Joe Lunardi reveals Oklahoma, Michigan State now among 'last four in'

Oklahoma and Michigan State will be sweating it out on Selection Sunday. According to ESPN bracketology expert Joe Lunardi, the Sooners and Spartans are among the “last four in” on the NCAA Tournament bubble following Saturday’s early conference tournament results.

OU and MSU will be rooting hard for North Carolina and Colorado to win their respective conference championships. Both NC State and Oregon, who will face the Tar Heels and Buffaloes, are among the “next four out” according to Lunardi but would steal an automatic bid with wins.

Oklahoma is coming off of a 20-12 finish but has dropped six of its past eight games to end the year. The Sooners have quality victories against quad 1 teams such as Iowa State and Cincinnati.

Meanwhile, Michigan State ended its season 19-14 after falling to Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament. The Spartans have not missed an NCAA Tournament since 1997, and their 25-season streak is the longest active in college basketball.

OU has not made an NCAA Tournament since Porter Moser took over in the 2021-22 season. The Sooners began the season 13-1 but had a rough close to the year in Big 12 play that has now thrown their March Madness hopes in question.

If Oklahoma and Michigan State are indeed among the last four teams to make the NCAA Tournament, they would both compete in a play-in game to set the field at 64. Both will find out their fates when the field is announced at 6 p.m. ET Sunday on CBS.

Joe Lunardi updates No. 1 seeds in NCAA Tournament

It was a wild day of conference tournaments across college basketball and several teams on the NCAA Tournament bubble will pay the price. Purdue, North Carolina and Houston all lost in their respective conference tournaments.

NC State, which was projected among the “next four out” according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, defeated the Tar Heels in the ACC Championship to earn an automatic bid. Oregon was also among the “next four out” but punched its ticket with a win against Colorado in the Pac-12 title game.

Purdue, North Carolina and Houston are all still projected to be No. 1 seeds despite their losses. However, UConn will earn the overall No. 1 seed after winning the Big East Tournament on Saturday.

“Coming into the week we had three teams — Purdue, Houston and UConn — that were in a virtual tie for No. 1 overall,” Lunardi said Saturday on SportsCenter. “UConn is the last man standing. They’re gonna be No. 1 overall tomorrow, but it’s not gonna change anyone’s regional assignments. The Huskies were always gonna be East playing in Brooklyn and Boston. Purdue was always gonna be Midwest and of course Houston South. That leaves North Carolina, another loser tonight, the Tar Heels will be No. 1 out West but they’ll start in Charlotte on Thursday afternoon.”