Big 12 Basketball: Buy Or Sell Texas, Baylor, Oklahoma, and TCU

Oklahoma Sooners – Sell

The Oklahoma Sooners are still in the projected NCAA Tournament field at the moment but they are now an 11 seed and continue to drop. They have just a 3-9 conference record to drop their overall record to 15-10.

Two of their conference wins have come against in-state rival Oklahoma State who has an overall record of just 9-14. They haven’t played well lately and haven’t been able to capitalize late in games as they have lost six conference games by eight points or less.

Their non-conference schedule is keeping them in the field at the moment which was the 9th toughest in the country. They didn’t play many top schools but a lot of neutral site games including wins over Florida, Dayton and Wichita State to go with home wins over Wofford and Creighton have given them a resume to stay in the current field.

The 3-9 conference record is very concerning though and with the way, they’re playing people shouldn’t expect them to turn it around. It’s going to be tough but they do have some quality players who are capable of righting the ship.

They are led by a group of seniors and despite some being graduate transfer, they know what it takes to get to the NCAA Tournament. The Sooners went through a similar stretch last season but they’ll need to right the ship now if they want to get into the big dance. Last season they had Trae Young to bail them out when they were struggling and this season they don’t have that guy.

Christian James was expected to be that guy but he just has never taken the next step. He has improved his numbers this season but his efficiency has dropped which has led to some inconsistent play from him as well as the rest of the team. On the season he is averaging 15.4 points and 7 rebounds on 41% shooting from the field and 32% from three-point range.

During the recent five-game losing streak he is averaging just 10 points per game while shooting just 29% from the field including 25% from three-point range. In the Sooners first 18 games of the season, James scored more than 10 points in all but one of them which was a nine-point performance in just 20 minutes of action in a win over North Texas

Brady Manek is the second option on the offense as a sophomore. He’s a perfect stretch four in today’s game but he hasn’t been enough to help this team get some wins. On the season he is averaging 11.6 points and 6.5 rebounds on 45% shooting including 35% from three-point range.

If this team is going to get back on track it has to be a team effort. They need consistent play out of guys like Rashad Odomes, Kristian Doolittle, and Aaron Calixte. Lon Kruger is a very good coach who is more than capable of turning things around. At the moment this is looking like they won’t be a tournament team and unless they pull a complete 180 in terms of their play don’t expect them to be even considered for a spot, let along actually get in.