Oklahoma State Bracketology Update: Cowboys on the bubble

Even after Saturday’s blowout win over No. 6 Kansas, national Bracketology experts think Oklahoma State still has work to do to crack the field of 68.

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi gives the Cowboys a better outlook than most, as he has them in the “First Four Out” group. Even without a win over Oklahoma, if something breaks the right way, they could find themselves on the high side.

CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm thinks the chances for Oklahoma State to crack the NCAA Tournament field are far more grim, saying they’d need to beat Kansas again in the Big 12 Tournament to have a shot.

These predictions are pretty confusing, in my opinion. Especially when you factor in this prediction from Andy Katz:

In an article posted after the win over Kansas, he wrote, “The Cowboys could be hard to keep out of the field after that [win].”

In my opinion, Oklahoma State probably needs a win over Oklahoma this weekend to feel good, but I do think what they’ve done should already be enough. They have the most Top 25 wins in the country (which isn’t a metric, but should be valued), and have five Quadrant 1 wins.

The lone metric holding them back is their RPI, an undoubtedly antiquated metric. They rank in the mid 50’s-mid 60’s in every other metric, but rank 88 in RPI. It will be interesting to see how the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee factors that in.

If you want to have a little fun, check out some of these blind resume’s put together by the Tulsa World’s Mark Cooper.