NCAA Sets Up Cowboys Bracket for Sweet 16 Drama

STILLWATER –- Oklahoma State may have been hammered by the NCAA Basketball Tournament Selection Committee and maybe not. It certainly looks that if the Cowboys had beaten Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game then their name would have been on a three line and Texas would have been on a four. West Virginia got a favorable draw it appears, at least a three seed. 

If you really want to go back to last summer then Cowboys fans should be happy that their team is going to Indy and not sitting out because the NCAA Infractions Committee really screwed up in putting the program on probation that included a tournament ban, 

Mike Boynton and his players seemed happy, and if they not, if they feel they were slighted a seed by the committee then use it as a chip on the shoulder because in their region they will need it. Liberty appears to be the most talented of the 13-seeds and they won’t be intimidated by the Cowboys and Cade Cunningham. The next game would be against the winner of Tennessee (5) and Oregon State (12) and honestly, either match-up is fine with me It would be fun to see Rick Barnes again as the former Longhorns coach is in charge of the Vols. Lots of orange if those two are playing and the same if Oregon State were to complete the upset. 

Pat Kinnison - Chief Photographer

Underwood vs. Boynton would be a big-time national game.

Orange is a theme for the Pokes as if they get to the “sweet 16” as seeded then they would see Illinois and a very familiar face in Illini head coach Brad Underwood. The same Brad Underwood that swooped into Stillwater long enough to take the Cowboys to an NCAA Tournament and lose to Michigan. On the way home his agent was courting Michigan and you know the story, 

OSU athletic director Mike Holder lowballed his offer to Underwood from what the regents instructed him to offer the coach. Underwood was at Illinois by noon the next day and then Holder had a feeling (a darn good one) when he interviewed Underwood assistant Mike Boynton and chose him as the next coach. It has worked out. 

The NCAA loves drama and seeing a reunion of Boynton and his former boss and former, albeit briefly Cowboys head coach would make for a very interesting match-up in the sweet 16.

Underwood denied that his negotiations got sideways with Holder and Oklahoma State, but he took his shot calling Illinois his dream job after saying Oklahoma State was his dream job just a year earlier. He is making $3.4 million with a new contract extension that will pay him $4-million in his final season. 

Illinois is a basketball school as their football program has been primarily atrocious. 

All of the past would make a present of Oklahoma State vs. Illinois very interesting.