Latest news;Oklahoma’s NIT rejection following its March Madness loss was attributed to “raw emotion” and “lack of time to process.”

After being eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, Oklahoma had little time to determine whether or not to play in the NIT. However, the Sooners eventually turned down their invitation, thereby ending their 2023–24 campaign.

NORMAN — Porter Moser didn’t have to wait long to go from looking for solutions to offering his own.

In the club level of Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, where the team gathered to watch the bracket reveal on Selection Sunday, there was shock and dismay, heartbreak and anger as Oklahoma processed the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s decision to pass over the Sooners for an at-large bid, making them the first team to miss the cut in this year’s field.

After Oklahoma was regularly projected by every major bracketology expert to be among the 68 teams since December 1, Moser found it difficult to justify to his players why they were left out of the committee’s consideration. In the most trying of times, Moser had to ask his squad a crucial question through the anger and the tears: Did they want to play in the NIT?

Oklahoma never imagined themselves playing in the NIT for the second time in three seasons. The Sooners never considered the prospect of a postseason victory because they were so confident they would advance to the NCAA Tournament, which would be a first for each player on the roster this year. Oklahoma thus cast a collective vote and chose not to accept its invitation to compete in the NIT.

Along with Indiana, St. John’s, Pittsburgh, Ole Miss, and Memphis, OU was one of numerous teams that declined to participate in the NIT this year.

“When you were told without a doubt by everyone that you’re in the NCAA Tournament, there wasn’t time to process it,” Moser remarked on Tuesday. “Those guys’ emotions had nothing to do with playing more. They were only able to focus on their pain, and nothing else crossed their minds.

***JOIN SOONERS ILLUSTRATED NOW AND GET YOUR FIRST MONTH FOR $1***

Thus ended Oklahoma’s 2023-24 season, abruptly and without a chance to play for more. The Sooners went 20-12 on the year and finished ninth in the Big 12 with an 8-10 record. They felt they’d done enough to warrant an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and spoke confidently of their opportunity to compete in the Big Dance — and at full strength for the first time in a month, with leading scorer Javian McCollum (shoulder), veteran wing Rivaldo Soares (ankle) and backup center John Hugley (knee) all expected to be available for a postseason run.

Oklahoma would have earned the top seed in the NIT and would have hosted first- and second-round games at the Lloyd Noble Center as the first team out of the NCAA Tournament field. It would have been the Sooners’ seventh all-time trip to the tournament, which was once held in far higher regard than it is in the modern era of collegiate basketball.

Moser stated, “It was never a thought, and it’s definitely not to disparage the NIT.” “It seems like a legendary competition. It will be assumed by others that certain coaches wished to begin using the site. That was not our location. These teenagers had to make a decision in fifteen minutes after hearing devastating news about some of the boys who would never get the chance to play in the NCAA Tournament again. It was an amazing display of real passion. That is the actual situation.

If the NCAA Tournament bracket reveal hadn’t been announced so soon after the NIT selection process, Oklahoma’s choice might have been different. Perhaps the Sooners’ vote would have been different if they had been given a few more days to come to terms with being eliminated from March Madness. However, given that their hopes of participating in the NCAA Tournament had been dashed in front of them on Sunday night, the Sooners as a whole lacked the will to accept an invitation to the NIT.

Ultimately, Oklahoma would have been shorthanded — possibly even down to only five or six available players — had the program chosen to accept the NIT invitation nevertheless, according to Moser. Soares, Maks Klanjscek, and Le’Tre Darthard, the three seniors who are ineligible for next season, all wanted to play, but in the aftermath of the Sooners’ tournament rejection, the NIT “was too far from their mind.” Additionally, it’s uncertain how fit the three injured players might have been for Tuesday or Wednesday’s NIT opening-round match.

Moser remarked, “I understand that the NIT wants to capitalize on the Selection Show.” “I get that. It has always been like way. However, at this particular moment, some folks had time to unwind and realize they weren’t in. Teams come to the realization that they won’t be able to enter after three or four days. After processing that disappointment, they decide to compete in the NIT, but they won’t enter the competition with just five guys. As stated, I assured them that I will

mentor, instruct, grow, compete, get ready, play, and represent all those guys for the University of Oklahoma. And I will carry that out. But together, the government and we came to a decision. If we do it with a small number of guys, it’s almost unjust to the five guys who perform the task.”