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Oklahoma State Basketball Bracketology

A weekly discussion of where the Cowboys will land in the NCAA Tournament

Travis Ford needs to get OSU back on track
Travis Ford needs to get OSU back on track
Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports

The Pokes entered the week reeling after a bad loss against TCU and needing a win or two to get back on track. Unfortunately, the Cowboys suffered two tough losses at home, causing them to slide down the RPI rankings.

OKLAHOMA STATE RESUME

17-10 Overall | 7-8 Big 12 (6th)

Home

Away

Neutral

SOS

SOS Rank

RPI

RPI Rank

10-4 4-6 3-0 0.5955 7 0.5939 30
Key Wins (Teams Ranked 1-50 in the RPI)

Rank

Date

Site

Opponent

Score

1 2/7 Home Kansas 67-62
14 1/27 Home Baylor 64-53
14 2/15 Road Baylor 74-65
41 1/10 Home Texas 69-58
41 2/4 Road Texas 65-63 (OT)
50 1/26 Neutral Tulsa 73-58
Bad Losses (Teams Ranked 100+ in the RPI)

Rank

Date

Site

Opponent

Score

100 1/24 Away Kansas State 53-63
105 12/6 Away South Carolina 49-75
129 2/15 Away TCU 55-70

*RPI and SOS stats courtesy CBS.com

OSU entered last week ranked 25th in the RPI, falling from a season high 20th prior to the TCU loss. However, the Cowboys still looked to be in good shape with several key games left on the schedule including back to back games against ranked opponents at home. The back to back losses dropped the Pokes five spots, which isn't horrible, but they certainly missed a great opportunity to improve their resume with only a few weeks left. The one aspect of the resume the Cowboys have going for them is strength of schedule, as it continues to climb due to the overall talent in the league.

Here is the latest bracket projections for the Cowboys:

Bracket Projections

Site
Seed
Region
Opponent
Site
SBN 7 East Illinois Midwest
ESPN 7 West Iowa Portland
CBS 7 East Illinois Columbus

*All Projections as of 2/20

All three of these projections were last updated before the West Virginia loss, so odds are the Pokes will be in the 8 or 9 seed in these brackets this week when the updates are released. OSU has taken quite a fall in just two weeks, after they were projected as a 4 or 5 seed in almost every bracket out there following the Baylor win.

The latest seeding on BracketMatrix.com paints a little better picture where they Cowboys stand

Seed
Team
Conference
Average Seed
# of Brackets
6 Virginia Commonwealth Atlantic 10 5.52 94
6 Georgetown Big East 6.09 94
6 West Virginia Big 12 6.17 94
6 Southern Methodist American 6.29 94
7 Providence Big East 6.43 94
7 Oklahoma State Big 12 6.72 94
7 San Diego State Mountain West 7.33 94
7 Ohio State Big Ten 7.35 94
8 Indiana Big Ten 7.55 94
8 Michigan State Big Ten 8.44 93
8 Texas Big 12 8.46 94
8 Dayton Atlantic 10 8.57 87

*Last Updated 2/22 at 10:25 AM

20 of the 94 brackets included in the matrix have been updated with results from Saturday, and most of those brackets have the Cowboys as a 7 or 8 seed. With only 1 game against a team in the top 50 of the RPI remaining, it will be tough for OSU to climb much in the rankings before the end of the regular season. The Pokes will need to take care of business this week against TCU and Tech, and then pick up a win at West Virginia or knock off one of the top teams in conference during the Big 12 Tournament to see their seeding improve.