4 teams snubbed from the NCAA men’s tournament (including Oklahoma!)

It wasn’t a pretty start to conference play for Oklahoma, which lost nine straight games in SEC play to bring in the new year. Though the team recovered to win eight of its next 10 games before suffering a close loss to SEC tournament champion Arkansas in the quarterfinals, that early skid proved to be detrimental.

The Sooners were one of the first four teams left out of the NCAA tournament field.

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Regardless, with the NCAA No. 48 and KenPom No. 40 net rating, it’s hard to argue Oklahoma wouldn’t have been a tough out. Especially with all that late-season momentum and a senior scorer like Nijel Pack, who was averaging about 20 points over his last seven games. Below are the four biggest snubs from the tourney.

1. Oklahoma

Record: 19-15 (7-11 SEC)

Key Wins: at 15 Vanderbilt, vs. Georgia, vs. Missouri, at Texas, vs. Texas A&M

2. Cincinnati

Record: 18-15 (9-9 Big 12)

Key Wins: vs. 2 Iowa State, at 8 Kansas, vs. BYU, vs. UCF

3. San Diego St.

Record: 22-11 (14-6, Mountain West)

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Key Wins: vs. Utah St, vs. New Mexico, vs. Nevada x2, vs. Oregon

4. Florida State

Record: 18-15 (10-8 ACC)

Key Wins: at Miami, at Clemson, vs. SMU, vs. Cal

This article originally appeared on For The Win: Oklahoma, San Diego State among biggest NCAA tournament snubs