OU basketball to extend season, accepts invitation to The Crown
The OU basketball season will continue after all. Not in the NCAA Tournament. Not in the NIT. But the ride continues. Welcome to The Crown.
OU has accepted an invitation to play in the eight-team College Basketball Crown next month in Las Vegas.
In its second year, the Crown tournament will take place April 1-5, with first-round games held at MGM Grand Garden Arena (televised by FS1), and the semifinals and championship rounds played at T-Mobile Arena (televised by FOX).
The Sooners (19-15, 7-11 SEC) will take on former fellow Big Eight and Big 12 conference member Colorado (17-15, 7-11 Big 12) on Wednesday, April 1, at 7 p.m. CT.
If OU beats the Buffaloes, it will play the winner of the Baylor-Minnesota first-round game. OU’s semifinals contest would take place Saturday, April 4, at 12:30 p.m. CT and the championship game will be held Sunday, April 5, at 4:30 p.m. CT.
The other side of the bracket features Stanford vs. West Virginia and Creighton vs. Rutgers in April 2 opening-round play.
“We were obviously extremely disappointed to not be selected for the NCAA Tournament,” said OU head coach Porter Moser in a press release, “We felt we played some of the best basketball in the country down the stretch, winning six of our last seven and eight of our last 11 against SEC teams. Our guys were devastated Sunday night.
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“We spent time talking about whether to continue our season in another tournament and we decided as a group we wanted to do that. We’re not ready for this ride to end and we want to keep competing together. The Crown had a very successful first year in 2025 and is comprised of all high-major teams. We’re looking forward to the opportunity to travel to Las Vegas and pursue a championship.”
In addition to being televised, all games will be available on the Fox Sports app. Tickets for the College Basketball Crown are available at www.VividSeats.com.
Oklahoma won six of its final eight regular season games before going 2-1 in the SEC Tournament. The league tourney’s No. 11 seed in Nashville, Tenn., OU beat No. 14 seed South Carolina 86-74 in the opening round and No. 6 seed Texas A&M 83-63 in the second before falling to No. 3 seed and eventual champion Arkansas, 82-79, in quarterfinals action.
OU was deemed the First Team Out of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. It was the second time in three seasons under Moser for that distinction. And third time in five seasons under Moser that OU was among the First Four Out.
Moser is being retained for a sixth season after an announcement from athletic director Roger Denny. But the fifth season won’t end just yet.
