This past weekend was Conference Championship weekend across the country in both Men’s and Women’s basketball. The Big 12 Championships both took place in Kansas City, Missouri, with the Men’s tournament concluding on Saturday and the Women’s tournament concluding on Sunday. Here’s a recap of how both OU teams fared in their respective tournaments.

We’ll start on the Men’s side with a OU team that desperately needed a solid tournament showing to impress the NCAA Tournament selection committee. Heading into the conference championship, OU was sitting on the outside looking in at the NCAA Tournament according to many bracketologists across the country. Many people said that one to two wins could go a long way for the Sooners and for their tournament hopes.

The Sooners opened their conference tournament as the seven seed against the number two seed Baylor Bears. The Bears swept the season series against the Sooners which lead to a daunting task for OU. However, the Sooners came out fired up and ready to play and ultimately knocked off the Bears to advance to the conference semifinals. The win earned the Sooners a date with the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the semis.

The Sooners and the Red Raiders split their season series, so their matchup in the tournament was serving as a rubber match. The Red Raiders jumped out to an early lead but the Sooners were able to fight back and give us an entertaining final five minutes of the game. The Sooners would lose in heart-breaking fashion though, by a final score of 56-55.

Will a first round win against the number two seed and a hard fought loss against the number three seed be enough to put the Sooners into the tournament? Only time will tell. Sooner nation will be holding its breath.

The OU Women had a completely different mindset heading into their conference tournament. Squarely in the NCAA Tournament conversation, the Sooners were merely hoping to improve their seeding for the Big Dance.

Finishing the fourth best team in the conference this year, the Sooners earned a date against the fifth seeded Kansas Jayhawks Friday morning. The game was very competitive and close throughout the entirety of the first half. Once the second half began however, the Sooners were able to begin to pull away and would go on to comfortably win by a score of 80-68. The win gave the Sooners a date against the Baylor Bears in the conference semifinals.

OU’s game against Baylor did not go as many thought it would. The game was very competitive and tight through the first half. Once the second half began though, Baylor jumped out to a lead and never looked back. The Bears outscored the Sooners 44-36 in the second half and ultimately went on to win the game by a score of 91-76.

So both teams lost in their semifinal games, however their tournament fates could be very different. The OU women could very well be hosting their own regional games for the first and second round of the Big Dance. The men on the other hand could possibly miss out on a tournament bid all together. I believe the are deserving of a bid, but at the end of the day my opinion doesn’t matter. As a fan I hope they get one though. It would be good for the school to have both the Men’s and Women’s teams represented in their respective tournaments.