Ewwwww, this scares me about Oklahoma:
As conference season begins, several teams will enter the league play overrated based on a couple of key wins and glowing records overall against mainly light non-conference schedules. There can be great value early in conference play going against these teams as the national perception and ranking at this juncture in the season is often far off from where the team will likely end up by season’s end. Here are five teams that are ranked or on the verge of being ranked that may be overvalued based on recent results. These are all solid teams that could well make the NCAA tournament but these teams will not likely hold up in the postseason and could be teams to play against when they are favored or overvalued against quality competition, particularly away from home.
Oklahoma: The Sooners have climbed high in the rankings and many expect this to be a top ten team for the rest of the season. Blake Griffin is a rare talent that will be drafted high in next year’s NBA draft if he stays healthy. Unfortunately Oklahoma has not been a great defensive team and entering a tough Big 12 schedule and postseason play the Sooners are likely to slip up. A look at the early season schedule presents few high quality wins and several struggles against decent but not great teams. Oklahoma’s best wins over USC and Davidson both came by slim margins despite being played at home. The win over Purdue in New York looks nice as well but the Boilermakers have not been as strong as many projected. The top four opponents have all scored 72 points or more against Oklahoma and Arkansas posted 96 points to hand the Sooners their first loss. Oklahoma will end up with a strong record but expecting a Big 12 title or a deep tournament run is a stretch.
As conference season begins, several teams will enter the league play overrated based on a couple of key wins and glowing records overall against mainly light non-conference schedules. There can be great value early in conference play going against these teams as the national perception and ranking at this juncture in the season is often far off from where the team will likely end up by season’s end. Here are five teams that are ranked or on the verge of being ranked that may be overvalued based on recent results. These are all solid teams that could well make the NCAA tournament but these teams will not likely hold up in the postseason and could be teams to play against when they are favored or overvalued against quality competition, particularly away from home.
Oklahoma: The Sooners have climbed high in the rankings and many expect this to be a top ten team for the rest of the season. Blake Griffin is a rare talent that will be drafted high in next year’s NBA draft if he stays healthy. Unfortunately Oklahoma has not been a great defensive team and entering a tough Big 12 schedule and postseason play the Sooners are likely to slip up. A look at the early season schedule presents few high quality wins and several struggles against decent but not great teams. Oklahoma’s best wins over USC and Davidson both came by slim margins despite being played at home. The win over Purdue in New York looks nice as well but the Boilermakers have not been as strong as many projected. The top four opponents have all scored 72 points or more against Oklahoma and Arkansas posted 96 points to hand the Sooners their first loss. Oklahoma will end up with a strong record but expecting a Big 12 title or a deep tournament run is a stretch.
