OU men's basketball: Three takeaways from the Sooners' 2023-24 conference schedule
Jul. 20—Oklahoma will host three Big 12 newcomers in its final season in the conference.
On Thursday, the Big 12 released the 2023-24 conference schedule, and dates will be released at a later date. Each team will play a home-and-home with five other teams and will then play the other eight conference teams once.
The five teams the Sooners will face twice next season are Cincinnati, Iowa State, Kansas, Oklahoma State and Texas. They'll get BYU, Houston, Texas Tech and West Virginia at home, and Baylor, UCF, Kansas State and TCU on the road.
Here are three takeaways from the Sooners' final Big 12 conference schedule:
Sizing up the newcomers
Cincinnati is the only new addition to face the Sooners in a home-and-home, but Oklahoma will also gets a chance to host newcomers BYU and Houston.
Perhaps none of those games will be more anticipated than when Houston comes to Norman. Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson spent 12 seasons as the Sooners' head coach.
Despite the close distance between the two schools, this will only be their third meeting all-time.
Oklahoma knocked off the Cougars 79-74 in 2011 in a game that was played in Oklahoma City. The Cougars won 100-93 the season before in a game that was played in Anchorage, Alaska.
Rivalries protected
In the conference's schedule release, it said the schedules were determined by using "a combination of geography, historical results and a poll of the coaches to best balance the schedule in terms of travel and competitiveness."
Though rivalries were not specifically mentioned as a criteria for making the schedule, many of the conference's biggest rivals will face off twice this season.
Oklahoma plays Texas and Oklahoma State at each other's arenas; Kansas and Kansas State will face off twice and Texas will face all three of the other Texas schools twice.
Not going back
The new conference schedule format means there are two Big 12 venues the Sooners won't be returning to.
The Sooners won't be making the trip to Morgantown, West Virginia and the historic WVU Coliseum in 2023-24, nor will they face the Red Raiders at United Supermarkets Arena.
Oklahoma came away with a loss in its trip to Morgantown last season, but knocked off the Red Raiders 68-63 in what will be their last meeting in the arena as conference mates.
On the bright side, the Sooners will get the chance to visit several other traditional Big 12 venues one last time before leaving for the SEC. They go on the road to face Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and Baylor, not to mention the big Bedlam game.
Tarik Masri is the sports editor for The Transcript covering OU athletics and area sports. You can reach him by emailing tarik@normantranscript.com
