Oklahoma State Basketball Bracketology

The Cowboys were riding high entering a Big Monday matchup with Baylor this week, having won two straight games against ranked opponents. While that momentum carried over with another huge road win against the ranked Bears, the Pokes were caught looking ahead against a struggling TCU team.

*RPI and SOS stats courtesy CBS.com

OSU climbed four spots to #20 in the RPI after a really impressive win against Baylor. That win set the Cowboys up to potentially end the week no worse than 4th place in the conference if they took care of business against TCU. Unfortunately, the Pokes played poorly which resulted in the worse loss of the season. While it won't be completely devastating to the resume, OSU could have - and should have - gotten another conference road win.

Lets take a look at latest bracket projections for the Cowboys:

*All Projections as of 2/15

Clearly the Cowboys are surging up the projections with key wins over quality opponents. All three projections listed were updated prior to the loss to TCU, so I would expect the Cowboys to drop slightly in these brackets. It will be imperative for the Pokes to put this loss behind them and finish the regular season strong in order to avoid a dreaded 8-9 first round match-up.

Here is where OSU falls in the latest rankings on BracketMatrix.com, which averages the seeding of 86 different bracket projections.

*Last Updated 2/15 at 11:45 AM

Again, the latest update includes brackets that have not been updated with the results from this weekend. The Pokes were trending up in the Bracket Matrix, and had a chance possibly enter the 4-5 seed range with 2 wins this week. The TCU loss will set them back, and OSU will need to put together a few more wins get back into position of getting a 5 seed or higher.

Key Upcoming Games

Based on current RPI rankings

2/18 Oklahoma State vs. #13 Iowa State

One way for the Cowboys to erase the TCU loss would be to knock off the Cyclones at home.

2/21 Oklahoma State vs. #28 West Virginia

The Cowboys really need to at least split the two meetings against the Mountaineers in order to maintain or improve the position they are in.

Mock Selection Exercise

Several members of the college basketball national media were invited to participate in a mock selection committee to get a glimpse of just how difficult the task of forming the final bracket really is. After several days of analyzing and debating every possible candidate, the committee drafted a ranking of all 68 teams and filled out the final bracket on Sunday.

Oklahoma State came in at #17 in the rankings, and ended up as a 5 seed in the South Region and matched up against Woffard. Here's hoping that the Pokes can match or improve their slot in the projected bracket.

#Sooners #okstate RT @GeorgeSchroeder: Breaking #mockselection until a.m. List could change some: pic.twitter.com/9JzBYRIsXk

— Guerin Emig (@GuerinEmig) February 13, 2015

Check out the full ranking from the selection committee and final bracket here.