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OU Basketball: Oklahoma Drops One Spot in AP Poll Heading into NCAA Tournament

After falling to Iowa State in the Big 12 Semifinals, the Sooners fell in the AP Poll ahead of March Madness.
Randall Sweet|
OU Basketball: Oklahoma Drops One Spot in AP Poll Heading into NCAA Tournament
OU Basketball: Oklahoma Drops One Spot in AP Poll Heading into NCAA Tournament

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Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma came in at No. 18 in the newest edition of the AP Top 25, which was released on Monday. 

After being slotted at No. 17 in last week's AP Poll, the Sooners fell 85-68 to Iowa State in Kansas City last Monday, eliminating the Big 12 regular season champions from the conference tournament in the semifinals. 

Despite a solid performance from junior guard Payton Verhulst, OU had trouble slowing down the Cyclones on defense, and were uncharacteristically cold from the field and from 3-point range on offense.

Jennie Baranczyk and company earned a No. 5-seed in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night and will take on No. 12-seed Florida Gulf Coast in Bloomington, IN at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 23.

Texas, who earned a No. 1-seed in the Big Dance after winning the Big 12 Conference Tournament, came in at No. 4 in the latest AP Poll with Kansas State checking in at No. 15 and Baylor at No. 19. 

The Sooners swept the Longhorns this year and finished with a 15-3 record in conference play to take home their second consecutive regular season title. 

Oklahoma has now won at least 20 games and made the NCAA Tournament in each of Baranczyk's first three years at the helm, but were defeated in the Round of 32 each of the previous two seasons. 

If OU is able to get past the Eagles in the opening round this season, it will meet the winner of No. 4-seed Indiana and No. 13-seed Fairfield. A contest against the Hoosiers would be on their home court, creating a tough matchup for the Sooners. 

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Randall Sweet
RANDALL SWEET

Randall is a recruiting analyst and staff writer at AllSooners focusing primarily on OU Football and the recruiting trail. Working as a journalist, Randall has covered the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and high school sports across the state. A 2022 University of Oklahoma graduate, Randall hails from Lubbock, TX. While in college, Sweet wrote for the OU Daily in addition to working with Sooner Sports Pad and OU Nightly. Following his time at OU, Sweet served as the Communications Coordinator at Visit Oklahoma City before leaving to join the team at AllSooners. The West Texas native has bylines in the Norman Transcript and is a Staff Writer for Inside the Thunder. Randall holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK. 

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