What's on the Line for Oklahoma at the SEC Tournament?

Oklahoma comes into the SEC Tournament without a ton to lose, but with plenty to gain.

The top-seeded Sooners open the tournament against either LSU or Georgia at approximately 7 p.m. in Lexington, Ky.

How important is the SEC Tournament to Oklahoma’s postseason fate?

While the Sooners are “just” No. 6 in the RPI, Oklahoma’s run through the SEC, their offensive numbers and their recent pitching success figures to put them in position to at least be a top-three seed nationally.

There are plenty of other SEC candidates for one of those top spots.

Alabama and Texas figure to be the likely next teams up for top seeds.

The Crimson Tide are No. 2 in the RPI (behind only Arkansas), have series wins over the Razorbacks and Longhorns this season plus two non-conference wins at Florida State on their resume.

Texas, the defending national champions, slipped some late with series losses to Alabama, Oklahoma and Arkansas over the final month-plus of the regular season, plus a non-conference loss to Oklahoma State. But the Longhorns still have a solid overall resume that includes splitting games early against Nebraska and wins over Washington, Arizona and Stanford to go along with their solid overall SEC showing.

Florida might need a run in Lexington to reach such lofty heights, especially after dropping two of three to Georgia to close out the regular season.

The Gators did win a series against Tennessee but the non-conference resume isn’t exactly glowing.

Florida, the No. 3 seed, will get a chance to burnish its resume at the tournament, but might need two wins to get back into the discussion for a top-four seed.

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The Razorbacks come into the tournament as the No. 7 seed but Arkansas could be seeded better in the NCAA Tournament than they are the SEC Tournament, as a late win over the Sooners in Game 2 of that series, plus taking two of three at Texas last weekend could have Arkansas in position to earn a lofty seed, especially if they are able to get past second-seeded Alabama in Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup.

The candidates for the top seeds outside of the SEC have been thinned out a bit.

UCLA dropped two of three to Oregon at home to close the regular season and Texas Tech dropped a game to Baylor on Friday and is down at No. 12 in the RPI.

Nebraska, led by former Sooner star Jordy Frahm (formerly Jordy Bahl) might be the biggest threat to supplant the Sooners as the top overall seed.

The Cornhuskers come into this week’s Big Ten Tournament on an 18-game winning streak, having last lost March 28 against UCLA.

An SEC Tournament championship, which eluded Oklahoma last season after the title game was washed out due to rain, would likely make the Sooners the top overall seed when the field is revealed Sunday (6 p.m., ESPN2).

Oklahoma has series wins over Arkansas, LSU, Texas and Texas A&M, and non-conference wins over Arizona, Arizona State and Duke.

Oklahoma has been the No. 2 seed each of the last two seasons, winning the title from that spot in 2024 before finishing its Women’s College World Series run in the semifinals last season as No. 6 seed Texas won its first WCWS title.

Patty Gasso has said she’s unconcerned about seeds as long as her team gets a chance to host in regionals and super regionals, which is locked in no matter how the Sooners do at the SEC Tournament.

A strong performance there, though, could not only help OU build momentum, but also help give the Sooners a better path to Oklahoma City.

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