OSU Reportedly Spent $15-17 Million on Its Basketball Roster, Giving the Pokes a Fighting Chance

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The big message from Steve Lutz at Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday was the need for the Cowboys to get back into the NCAA Tournament.

And a big reason why Oklahoma State’s coach thinks that is possible is because of an increase in resources.

“We absolutely do (have an NCAA Tournament team on campus),” Lutz told CBS Sports’ Gary Parrish. “That’s largely because our resources have increased. We had a family that really has embraced our program. Rick and Sharon Sosa have been fantastic to us, and that’s put us in a better position. It’s not an arms race, but it’s an arms race, and we do have a team in my opinion.”

If you’d like to read more about Mr. Sosa, The Oklahoman‘s Ben Hutchens recently wrote a profile on him (sub required).

CBS Sports on Wednesday put together an all-encompassing NIL breakdown, where they talked to more than 100 sources in and around college basketball to provide estimates on what each team was spending. OSU came out in what CBS Sports called “Tier 3” in that study, with the outlet estimating this OSU roster was somewhere between $15.1 million and $17.5 million to put together.

Parrish asked Lutz if that’s what it takes to be an NCAA Tournament team in the modern landscape.

“In my opinion, yes, that is where we’re at,” Lutz told Parrish. “The fact of the matter is we had been in the bottom third resource-wise at Oklahoma State in our first two seasons, and this one gets us into Tier 3. … So, we got to the middle, but the middle gives you a fighting chance.”

OSU Basketball’s lack of funding preceded Lutz’s arrival.

Mike Boynton made waves back in February of 2024 when he discussed the program was struggling in the resource department. Back then, Boynton told the Tulsa World that there were six Big 12 programs operating above $2 million in NIL resources while OSU was operating with about $500,000. Those numbers have obviously ballooned quite a bit in the past few years.

What did Lutz do with his $15-17 million? Well, the Cowboys’ portal class ranked 12th nationally, according to On3. That paired with the Cowboys’ traditional recruiting class which ranked ninth nationally.

Since the portal has become all the rave, there have been fewer opportunities for high school prospects. Lutz said he wasn’t initially sure how much he’d have at his disposal entering the portal, so he wanted to build a base of high schoolers. Shopping in the portal can get expensive.

OSU ended up with Latrell Allmond, a McDonald’s All-American, and Anthony Felesi, Jalen Montonati and Parker Robinson — all four-star recruits according to at least one of the major recruiting services.

“With that being said, when you have guys that are ranked in the top 25 to 30, those guys are still gonna command a market price, and when you’re a McDonald’s All-American, you command a McDonald’s All-American price,” Lutz said. “But we just had to gauge it, and my thought process was if we could spend wisely with our freshmen, then maybe we would have more money in the spring when we go shopping.”

The portal shopping seemed just as fruitful. On3 considered five of the six guys OSU got out of the portal as four-star transfers.

The Cowboys are longer and more skilled than they’ve been in either of Lutz’s first two seasons. Lutz didn’t have to sacrifice certain traits for others nearly as much and has instead put together what seems to be a much more all-around basketball team.

“You still have to coach your team,” Lutz said. “You still have to get them to buy in. You still have to be one unit, but at the end of the day, if you’re not resourced at at least this level, you probably have a very slim chance of making the NCAA Tournament.”

OSU’s Exhibition Against Tulsa

When: 2:30 p.m. Friday (before Walkaround)
Where: Gallagher-Iba Arena
Admission: Free