Oklahoma State, Florida State to Play In Basketball Orange Bowl Classic

Oklahoma State will face Florida State and former head coach Leonard Hamilton in the Orange Bowl Classic on December 16, 2017, the school announced on Monday. The Florida Gators will play the Clemson Tigers in rounding out the event.

Last year’s edition featured Charlotte and Manhattan visiting Florida and Florida State at the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Florida. This year appears to be an upgrade with Clemson and Oklahoma State.

FSU loses freaks like Jonathan Isaac, Dwayne Bacon, and Xavier Rathan-Mayes to the NBA after losing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to No. 11 seed Xavier, but they also bring in the No. 12 recruiting class in the country. It’s a formula which has kept Leonard Hamilton afloat in Tallahassee for at least a few more years.

Ikechukwu Obiagu and M.J. Walker are both top 100 recruits. Both will be on campus for the Noles in the fall, and I can’t wait to see Davon Dillard try to dunk on them at the same time.

This is actually a really good opportunity for OSU to notch a good non-con win against what will probably be another athletically superior but undisciplined Noles basketball squad. One that will have to deal with one of the favorites for Big 12 Player of the Year.

This will be OSU’s second appearance in the Orange Bowl Classic,. the first coming in a 2015 loss to Florida, 72-70. It is just the second-ever basketball matchup between FSU and OSU, and the first since 1964.