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All Signs Pointing to Jeffrey Carroll Returning on Monday against Texas A&M

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Good news: Oklahoma State is up to No. 41 in KenPom’s rankings (from No. 50) after beating Pepperdine, Charlotte and ORU soundly in the first three games

Bad news: Eight Big 12 teams are still ahead of OSU

Worse news: Oklahoma State’s opponent in the Legends Classic in Brooklyn, New York on Monday is Texas A&M, and the Aggies are No. 8 in KenPom’s rankings (and beat West Virginia by 23 earlier this season).

Best news: Jeffrey Carroll is probably going to play on Monday against A&M based on two things. First, Mark Cooper of the Tulsa World reported it. Second, Carroll sent a not-so-veiled tweet about it.

Carroll missed the first three games of the year as OSU held him out, apparently as a precaution to make sure he wasn’t implicated in the Lamont Evans charges. Evans of course apparently took bribes from a variety of folks to try and steer players in certain directions.

Oklahoma State hired a firm to conduct an investigation, which led to Carroll not playing against Pepperdine, Charlotte or ORU.

OSU director of communications Gary Shutt said the university intends to cooperate with U.S. authorities. Shutt also said OSU has retained The Compliance Group to assist it with an internal review and with fulfilling its responsibilities with the NCAA. The Compliance Group offers internal compliance reviews to universities. It is headed by former NCAA director of enforcement Chuck Smrt. [Tulsa World]

In a release the day of the Pepperdine game one week ago today, OSU stated that Carroll was still practicing, and hopes seemed high throughout that he wouldn’t miss very much time. He was even on the bench last night against ORU. Here’s the statement we received last Friday.

Oklahoma State senior guard Jeffrey Carroll is being withheld from play pending the ongoing review of the men’s basketball program. Carroll will continue to practice with the team, which will open the season at home against Pepperdine tonight at 7:30 p.m.

So now it looks that OSU’s best player will miss a total of 10 days and three games of his senior season. That’s a good thing, too, as Texas A&M will be getting its best player back on Monday as well when reigning co-SEC Player of the Year Robert Williams returns.

Carroll is returning to an OSU team that has surprised. Not necessarily that it has won three games, but that it has been completely dominant in the last two. Against bad teams, sure, but OSU’s defense has been top 50 in the country this far whereas it wasn’t even top 150 last season.

Getting Carroll back should be a shot in the arm for an offense that has stagnated at times compared to where it was at last year.

The Pokes and Aggies play on Monday at 6 p.m. on ESPN2.

Update: 11:50 a.m. Monday, November 20

Carroll will play. Here’s a statement from Oklahoma State.

Oklahoma State senior guard Jeffrey Carroll will no longer be withheld from play following the internal review of the men’s basketball program.

The Cowboys take on Texas A&M in the semifinals of the Progressive Legends Classic tonight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and Carroll is expected to be in uniform.

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