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.

The Big 12 conference announced on Saturday their All-Big 12 men’s basketball teams and three Oklahoma Sooners made the cut.

Amath M’Baye, Steven Pledger and Romero Osby were all three named to the team with Osby being selected to the first-team. Both M’Baye and Pledger were selected for third-team. Osby is the first Sooner to be selected to the conference first-team since Blake Griffin in 2009.

Osby led the Sooners in scoring in 13 of the 18 Big 12 games they played in. Osby hit 20 points six times in Big 12 play, and had at least 26 points three times.  He scored a career-high 31 points Feb. 27 against Texas.

M’Baye averaged 10-points and 5.3 rebounds a game to rank third and second on the team. M’Baye received Rookie of the Week honors twice from the Big 12 this season.

Pledger ranks second on the team with 12-points per game. He is also the best perimeter shooter the Sooners have on the roster. Pledger also ranks in second of all-time when it comes to the three-point range, averaging 16-points per game in the last seven games of the season.

The Big 12 tournament starts this week in Kansas City and the Sooners are entering in as a four-seed. They will take on Iowa State first, who is a five-seed on Thursday morning at 11:30 CST.

This year has been flying by and the result is that college basketballs season is already at the close of the regular season. The Oklahoma Sooners men’s team will host West Virginia on Wednesday in their last home game of the season at the Lloyd Noble. Good news for Sooner fans heading to the game is that word on the street, Buddy Hield will be returning to the court. Hield has been out since February 11th, after breaking his foot against TCU.

The Sooners have one more away game, at TCU, on March 9th before the Big 12 Championship tournament. The Championship is in Kansas City this year and starts March 13th. Despite the outcome in the conference tournament, the 19-9 Sooners are projected to go anywhere in the 7-10 round in the NCAA tournament. It just depends on which site you decide to trust.

As for the ladies, the Big 12 tournament starts on March 9th for them. The No. 3 seed Sooners will take on West Virginia first. They are tied with the Lady Red Raiders for third in the conference and have a 21-9 record.

Oklahoma is 22-12 all-time in the Big 12 Championship and  they are tied with Baylor, with a league-leading four tournament titles in its history. Baylor still has Brittney Griner playing for them, so there’s that when it comes to the odds of the Sooners beating Baylor in the champ game.

Interesting fact though: the last time the Big 12 tournament was in Dallas (2006), where the tournament is this time around, the Sooners played Baylor and beat them in the the finals to win the conference. It was also in Dallas in 2004 and guess what? They won that one, too.

With the Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball team losing to the Kansas Jayhawks over the weekend, they are now sitting at 4-2 in conference play. While No. 3 Kansas was expected to win, the dominance on the court in their 67-54 win really showed why they are always ranked high when it comes to basketball.

It has been pointed out by many that the road the Sooners have in front of them for the next few weeks is going to stay rough. The have to take on the Jayhawks again on February 9th. Before that, they face Baylor (which is Wednesday), Kansas State and Iowa State. Kansas State being the other Big 12 team the Sooners have lost to.

The No. 20 women’s team on the other hand is sitting at 5-2 in conference play, just recently losing to the No. 1 team in the country, the Baylor Bears. The Brittney Griner-lead Bears are looking to repeat their 2011 Championship performance and are sitting at 8-0 in the Big 12 and 18-1 overall.

The Sooner women are hosting TCU on Wednesday and looking for the season sweep. In just a little over a month, it will be Big 12 tourney time.

Where has the season already gone?!?!

The Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball team will be hosting the Texas Longhorns on Monday Night and will be televised Nationally on ESPN’s Big Monday at 8:35 CST. The Sooners (12-4, 3-1) snapped their five game winning streak after falling to the Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday, 69-60.

The Longhorns aren’t having the best of basketball seasons so far, with a record of 8-9 and 0-4 in conference play. They have a 1-7 record on the road for this season. Their latest lost came at home though, as the hosted the Kansas Jayhawks and fell, 64-59. Three of the Horns losses have come in overtime so far this season; two of them being Big 12 teams.

The Sooners are looking for a little bit of redemption, as the Longhorns won both meetings between the two last season. Despite the start, the Longhorns lead the nation in field goal percentage on defense and 3-point field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot just .345 and .248, respectively, on the season.

This 2012 Sooners team is a vast improvement over last season. They are currently ranked 21st and are projected to go in the NCAA tournament as either an 8th or a 9th seed. Oklahoma has already won as many games away from home this year as it did over the last two seasons combined (6-25 record). The Sooners will play at least eight more games away from Norman this season.

The Sooners are currently in a three-way tie for third place in the Big 12 with Iowa State and Baylor. The Longhorns are currently sitting at ninth.

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.

Conference play has started for Big 12 Basketball and the Oklahoma Sooners are hosting a men’s and women’s double header on Saturday in Norman.

The men’s team will be hosting a Bedlam match-up between Oklahoma State, who is 11-3 and 1-1 in conference. The Sooners are 10-3 and 1-0 in conference, beating WVU in game one. The last eight times they have played in Norman, the Sooners have won eight straight. And as always when it comes to Bedlam, own the series. This is the men’s home-opener for the season.

The women are playing host to Texas Tech, who are 12-3 and 2-1 in conference. They lady Sooners are 3-0 in conference play and 13-2 on the season. Their last win came on the road against TCU, 85-79. The No. 16 Sooners have done well, even without one of their stars, Whitney Hand-Jones. Out of the last 15 match-ups with the Red Raiders, the Sooners have taken 14 of those.

The men will tip off first, at 2:00 PM, followed by the women at 7:00 on Saturday. Both games are being played at the Lloyd Noble Center.

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.

This year’s All-College Classic basketball game in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma will feature the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas A&M Aggies. This is obviously the first time these two teams have met since the Aggies joined the SEC back during the Summer.

The classic’s first game was in 1935, out-dating even the NCAA when it comes to NCAA tournaments being played, so it makes it the oldest basketball tournament still being played today. This is the first year that the Oklahoma State Cowboys will actually not play in the classic, which the tournament stated that they were changing formats. It looks like that format ended up being just a one game event. So now it just sits as an exhibition game. And not even a tournament. You follow? It took me a minute, too.

The Aggies are 7-1 on the season while the Sooners are sitting at 6-2. The game is scheduled for Saturday, December 15th at 1:00 CST and is being played at Chesapeake Energy Arena, home of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Oklahoma Sooners are in Orlando for the Thanksgiving holiday competing in the Old Spice Classic Basketball Tournament. They played UTEP on Thursday night and won, 68-61 to advance to the semi-final round to play an undefeated Gonzaga team on Friday.

Sooners head coach Lon Kruger after the win on Thanksgiving:

It was a great start. You’d like to start all ballgames like that, not only on the scoreboard, but the energy was good and the activity defensively was very good, and there were very few turnovers on the offense at the other end.

Romero Osby was the Sooners go-to guy against the Miners with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

The game against the Bulldogs will be a much tougher challenge for the Sooners to overcome. They are very well coached and a physically a threat. Especially with the return of  Kelly Olynyk back for the Bulldogs. The 7-foot Olynyk had 13 points in 24 foul-plagued minutes Thursday in his season debut after being out due to a violation of the student code of conduct. Some of their other stars, like Sam Dower, is averaging 11.5 points per game. Freshman Przemek Karnowski averaged a team-high 16.0 points before he was held scoreless on Thanksgiving day.

The winner will face either Davidson or West Virginia in the finals.