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The Cowboys got some much needed time off during the week, and the hope was the players would be re-energized to put together a strong run to end the season. In the midst of a 3 game losing streak, OSU was looking to right the ship with a road win against one of the league's worst teams. Instead, the Pokes fell short in Lubbock and are now in serious jeopardy of being squarely on the bubble with only one week left in the season.
OKLAHOMA STATE RESUME |
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17-11 Overall | 7-9 Big 12 (7th) |
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|
Home |
Away |
Neutral |
SOS |
SOS Rank |
RPI |
RPI Rank |
| 10-4 | 4-7 | 3-0 | 0.5953 | 6 | 0.5853 | 38 |
Quality Wins (Teams Ranked 1-50 in the RPI) |
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|
Rank |
Date |
Site |
Opponent |
Score |
||
| 2 | 2/7 | Home | Kansas | 67-62 | ||
| 9 | 1/27 | Home | Baylor | 64-53 | ||
| 9 | 2/15 | Road | Baylor | 74-65 | ||
| 30 | 1/26 | Neutral | Tulsa | 73-58 | ||
| 49 | 1/10 | Home | Texas | 69-58 | ||
| 49 | 2/4 | Road | Texas | 65-63 (OT) | ||
Bad Losses (Teams Ranked 100+ in the RPI) |
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|
Rank |
Date |
Site |
Opponent |
Score |
||
| 123 | 2/15 | Away | TCU | 55-70 | ||
| 176 | 2/28 | Away | Texas Tech | 62-63 | ||
*RPI and SOS stats courtesy CBS.com
The loss to Texas Tech is the worst loss of the year, and was evident when the Pokes fell from 30th to 38th in the RPI. A major factor in the selection process for the committee is determining how well a team is playing late in the year, and the Cowboys are on a serious slide losing four straight and dropping 18 spots from the season high ranking of 21 just a few weeks ago. Kansas State and South Carolina have both climbed into the top 100 of the rankings, which drops the total in the bad loss column to 2. OSU still has one of the toughest schedules in the country, which is helping the cause some.
Here is the latest bracket projections for the Cowboys:
Bracket Projections |
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Site |
Seed |
Region |
Opponent |
Site |
| SBN | 7 | South | Michigan State | Portland |
| ESPN | 8 | South | Texas A&M | Charlotte |
| CBS | 9 | West | LSU | Pittsburgh |
*All Projections as of 3/1
CBS is the only bracket that has been updated following the Saturday loss, and Jerry Palm dropped OSU from a 7 to a 9 seed. I expect the Pokes to be a 9 seed at best in the other two brackets later in the week. Wednesday's Senior Night meeting with TCU now becomes a must win to stop the bleeding. A victory over the Horned Frogs will not improve their projected seed, but a loss would almost certainly put OSU on the bubble.
The latest seeding on BracketMatrix.com still has the Cowboys sitting at at 7 seed.
Seed |
Team |
Conference |
Average Seed |
# of Brackets |
| 6 | Butler | Big East | 5.61 | 75 |
| 6 | Southern Methodist | American | 5.69 | 75 |
| 6 | Virginia Commonwealth | Atlantic 10 | 6.21 | 75 |
| 6 | Georgetown | Big East | 6.24 | 75 |
| 7 | Providence | Big East | 6.52 | 75 |
| 7 | San Diego State | Mountain West | 7.12 | 75 |
| 7 | Oklahoma State | Big 12 | 7.83 | 75 |
| 7 | Michigan State | Big Ten | 8 | 75 |
| 8 | Ohio State | Big Ten | 8.04 | 73 |
| 8 | Indiana | Big Ten | 8.41 | 75 |
| 8 | St. John's | Big East | 8.49 | 75 |
| 8 | Xavier | Big East | 8.51 | 74 |
*Last Updated 3/1 at 12:48 PM
Thankfully, all 75 brackets have the Cowboys in the tournament. However, only 30 brackets have been updated today, so expect OSU to fall to an 8 or 9 seed when the rest of the projections come out this week.
If Oklahoma State can win on Wednesday, the season finale at West Virginia provides an opportunity to make one last statement against a ranked team heading into the Conference Tournament. Also, if the Pokes want to stay out of the opening round games next week they will need to climb out of 7th in the Big 12.