Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Thursday, March 28, 2024
<p>Trae Young and the Oklahoma Sooners made the NCAA Tournament ahead of&nbsp;<span id="docs-internal-guid-4520259d-2d44-4dae-06d7-89a76befc118"><span>bubble teams like USC, Middle Tennessee, Marquette and Oklahoma State.</span></span></p>

Trae Young and the Oklahoma Sooners made the NCAA Tournament ahead of bubble teams like USC, Middle Tennessee, Marquette and Oklahoma State.

Picture this scenario. You decide to go to the movies, but you aren’t sure what film you want to see. In front of you are two choices.

The first is “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” You’ve heard mixed reviews about this movie, but everyone wants to see it because of how iconic it is. You would be missing a lot by not seeing the movie.

The second is “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.” It’s a really good movie in its own right, and it has all the elements it needs to succeed. However, outside of its limited screening, not many people would care about it.

So which would you rather see? If my guess is right, probably Star Wars.

Now if you were a college basketball fan, would you rather see Trae Young and Oklahoma play in the NCAA Tournament, or slightly more qualified bubble teams like USC, Middle Tennessee, Marquette or Oklahoma State?

For those wondering how Oklahoma could have possibly gotten in over some of those other teams, it is extremely puzzling at first glance. In OU’s last 12 games of the season prior to the Big Dance, it lost nine of those contests, including an 11-point defeat to Oklahoma State in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.

But what it comes down to is which team would be more exciting to watch. Although Oklahoma was a mediocre team at best and ultimately lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Rhode Island on Thursday, the Sooners possessed one of college basketball’s most exciting NBA prospects in Young, a freshman point guard who led the NCAA in scoring this season.

Why wouldn’t you want someone like Young playing on the biggest stage of college basketball? His name alone brings national attention and gives people an added reason to watch the NCAA Tournament.

From that standpoint, it doesn’t matter if another team was more deserving of the space OU occupied. No team that was left out had as big a star as Young on its roster. As long as the Sooners had a decent record and a couple of good wins to their name, they were going to make the tournament.

I can understand the other side of this argument.

From a statistics standpoint, Oklahoma shouldn’t have made the tournament. USC, who finished second in the Pac-12 standings and made it to the conference championship game, got snuffed for a team in the Sooners that finished seventh in the Big 12.

Saint Mary’s — another snub — won 28 of its 33 games this season, including a victory over then-No. 13 Gonzaga. Oklahoma, on the other hand, lost 13 of 31 games including an embarrassing defeat to Iowa State.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox

But, none of that stuff matters.

With a polarizing figure like Young on the Sooners, it isn’t difficult to see how Oklahoma made the NCAA Tournament. Even it lost on Thursday, the selection committee made the right call.

Jake Dreilinger is the Alligator’s assistant sports editor. Follow him on Twitter @DreilingerJake and contact him at jdreilinger@alligator.org.

Trae Young and the Oklahoma Sooners made the NCAA Tournament ahead of bubble teams like USC, Middle Tennessee, Marquette and Oklahoma State.

Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.