The calendar still says February, but for Oklahoma basketball, the postseason picture is already fading fast. With over a month left in the regular season, the Sooners have found themselves completely off the NCAA Tournament radar - not even listed among the “long shots” in a recent bubble watch breakdown.
That’s a tough pill to swallow for a team that looked like a tournament lock just a few weeks ago. Oklahoma opened the season 10-3 and kicked off SEC play with a win over Ole Miss.
At that point, it looked like head coach Porter Moser was steering the program toward back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. But since then?
It’s been a free fall - eight straight SEC losses and a slide to the bottom of the conference standings.
And let’s be clear: this isn’t just about losing games. It’s about how the Sooners are losing them - consistently, and often without much resistance. In a league as deep and physical as the SEC, that kind of skid doesn’t just hurt your record, it erodes your identity.
This year’s SEC is once again loaded with talent and tournament-caliber teams, which only adds to Oklahoma’s uphill climb. Five teams - Vanderbilt, Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee - are already considered locks for March Madness.
OU has already taken losses to three of those (Florida, Alabama, Arkansas), and still has road games looming against the other two (Vanderbilt and Tennessee). That's as brutal a stretch as any team could ask for right now.
But it doesn’t stop there. Auburn, Kentucky, Texas A&M, and Georgia are also in strong position to make the tournament, assuming they avoid a late-season collapse.
All four are still on Oklahoma’s schedule - and A&M has already beaten the Sooners once. So if you're looking for a soft landing, you won’t find it here.
Even the teams hovering on the bubble - Texas and Missouri - have already beaten OU this season. The Sooners will get another crack at both in their final two regular-season games, but at this point, those matchups feel more like potential farewells than redemption opportunities.
To make matters worse, the Sooners weren’t even listed among the SEC’s “long shots” for the tournament. LSU got that nod, but Oklahoma was lumped into the “not mentioned at all” category alongside Ole Miss, South Carolina, and Mississippi State. Among that group, OU has only managed a win over Ole Miss - and won’t face any of the others again.
It’s a staggering fall from grace for a team that had real momentum early in the season. Without a standout star or a future NBA lottery pick to lean on like last year, the Sooners are running out of answers - and time.
At this point, Oklahoma is playing for pride. And maybe, just maybe, for a fresh start. With the losses piling up and the postseason hopes all but extinguished, the focus may soon shift to what comes next - including the future of Porter Moser at the helm.
There’s still basketball left to be played. But unless something dramatic changes, the Sooners’ season looks destined to end quietly - and possibly with a coaching search not far behind.