Oklahoma State’s Upset of Kansas Should Get Them to The Dance

After losing 7 games in a row, 3 of which occurred during Marcus Smart’s suspension, the Oklahoma State Cowboys seemed destined for the NIT.  With pretty much no statement wins (split with Memphis) and a 16-10 record, they seemed to be toast.  Then they blew out Texas Tech in Marcus Smart’s return.  Then TCU.  And last night, the Cowboys got their marquee win as they stunned #5 Kansas.  Take them off the bubble, the Cowboys are going dancing.

I checked the spread before the game, and just about every NCAA basketball lines website out there had the Jayhawks as heavy favorites at Oklahoma State.  Kansas continues their up and down season, and should still be able to grab a 2 seed in the NCAA tournament as long as they win the Big 12 tourney.  The seeding for the unranked Oklahoma State Cowboys, however, won’t be that simple to predict.

As of February 27th, Joe Lunardi had OK St penciled in as an 11 seed in his bracketology page.  If you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard of him before, Lundardi is the go-to guy in predicting the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament field every year.  No one knows what his formula is, but he is more than fairly accurate in his predictions.  If the Cowboys continue to roll, they could be looking at a 7 or 8 seed later this month.

I’ll be dropping some knowledge when the tournament field is set.  I still love Florida, and my pre-season pick Arizona is surging yet again.  This year there is no clear-cut favorite, though, as Saturday’s upsets show just how competitive these teams are.  UConn defeated #11 Cincinnati, #12 Virginia absolutely SMOKED #4 Syracuse, and unranked Illinois stunned #18 Michigan State.  Other ranked losers on Saturday included #17 Kentucky, #15 Iowa St, #10 Saint Louis, and #9 Creighton.  No team is safe, and I can’t wait to get down to Texas and watch these teams battle it out for the NCAA Championship.