OSU Needs to Buck Recent Big 12 Tourney Trend for a Shot at an NCAA Berth

The Big 12 Tournament is here and the tip-off comes with an intriguing matchup with NCAA Tournament implications for at least one of the two Bedlam rivals.

The general consensus is that Oklahoma State needs a win over Oklahoma on Wednesday night for a shot at the title. A second (for a third) against Kansas would all but cement the deal.

So let’s take a look at how the Cowboys have fared in the conference tournament over its 22 year history. As of late, not that great.

The Cowboys have been one-and-done in each of the last three years. That means that not only would winning a Round 1 game against Oklahoma be new to its rookie head coach, it would be new to his players. No current player on the roster has won a Big 12 Tournament game.

Last year, Brad Underwood’s 5-seeded Pokes fell to the 4 seed, Iowa State, 92-83. The year before, OSU entered as the 9 seed and fell to No. 8 Kansas State 75-71. And in 2016, OSU had another Bedlam Round 3 opening and fell as the 6 seed to the 3-seeded Sooners 64-49.

The last time OSU earned a win in the Big 12 Tourney, the 2014 8-seeded Pokes dispatched K-State in the 9 spot 80-62, before losing to No. 1 Kansas 85-77 in overtime. That was the end of a streak of 11-straight years where the Cowboys won at least one game in the conference tournament. They’re winless since.

The last time Oklahoma State won multiple games was the last time the Big 12 Championship bracket wasn’t played out in Kansas City. The 2009 tourney was in Oklahoma City and the Cowboys went 2-1, losing to No. 3 seed, Missouri. That seems like eons ago.

Oklahoma State has only won the tournament twice since the expansion to the Big 12, in back-to-back years in 2004 and 2005, with a Final Four appearance in between.

But these current Cowboys are miles away, stranded in the desert of the RPI with an oasis of signature wins that seem like they should be good enough. But in order to be rescued on Selection Sunday, it will take something that has eluded OSU in recent history, a win in Kansas City.

Here are some interesting, sometimes jaw-dropping tidbits.

• Oklahoma State hasn’t had a player named to the all-tournament team in 13 years since Joey Graham won the tournament MVP in 2005. John Lucas III also earned all-tourney honors.

• That made consecutive years for both Graham and Lucas with Tony Allen earning the MVP in 2004.

• Oklahoma State is 3-1 against Oklahoma in the Big 12 Tournament, with the L coming in the most recent Bedlam edition in 2015. OSU only holds a better record against Baylor (3-0) and Texas Tech (6-1).

• Oklahoma State is 2-2 in the tournament’s history when seeded at No. 8 with 1-1 showings in 1997, the first year of the league and then again in 2014.

• OSU has been seeded no better than 5 in 11 of the last 12 years, with a No. 3 seeding in 2013. That team lost to Kansas State in Game 2.