The 2025-26 Preseason KenPom Rankings Are Out, Here’s How the Cowboys Stack Up

College basketball fans woke up to a present Sunday morning, as popular analytics site KenPom updated its info in preparation for the 2025-26 season.

I’d hate to have to predict how all these teams filled with new players will perform, but that’s what the computers are for.

Oklahoma State opens the year as the No. 69 player in the country, per the KenPom rankings. For reference, here is where OSU finished the past five seasons in KenPom:

2024-25: 97
2023-24: 117
2022-23: 46
2021-22: 34
2020-21: 33

OSU’s No. 69 ranking is good for 13th among Big 12 teams, as the league is again stacked. Houston enters as KenPom’s top squad in the country, while Texas Tech (12), Iowa State (13), Arizona (15), Baylor (17), BYU (18) and Kansas (21) are all in the top 25.

It’s so hard to say what OSU is going to look like this year with a dozen new players, but the Cowboys’ offensive rating comes in at 66th in the country, which ranks 10th in the Big 12. OSU’s defensive rating ranks 84th in the country and last in the league. That, to an extent, aligns with what Steve Lutz said a few weeks back about how this team is better at putting the ball in the basket compared to last year but that the group still has some strides to make on the other end of the floor.

The most standout aspect of these analytics is OSU’s adjusted tempo, which is the highest in the Big 12 and sixth nationally, trailing only Alabama, Cal Poly, South Dakota, USC-Upstate and CSUN.

So, as far as high-major programs go, KenPom projects the Cowboys to be flying up and down the floor, something that Lutz teams have done. Last season the Cowboys finished 12th nationally in adjusted tempo, and Lutz’s Western Kentucky squad the year before led the nation in the metric.

Lastly, KenPom’s preseason projected record for the Pokes is 16-15. Although that’s probably not the record OSU is after this season, the .516 winning percentage would be better than what the Cowboys mustered the past two seasons (.486 and .375). That projected total has the Cowboys going 6-12 in Big 12 play.

It’s all projections based off numbers punched into a computer about teams that change so much its tough to keep track of it all, but it is a sign that basketball season is close.

The Cowboys play an exhibition game against Auburn on Wednesday.