Oklahoma State

One of the more pleasant surprises in college basketball this year has been Oklahoma State. Travis Ford entered the season on the hot seat and has pulled off probably the best coaching season of his career.  

The Cowboys are 17th overall in KenPom. They're 55th on offense and 15th on defense. Offensively, they don't do anything great. It's all pretty average and they get killed on the offensive glass. They're getting it done on defense.

Teams have an effective fg% of 45.2% against them, which rank 47th. Oklahoma State forces you to turn it over.  Their turnover % is 22.3%, 31st overall. They have a steal rate of 13% which is 11th best in the land. They also have a block rate of 14.5%, 19th overall. They're so-so on defensive rebounding and they foul too much. They're 224th in FTA/FGA.

Sr. Le'Bryan Nash leads the way. He scores 17ppg and gets 5.6 boards per game. Sr. Anthony Hickey runs the point and joining him in the back court is sniper  Phil Forte. If you watch the Cowboys, you know Forte is not afraid to shoot. From anywhere. He's a 41% shooter from 3. He also has a steal % of 3.8 which ranks him 17th. Hickey is 6th in that category. Sr. Michael Cobbins provides defense and is usually the best rebounder they have on the court.

They just finished a season sweep of Baylor and have non-conference wins over Oregon State and Tulsa. They have a 26-pt. loss at South Carolina in the resume and a loss at home to Maryland. 

For most teams that appear to be overachieving, any thing that happens in March would be gravy but a win or two would benefit Travis Ford greatly given his 1-4 March record with more talented teams. The Cowboys are favored in KenPom to win 5 of their last 6 conferemce games but a 4-2 finish seems more realistic given the toughness of the Big XII. That would get them to 11-7 in league, not shabby given the pre-season predictions. I see them as a fringe Sweet 16 team. Should they get there, that's a great season for them.