It seems like every week, the SEC standings get flipped on their ear — and, in a year in which seemingly the entire conference is at least on the bubble, NCAA Tournament projections with them. This Saturday has been no different, with Tennessee staking their claim to a one seed in the Big Dance with a big win at Texas A&M.
But there's also been some notable movement a bit further down the conference leaderboard. Oklahoma has been in a major tailspin in SEC play, with six losses in seven games and a 3-10 record since the start of January spoiling a perfect 13-0 start that had the Sooners inside the top 15 in the AP rankings. Despite all that, Porter Moser's team still found itself right on the bubble, ranking as the first team out per Joe Lunardi's latest Bracketology projections on Friday afternoon.
And on Saturday, they finally managed to turn the tide, toppling No. 21 Mississippi State at home in a win that could have huge ramifications — not only for their own tourney hopes, but those of some prominent conference rivals.
SEC Bracketology: Oklahoma upset over Mississippi State could doom Arkansas' tourney hopes
The Sooners' case was iffy entering Saturday, with a NET ranking in the 50s and a recent tailspin. It's hard to overstate how big the win over the Bulldogs is: Because Mississippi State entered play Saturday at 26th in NET ranking, this counts as a Quad 1 win, running OU's record to 5-8 in that department (and a respectable 7-9 across Quads 1 and 2).
Arkansas, meanwhile, is just 3-9 in Quad 1 and 4-11 in Quads 1 and 2 so far, pending the result of a huge game against a top-15 Missouri team on Saturday night. Oklahoma still has home dates against Kentucky and Mizzou as well as road tests against Ole Miss and Texas, Quad 1 opportunities all. 2-2 in those four probably does the job regardless of what happens in the conference tournament, and could take the spot previously ticketed for the Razorbacks unless John Calipari's team (which lost to Oklahoma earlier this season) closes very strong.