Where Oklahoma State Is Projected Going into the Big 12 Tournament

The Cowboys are headed to Arizona this week for the Big 12 Tournament, where we’ll see how much they can improve their standing ahead of Monday’s selection show.

Oklahoma State enters as the Big 12’s 5 seed and will take on 4 seed UCF at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Knights swept the Cowboys in Orlando earlier this year, but OSU has gotten hot since then. That UCF series was OSU’s first Big 12 series of the year, but the Pokes closed the year having won four conference series in a row.

That late-season resurgence pushed the Pokes back into the national picture. They enter the week ranked 19th nationally, according to D1Baseball. The Cowboys rank 29th in RPI.

This week will play a part in what OSU’s postseason looks like. D1Baseball and Baseball America both released updated projections for the NCAA Tournament field this week, with both having the Cowboys as 2 seeds in a Regional.

D1Baseball has the Cowboys going to Tallahassee in an NCAA Regional that features Florida State, Kentucky and Binghamton. It projects Florida State as the 11 seed nationally.

The Seminoles are 38-16 and the 3 seed at this week’s ACC tourney. OSU played in an NCAA Regional in Tallahassee back in 2004, going 1-2.

Baseball America has the Cowboys heading to an old conference foe in the College Station Regional with Texas A&M, Louisiana and Saint Joseph’s. Baseball America has the Aggies as the 8 seed nationally.

The Aggies are 39-13 this season. A&M is 2-0 against Big 12 competition this year, beating Arizona State 9-3 in March and Houston 10-2 in April. OSU fans might be somewhat familiar with how OU is doing this season, given the Cowboys have played the Sooners twice, splitting those games. A&M went 1-2 in an SEC series against OU in Norman in mid-March.

The Cowboys and Aggies haven’t met in NCAA Tournament play since 1987, when they played three times at the Mideast Regional in Starkville, Mississippi. OSU went 2-1 in those games, making the College World Series.

The two outlets are just about in lock step when it comes to Regional hosts at this point. Here’s a look at the 16 schools each outlet has as hosts going into the conference tournaments.

So, if right now the Cowboys are projected somewhere to travel to face somewhere between the 8 seed or the 11 seed, that also puts hosts Southern Miss and Florida in play.

If the Cowboys go on a run in the Big 12 Tournament, a tournament they’ve won three times since 2017, including 2024, then the Cowboys could see themselves going to Nebraska or Mississippi State. An early exit and some tournament runs elsewhere could see the Cowboys going to Auburn, Alabama, North Carolina or Texas.