I stayed pretty quiet this year, but the poorly-kept secret is that OK State has had a fantastic year.  10-0 in non-con, and despite an awful stretch toward the end of the conference schedule (3 losses in a row, two of which were upsets,) we managed to split with TAMU and Texas, to SWEEP Oklahoma, and to beat Kansas!

The Big 12 has had an excellent year, too:

So we're doing well going into the CT: lock for the NT, still in the running for a 2-seed, got a conference championship under our belt... and a few of the Cowboys might even get drafted:

• Dennis Wood put up 17.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game on .562 shooting.
• Gary Warf put up 10.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.6 steals per game.  But he had some iffy shooting percentages - down the stretch, he shot 18/67 (.269).  Yecch.
• Shawn Mathewson's 11.9 PPG ranks third among Big 12 non-seniors (behind Alan Root of Kansas and Floyd Hoffman of Nebraska, both very likely draftees) and his 5.8 RPG is solid, too.  I'd love for him to declare early.

But of course, the key to getting people drafted is to do well in the NT - and that's no easy task.  OK State has 1 NT win ever, and that was fifteen seasons ago.  And before we even get THERE, we have to do well in the CT, which OK State is the only team in the Big 12 to have never won.

Here's the conference tourney bracket:



Frankly, we dodged a bullet here.  On paper, it looks like four or the five teams I should be worried about - Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, and TAMU - are on the other side of the bracket.  But we only beat Colorado by nine in Stillwater, and I'd really rather not have to beat our in-state rival Sooners three times in one season in order to advance.

My picks: Nebraska over TAMU, Texas over Kansas, Oklahoma over K State, OK State over Colorado.  Kansas def. Oklahoma in the final for the Jayhawks' 11th CT championship.

Actual result: TAMU over Nebraska (2OT,) Texas over Kansas, K State over Mizzou, OK State over Colorado.  Now, we have a OK State-TAMU final; the two teams split the season series, but it was damn close (2-point win for us, 11 for them.)  TAMU is the more talented team, but OK State has experience (all IQs at B+ or better) and depth (11-deep vs. TAMU's three walkons and one freshman starter.)

Both teams are NT locks - OK State is playing for a 1 seed, while Texas A&M is probably looking at a 4 or maybe a 3 if they win.  As for the rest of the conference?  Texas, despite the upset loss to A&M, is definitely in.  Oklahoma, despite the upset loss to Mizzou, is definitely in.  Nebraska's in, too.  Colorado is almost certainly a PIT team, Tech is outside-bubble, and Mizzou/Iowa St./Baylor* are out.

What about the Kansas schools, though?  Kansas State has an RPI of 48; Kansas's is 46.  But the dominance of the power conferences this year means less strong-RPI midmajors.  There are 13 undeserving teams guaranteed to win their CTs and 7 additional teams that could still do so, setting the pure RPI cutoff between 44 and 51 but likely closer to 51.  Given that SOS and performance against strong schools are factors in the seeding committee's decision, this looks good for both Kansas schools.  Honestly, I think both are IN... and who the hell wants to get a 5 seed and face a 12th-seeded KANSAS?  Remember, the Jayhawks have an average OVR of 777.

*Could mamxet be fired from Baylor this year?  Here's his resume over the last 11 seasons:

43	mamxet	6-21	1-7	5-13	0-1	2-14		113	-
42	mamxet	13-15	9-4	3-10	1-1	6-10		136	C
41	mamxet	12-15	6-5	6-9	0-1	8-8		127	C+
40	mamxet	14-14	8-2	5-11	1-1	7-9		110	C+
39	mamxet	11-17	7-5	3-11	1-1	5-11		118	C+
38	mamxet	14-15	6-4	7-10	1-1	8-8		80	C+	PI (1st Round)
37	mamxet	19-10	8-3	10-6	1-1	10-6		72	C+	PI (1st Round)
36	mamxet	14-14	7-3	6-10	1-1	6-10		107	C
35	mamxet	11-17	3-7	7-9	1-1	5-11		156	C
34	mamxet	5-22	3-9	2-12	0-1	2-14		254	C+
33	mamxet	7-20	3-6	4-13	0-1	3-13		150	B-

In real life, he'd be gone, but you never know.  It shouldn't be awful if he DOES get fired, though, as the great amount of recruiting money is likely to draw people to the conference.  Hopefully, Texas Tech will finally fill up again - thadb leaving on a high note made it a tough opening to fill - and Baylor might, too.  Otherwise, viperhoops and jreitz get the state to themselves (well, TCU, Houston, SMU, UTSA et al. excluded) and that's more fun in the South for nick and I.

The short version: lost to TAMU in the final but got a 1-seed anyway.  The matchups: 16-seed Towson (124-RPI Sim,) then USC (22 RPI, 17-11 from the Pac-10) or Canisius (best Sim in the country.)  If we get past that, I'll be very happy - a win over USC would be an upset, contrary to what seeding, ranking, and RPI suggest. 

From there on out, though, the matchups get even tougher: The likely Sweet Sixteen pairing is with Virginia Tech (10 RPI, 21-9 from the impossible division of the ACC) and then in the Elite Eight, it's UConn (785 AVG) or Hawaii (13 RPI, 23-6 from the Pac-10).  If, by some miracle, we get out of that alive, we'd get UNC in the Final Four, not the championship.  But we'll never get past VT.

If we even get past Towson - remember, we did lose to Texas Tech (PIT 8-seed, by the way)...

Sure enough: We beat Towson and Canisius, then lost to Virginia Tech (who is now in the tourney final.)

Great season, though, and I'll be sad to say goodbye to my five seniors.

(saved for retrospective on Warf)

(saved for retrospective on Wood)

(saved for retrospective on Hurst)

(saved for retrospective on Orsini)

(saved for retrospective on Thompson)

So the question is no longer whether Wood will get drafted, but how well he'll get drafted.  Big 12 player of the year and a first-team All-American?  I sure hope he's a lottery pick.  Only making it to the Sweet Sixteen (OK, so it's the best season in Oklahoma State history in every measurable category, but still, we were a 1 seed...) means that we need all the help we can get prestige-wise.

End-of-season news: Mathewson declares early, while Alan Root of Kansas stays.  USC-East, Seton Hall, and Purdue fire their coaches, but mamxet stays at Baylor.

And we're up a B prestige pre-draft!  It's going well - with Mathewson gone, we now have a zero-class again.

B+ prestige after the draft: Wood goes 6th to the Pacers, and Mathewson goes 38th to my team, the Bulls.

TCU, Troy, and TAMU-CC went Sim, too.  This should be a good recruiting session.