Oklahoma State Gets All But One Last Place Vote in Preseason Poll

The Big 12 released the Preseason Coaches Poll for basketball on Friday, just a few days ahead of Basketball Media Day. Like 2017, Oklahoma State was picked to finish dead last in the conference.

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Kansas was the unanimous number one pick, followed by Kansas State and West Virginia.

With just 10 points, that means the Cowboys were picked last by eight coaches and second to last by one other.

It’s the exact place and number of points Mike Boynton’s squad received ahead of his first season at the helm of the program. But, as we recall, the Cowboys surprised everyone by finishing in a four-way tie for 6th place. Their 21-5 record included some impressive wins over Florida State, Texas Tech, West Virginia, and Kansas (twice).

It is understandable why expectations for Oklahoma State this season are a bit tempered. The Cowboys lost their top three scorers, and four of their top five from 2017. Throw in a suspension to expected starter Michael Weathers, and eight newcomers expected to contribute major minutes to the team and you can understand why there is more confidence in the other nine teams in the league.

All that said, Head Coach Mike Boynton certainly seemed excited and optimistic about the season when he met with the media on Thursday.

“I am certainly excited for the season being here,” said Boynton. “I’m excited to see our guys go out there and do the one thing that I can’t do for them: start to gain some experience. I can put them through a lot of drills and teach them how things are going to happen, but when they go out there for the first time and get knocked over, I can’t do that for them. I love the group. I think they have potential long-term, but we’re at a phase where this is a team that will look much different from last year’s team due to experience. But we feel like they’re the right type of kids that we want to build the program with.”

The season officially tips off on Saturday, Nov. 10th with the Cowboys traveling to Charlotte, North Carolina to face the Charlotte 49ers.