.
Selection committee chairman Larry Templeton, who is also Mississippi State’s athletic director, said on the selection show the goal was to reward teams that played tough non-conference schedules.
The RPI represents that. But OU joined Georgia Tech, which finished No. 29, as teams that were left out. The Sooners went 16-13 against teams in the RPI’s top 50. But that alone wasn’t enough to impress the committee.
“Clearly, league standings is the only thing that matters to get in,” Golloway said. “From the looking at the field, where you finished in your league was what they focused on.”
Oklahoma State, which swept the regular-season series from the Sooners, got in despite being No. 53 in the RPI. The Cowboys’ third-place finish in the Big 12 carried more weight.
The Sooners went 11-16 in the conference and Golloway didn’t do much lobbying because of performance in the Big 12. He knew his team had a big void in its résumé.
OU could have solved that by winning the Big 12 tournament. They rallied from five runs down and had the game-tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position in their 7-6 loss to Baylor late Saturday night.
If Mike Gosse’s ground ball up the middle had gotten into center field instead of Baylor second baseman’s Shaver Henson’s mitt, OU might be practicing today instead of cleaning out lockers.
But there’s no point focusing on what might have been. The 2007 season is over.
“Our attention quickly turns to next season,” Golloway said. “We clearly need to play better in the Big 12 next year and we look forward to doing that and returning to the postseason.”
OU Sports
Left out
Sooners don't get NCAA invite
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