March Madness has officially begun and for the Oklahoma Sooners, the big day is on Friday. The Sooners will take on the San Diego State Aztecs in a second round match-up on Friday night in Philadelphia, PA.

The winner of the game will take on the winner of No. 2 Georgetown and No. 15 Florida Gulf Coast.

Both teams struggled at the end of the season, unsure of whether or not either would have a solid chance of making it in or coming in as a bubble.

This is the Sooners first time back dancing in four years. There is familiarity between these two teams, even if it isn’t because they play. Sooners head coach Lon Kruger has faced the Aztecs several times when he was the head coach at UNLV.

It doesn’t stop at Kruger – one of the Sooners’ star players, Amath M’Baye, is a Wyoming transfer and took on the Aztecs in MWC play during his time there.

These two teams have actually played against each other before, with the Sooners owning the series 3-0.

The Aztecs are being picked by most to win the game, but looking back at their record, they have struggled defensively against quick-offense teams. Advantage to Oklahoma in this respect, as they have the 35th best offense in the country. The Aztecs are also not the most stellar of offensive units. The Sooners will need to keep pressure going and get ahead quickly, but play a slower pace and play methodical.

Every time I have predicted Oklahoma to handle a game with ease, it ends up being polar-opposite. I do think they will have the advantage in this game, but for lucks sake, I won’t say “with ease”.

You’re welcome Sooner Nation.

Game is scheduled to tip-off at 8:20 PM CST, Friday, March 22nd.

Amath M’Baye

Just as the women did on Saturday during the Sooners basketball double-header, the men’s basketball team will be hosting the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Wednesday night. In case you were wondering or hadn’t heard, the Sooners swept the games on Saturday, with the men beating Oklahoma State and the women beating the Red Raiders.

The MBB team has quietly been chugging a long and are now on a four-game winning streak. This start happens to be the best beginning to a season the Sooners have had since 2008. They are 11-3 on the season and now 2-0 in conference play.

The Red Raiders have only played one away game so far, are 8-6 and 1-2 in conference. Tech has not been able to find their groove on the court lately, especially with all the Billy Gillispie drama that went on last season.

One of the biggest credits to the Sooners success so far besides head coach Lon Kruger has been forward Amath M’Baye. The junior, who is a transfer that didn’t get to play last season has been an instant impact player for the Sooners on offense. M’Baye has scored double-digits in almost every game, and is averaging five rebounds per game he’s played in.

Oklahoma owns a 31-20 all-time record against Texas Tech and is 19-6 in the series when they play at the Lloyd Noble Center. As it sits right now, the Sooners are actually ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 behind the Kansas Jayhawks, of course.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05 PM on Wednesday.

The Sooners took on the Islanders Monday night in one of the Field House Series games being played at the old McCasland Field House on campus instead of the Lloyd Noble Center. It was a an outstanding 72-42 win for the Sooners but it was Amath M’Baye time to shine for the Crimson and Cream.

M’Baye, in his previous game had a 16-point, six-rebound performance that earned him Big 12 newcomer of the week honor. In Monday’s performance, M’Baye scored 14 points and had six rebounds.  M’Baye was 7 of 11 from the field to go with a game-high 17-point effort from Steven Pledger.

Head coach Lon Kruger on the win and their performance:

These two Pledger and M’Baye stepped up and made shots, and it’s good to see that. It gives you a good foundation and a good cornerstone to work from, and I think the other guys gain confidence when guys are stepping up and making shots like today.

It was the first time the Oklahoma basketball team has played in the Field House since 1975. The Sooners will take on conference opponent, West Virginia next on January 5th.

Starting on Wednesday, the Oklahoma Sooners basketball team will begin the Field House Series. The Field House is where the Sooners played basketball before the Lloyd Noble Center was built in 1975. McCasland, which is located in the center of campus, has always been one of my favorite buildings besides Bizzell Library.

The 84-year old Field House completed renovations over the Summer and is set to host two games, one on Wednesday night vs. Central Oklahoma, the other is a regular season game on December 31st against Texas A&M – Corpus Christi.

Sooners athletic director Joe Castiglione on bringing games back to the Field House:

We are excited to bring our men’s basketball program back to the heart of campus for these rare appearances at McCasland Field House. Coach Kruger possesses a great appreciation not only for the history and tradition of OU Basketball, but also for this venue, where he competed as an opposing player. He has done an incredible job integrating his team with our students and OU fans everywhere since the moment he stepped on campus. While the Lloyd Noble Center continues to serve as the home for OU Basketball, we’re ecstatic to afford this opportunity to create a unique and spirited game environment at McCasland Field House.

The very first game at the McCasland, the Sooners defeated the legendary Phog Allen’s Kansas, handing him his worst loss in his coaching career, 49-19. Oklahoma’s all-time record in the McCasland Field House is at 319-153.  The Sooners won eight conference championships while playing there.

The Sooners men hoops team is 1-0 on the season so far.

The Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball team is back and hosting their first game of the season Friday in Norman. This is the first of two preseason exhibition games scheduled for the Sooners.

SoonerSports.com’s need to know facts on the game:

Oklahoma and Washburn have met four times, with the Sooners winning each occasion. Included were a 55-20 win in the 1909-10 season and an 85-59 exhibition victory last year.

OU has compiled a 45-2 exhibition record over the last 24 years. Its last exhibition loss came in 2003.

The teams’ head coaches (OU’s Lon Kruger and Washburn’s Bob Chipman) were teammates at Kansas State and led the Wildcats to Big Eight titles in 1972 and ’73.

Steven Pledger is the Big 12′s leading returning scorer (16.2 ppg), Romero Osby is the Big 12′s leading returning rebounder (7.3 rpg), Andrew Fitzgerald is the Big 12′s leading returner in field goal percentage (.469; minimum of 5.0 makes per game) and Sam Grooms led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.8) and ranked second in assists (6.0 apg)..

Junior forward Amath M’Baye makes his debut in an OU uniform Friday night. The transfer, who played as a freshman and sophomore at Wyoming, is the Preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year.

The game is set to tip at 7:00 Friday night and is on tv locally.

In what most wouldn’t consider technique basketball, the Sooners took on conference foe, Texas Tech and played an extremely sloppy basketball game. At least the first half was sloppy.

Combined, both teams had 13 fouls in the first 13 minutes and 14 turnovers in 15 minutes. And this was in the first half of the game… The teams ended up with 46 fouls combined by the end of regulation, for those who didn’t watch, just picture in your head players running down the court slapping each other instead of defense and that about sums it up.

Oklahoma was down during the first half, and finally built up some momentum late in the half. The Sooners were up 29-22 starting the 2nd half. Oklahoma held on the rest of the game, finishing out the game 64-55.

Sooner head coach Lon Kruger on the game:

It was a good win, Not necessarily a pretty win but a good win.

Texas Tech coach, Billy Gillespie  wasnt too impressed with the play from the Red Raiders either:

Seinfeld’s the best show ever, Which episode is this? I’m going to be a bit distracted here as we go along.

Seinfeld was on during the post game press conference in the background, without sound, which seemed to capture Gillespie’s attention more than his team did.

The Sooners are now 12-5 on the season and 2-3 in Big XII play. They will take on the Aggies in College Station on Saturday with a scheduled 3:00 CST tip off.

In case you missed it this weekend trying to get all of your Christmas shopping finished, The Sooner men’s basketball team took on Houston in the All College Classic. And Junior Steven Pledger had a career night, pushing the Sooners to the win.

Pledger had his first career double-double, with 31 points and 10 rebounds to help the Sooners come back and win 79-74.

“Pledger was terrific all night long,” said Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger. “We played off of him all night.”

First Year Sooner head coach, Lon Kruger

The Sooners have had somewhat of a turn-around season so far with the head coach change. Lon Kruger has done a terrific job of turning this team around and using the players to their full ability. They are 8-1 on the season and this is their best start since 2008 and the Blake Griffin Sooner era. The Houston game marked the closest win of the season for Oklahoma and the first win at the All College Classic since 2008.

Pledger was 10 for 13 from the field, not to mention 4 for 5 from 3-point range. Coming into the game on Saturday night, the Sooners were making 50% of their 3-pointers; they were 6 of 10 against Houston. They also only had 9 turnovers the entire game.

For a team that was slated to come in last place in the Big XII this basketball season, they are off to a great start. If you would have told me they would have started out going 8-1, I probably would have laughed at you. Let’s just hope the injury bug stays away from the basketball team, unlike how it plagued the football team this year.

The Sooners will take on South Carolina State next in Norman on Wednesday night. Big XII play officially starts January 3rd against Missouri.

Guard Steven Pledger

While football takes a break this week, it’s a perfect time to get ready for some Sooner basketball.

The Sooner men’s basketball team kicks off their season tonight against Idaho State. Sooner Nation will finally get to start a new era in basketball with Lon Kruger’s first game as the Oklahoma head coach in his 26 year coaching tenure.

Oklahoma will be without one of their star players, though. Guard Steven Pledger has been suspended for the first game by Kruger for participating in a Pro-Am game over the Summer. Pledger will return for game two against Coppin State.

SoonerSports.com has listed Romero Osby as a Sooner to watch. Osby will also be making his Sooner debut; he is a transfer from Mississippi State. He is a former Top-75 recruit out of the state of Mississippi and led the Sooner team in field goal percentage during exhibition play. He also averaged  11.5 points and 6.0 rebounds in only 18 minutes per game in the Sooners exhibition matches.

This will be the third time that Idaho State and Oklahoma have played each other in basketball, each previous meeting being in Norman. The last time these two teams met up, Billy Tubbs was the Sooner head coach.

The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7:07 Friday night at the LNC in Norman. Unless you live in the OKC or Tulsa area, you will have to catch the game on the Sooner Radio Network or online at SoonerSports.com All-Access.

After all the rumors, the Sooner have finally decided on a new head coach for the men’s basketball team. Lon Kruger is leaving the head coaching position at UNLV and brings with him a pretty impressive resume which includes 13 NCAA tournaments, 3 Sweet 16 appearances, 2 Elite Eights, and a Final Four.

Oklahoma is not unfamiliar territory for Coach Kruger, who played at Kansas State and then later coached there as well. During a press conference yesterday, Coach Kruger had some high praise for his new employers.

Lon Kruger - AP Photo/Isaac Brekken

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