clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Oklahoma State Basketball Bracketology

One week remains for the Cowboys to make their case for the NCAA Tournament

Phil Forte and the Pokes look to make one last statement before Selection Sunday
Phil Forte and the Pokes look to make one last statement before Selection Sunday
Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

After a much needed victory over TCU on Wednesday, the Cowboys dropped another game to WVU this weekend. While the loss doesn't really hurt the Cowboys seeding - being a road loss against a ranked opponent - they certainly missed an opportunity for one last statement win heading into post season.

OKLAHOMA STATE RESUME

18-12 Overall | 8-10 Big 12 (6th)

Home

Away

Neutral

SOS

SOS Rank

RPI

RPI Rank

11-4 4-8 3-0 0.5847 12 0.5811 45
Quality Wins (Teams Ranked 1-50 in the RPI)

Rank

Date

Site

Opponent

Score

2 2/7 Home Kansas 67-62
10 1/27 Home Baylor 64-53
10 2/15 Road Baylor 74-65
43 1/10 Home Texas 69-58
43 2/4 Road Texas 65-63 (OT)
47 1/26 Neutral Tulsa 73-58
Bad Losses (Teams Ranked 100+ in the RPI)

Rank

Date

Site

Opponent

Score

135 2/15 Away TCU 55-70
176 2/28 Away Texas Tech 62-63

*RPI and SOS stats courtesy CBS.com

The Cowboys were 39th in the RPI prior to Saturday's game, so the loss only dropped them six spots. The strength of schedule is still one of the toughest in the country, which will help the Pokes on Selection Sunday.

Here is the latest bracket projections for the Cowboys:

Bracket Projections

Site
Seed
Region
Opponent
Site
SBN 10 South San Diego State Seattle
ESPN 11 Midwest SMU Columbus
CBS 8 West NC State Pittsburgh

*All Projections as of 3/8

Last Thursday, these projections were all very similar. It appears that each bracketologist has differing opinions on the loss to WVU.. The Cowboys dropped from a 9 seed to an 11 in Joe Lunardi's bracket, but stayed at an 8 seed in Jerry Palm's projection. It may not be the worst thing to happen if OSU were to fall to a 10 seed, as they would avoid a second round match-up with a 1 seed if they were to win.

BracketMatrix.com still shows Oklahoma State as an 8 seed despite the loss.

Seed
Team
Conference
Average Seed
# of Brackets
7 Iowa Big Ten 7.36 83
7 St. John's Big East 7.41 83
7 San Diego State Mountain West 7.43 83
7 Virginia Commonwealth Atlantic 10 7.47 83
8 Ohio State Big Ten 7.7 82
8 Michigan State Big Ten 7.71 83
8 Dayton Atlantic 10 8.63 82
8 Oklahoma State Big 12 8.94 83
9 Oregon Pacific-12 8.94 83
9 Xavier Big East 9.14 83
9 Georgia SEC 9.28 83
9 Cincinnati American 9.4 82

The Cowboys are also projected to be in the field in every bracket used for this projection. It still looks like the Cowboys will need a win against a quality opponent to avoid the 8-9 match-up. They will get an opportunity to do just that with a Bedlam match-up this week. A loss will most likely leave them at a 8 or 9 seed, but it's not unreasonable to think that OSU could end up as a 10 or perhaps an 11 seed.