You weighed in: Why did the Sooners get left out of the NCAA Tournament?

The Sooner men's basketball team was first to miss the cut on Selection Sunday, excluding them from the NCAA Tournament. The team had been 20-12 this season and 8-10 in the Big 12 Conference.

We asked readers why they thought the Sooners got left out from a March Madness lineup. Here's what they had to say:

Email, survey form responses

● It takes more than an overall record. You need a winning record in conference play. Texas and TCU both had one more conference win. It was poor PR to turn down the NIT invite.

― Ken Cunningham

● Because they weren’t good enough.

— Paul Bohannon

• Three reasons — one outside of Oklahoma's control, one within, and one we likely will never know:

1. THE NON-CONFERENCE. The Sooners soared to a 13-1 non-conference record and No. 9 national ranking spearheaded by four neutral site wins in a 19-day stretch over Iowa, Southern Cal, Providence, and Arkansas. In December, OU's non-conference slate was looked at as stellar. By season's end, it ranked near the bottom of Power 5 schools. The four notable victories ended up being duds, including preseason Top 25 USC and Arkansas both finishing 2023-24 with losing records, while Iowa and Providence played below program standards.

2. RESULTS AGAINST BIG 12 TOURNAMENT TEAMS. OU stumbled to a ninth place Big 12 finish and went 2-10 against the eight NCAA Tournament teams from the Big 12. The Sooners' produced two quality wins at home over Iowa State and BYU but finished 0-5 on the road against the conference's top eight squads, losing by an average of 13 points a game.

3. LATE SEASON INJURIES. Injuries to key players played a role in OU stumbling to a 1-4 finish and despite reports the Sooners would be back to full strength for the Big 12 Tournament, head coach Porter Moser elected to rest starters Javian McCollum and Rivaldo Soares and did not activate backup big man John Hurley IV. OU lost to TCU 77-70. The game was never in doubt and the final score was only respectable thanks to a late-game surge by the Sooners. TCU leap-frogged the Sooners to claim the Big 12's final spot in the Big Dance. Did Moser and Co. feel the Sooners were safely in the NCAA field prior to their Big 12 Tournament opener? As it turns out, the loss in Kansas City was the final dagger. Win and Oklahoma is in. Finish ninth in your conference and bow out in your postseason opener — not a combination any bubble team wants to put in the selection committee's hands.

— Brad Lund, Oklahoma City

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Why did Sooners get left out of NCAA Tournament? Here's what you said.