Jeff Capel was just shaking his head late Saturday afternoon in Kansas City. He had just seen his team play very poorly against Texas. Just 24 hours earlier he watched them struggle against a very bad Colorado team.

     There wasn’t any room for optimism at that point. His team came into the Big 12 tournament playing very well. It left playing very poorly.

     Most media insiders were saying Oklahoma could get a seventh seed at best for the NCAA tournament. There was even a chance they could fall to an eight seed. That’s not good because if you win that first game, you’re playing either a one or two seed in your second game.

     Well, the Sooners got a reward this afternoon when the NCAA committee awarded them a sixth seed. This was almost more than they could have hoped for because of the way they played in Kansas City. They got about as good of a draw as they could have asked for.

     Now the question is how far can they go?

     Well, if they played like they did in the Big 12 tourney, they will not get beat St. Joseph’s. No way! This isn’t a bad team they are playing.

     But if they play like they did in their last three regular season encounters against Texas A&M, at Oklahoma State and Missouri, then they might be able to do a little damage in Birmingham.

     The key for this club, and it’s been this way all season, is the guard play. When they shoot the ball well, they’re a decent team. When they don’t shoot it well, they are very bad.

     Capel doesn’t know what to expect. How can he? The guards have neen inconsistent all year long. They are up and down. You just don’t know what you are going to get from this group.

    No matter what happens in the NCAA tournament this has to be considered a good year for the Sooners. Capel has done a really good job with this club. There are too many limitations.

     However, it would be a disappointment if Oklahoma didn’t win at least one game in Birmingham this weekend. Sixth seeds are supposed to beat 11th seeds.