Oklahoma State's 2025 Tournament Berth Special for Coaches and Players
STILLWATER – The Oklahoma State Cowboys rallied down the stretch of the season to make their 12th-straight trip to the NCAA tournament, and they’re hitting the road for their regional for the first time since 2019.
The Pokes are the No. 3 seed in the Athens Regional and will face No. 2 seed Duke on Friday evening. The Athens Regional is paired with the Oxford Regional, which includes Ole Miss (host), Georgia Tech, Western Kentucky and Murray State.
Head coach Josh Holliday, Nolan Schubart and Harrison Bodendorf met with the media Tuesday morning to discuss the postseason and finding out they made the field.
"It's fantastic. It's probably the most exciting and rewarding feeling I've had in quite some time,” said coach Holliday. “It's 100% about them and their willingness to lay it on the line for their team, their brand, their school. Harrison has been an amazing piece of that. In just his first year here, he's been as reliable, strong and performance savvy as anybody I can remember. The way he has performed has led us into a position where this could happen. Nolan and his teammates have continued to fight, scratch and claw for everything every single day. He's been the centerpiece of our position payer group. He's given us an amazing bit of leadership, hard work and production. I just appreciate these kids more than I can put into words. In a day and age where the mindset of many young athletes and people in sports is to cut bait and run when things don't go well, these guys just reaffirmed the magic in staying with something. I admire them and I appreciate them, and I'm thrilled for them. The coolest part is we're playing well, and we're excited to keep competing because we believe we can make some noise."
Based on the way Holliday was talking, it’s safe to say he and the coaching staff were really confident, if not downright knew they were making the field.
And based on how they played in the final month, regardless of whether they were one of the final four teams in the field or not, the Cowboys did enough.
They swept UCF and Arizona State, and took two out of three against Baylor in the regular season, and beat the Bears in the opening round of the Big 12 tournament, which you could argue got them in the field.
“Little nerve-racking going in,” Nolan Schubart said. “But also, what we’ve done the past month, really, and how we’ve finally been able to click together, everything working how we knew it could, put a lot of ease in a lot of guys’ minds. But you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t nerve-racking, but when we finally saw our named called and we were going to Athens, it was a surreal moment in that the adrenaline pumping through you that you got the chance and you’re in is something special.”
Depending on what happens in the Pokes’ game against the Blue Devils, the loser will face the loser of Georgia-Binghamton at 11 a.m. on Saturday, with the winners of the two games playing at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
