OU freshman Jeremiah Fears ready to take over the Madness?

For all the ups and downs of the OU basketball season, the only thing that matters is being included in the NCAA Tournament.

You simply have to have the ticket punched. That occurred Sunday evening, with OU earning a No. 9 seed to take on No. 8 seed Connecticut on Friday night.

Then you start to evaluate the Sooners, and you’re allowed to get a little more excited. Because OU has a lot of checkmarks when it comes to being successful in March. A lot of things you can point toward in making a run in the Big Dance.

Head coach Porter Moser broke through in his fourth season in Norman to make the tournament. But we know what has happened when he’s gotten there. A trip to the Final Four in 2018 and a Sweet 16 berth in 2021 that included taking down a No. 1 seed (Illinois) in the second round.

And then you need guard play. Guards can take you a long way, and OU is in as good of shape as possible with freshman star Jeremiah Fears.

“Just his growth. Just watching his growth, that we’ve talked many times, a lot of you here, of the journey of his age and being thrown into no question the No. 1 league of all time,” Moser said. “And to be thrown into that league where there’s so many older people; all the point guards were old. And to watch him not get flustered and just keep working at it to get better. I think he’s playing his best basketball, growth-wise.

“Just so happy, you know, a number of them, we just hugged and said, ‘This is what we talked about when we recruited you. This is what we want, to go where we’re going. Now it’s time where it’s not our destination; now it’s time to go chase one, one at a time.’ That’s what I told them. One at a time, and let’s go chase it.”

The trajectory of this team, however, changed after a rough borderline embarrassing loss to LSU. Something clicked with Fears. He went from being hesitant, shy to take contact to become one of the best players in the country.

Not just freshmen, not just SEC, but the country.

The last seven games? Fears is averaging 22.7 points, 5.5 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per contest. That was amplified even more with what he did last week in Nashville in the SEC Tournament.

“It’s been amazing, even in the SEC Tournament for him to score 57 points in two games,” senior captain Jalon Moore said. “Be able to play at a great pace. His game has matured. He’s playing at a high level. That’s going to continue throughout the tournament. He’s special, special talent, special kid. He comes in here and works his butt off. I’m proud of him, just to see his growth this whole season.”

As everybody was getting write to the eulogy of the season and for Moser, here came Fears to change it all up. A freshman simply decided he wanted to play more basketball.

Fears, after all, gives all credit to his teammates and the staff for keeping him going. Because it was rough during that early part and during that five-game funk that had OU at 16-10. He has figured it out time and time again.

If Fears can figure it out against the Huskies, get another crack at top-seeded Florida, but let’s try to not get ahead of ourselves.

OU, after all, is playing its best ball of the season. Not surprisingly or coincidentally, it’s happening as Fears has gone to that next level.

“It helps a lot,” Fears said. “Want to credit my teammates and my coaches just constantly keeping confidence throughout me and my team. They do a great job just helping us stay connected and be on the same page.”