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Oklahoma State Basketball: Oklahoma State Cowboys 2015-16 Season Preview

By Matt Ostrowski

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Oklahoma State Cowboys

2014-2015 Record: 18-14 (8-10 Big 12)
Postseason: NCAA Tournament – Second Round

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It’s hard to think of a team with as bad of an ending to the season as Oklahoma State last season. After starting the season 13-5 and making their way into the top 25, they finished just 5-8, barely making the tournament, and exiting in the round of 64.

Head coach Travis Ford will have his eyes set on the tournament once more this season. He lost four year starter and leading scorer Le’Bryan Nash to graduation. The sharpshooting Phil Forte returns for his senior season, and freshman point guard Juwan Evans will alleviate some of the loss from the graduation of Anthony Hickey.

Newcomers

G – Jawun Evans (#27 247Sports Composite)
G – Davon Dillard (#159 247Sports Composite)
F – DarryIn Willis (JUCO transfer)

Key Non-Conference Games

Dec. 12 vs. Minnesota – The Cowboys will play the Gophers in South Dakota at the Sanford Pentagon. Senior point guard Andre Hollins will be going all out for a tournament appearance in his hurrah, and third year head coach Richard Pitino is desperate to provide Minnesota with a tournament appearance.

Dec. 19 vs. Florida – This will be a “neutral court game,” but seeing that it’s played in Florida, I’m fine with calling this the Cowboys’ first road test of the season. Florida will be hungry to prove themselves under a new head coach, and will boast two guards in Kasey Hill and Chris Chiozza that could easily break Travis Ford’s pressure defense.

Jan. 30 at Auburn – I’ve always had an issue with non-conference games being played smack-dab in the middle of conference season, mostly because non-conference games don’t mean much by then. But having to go to Auburn to face Kareem Canty is not going to be an easy task when it’s during an already difficult stretch of Big 12 games.

Key Players

Jawun Evans – I know Travis Ford and Cowboy fans everywhere would be thrilled if Evans was half as good as the last freshman point guard that came through Stillwater in Marcus Smart. Evans possesses every skill to be every bit as good as smart, too, and that has to scare every single coach in the Big 12. While he lacks Smart’s size and strength, he makes up for with his quickness and shooting ability.

Jeff Newberry – The Cowboys know what they’re getting from Phil Forte. But they have to idea what they’re going to get from Newberry. He’s kind of just “meh” at everything on the offensive end, and in order to make up for the loss of Nash’s 18 points per game, he’s going to have to go from “meh at everything” to “great at everything” on the offensive end. That’s a big jump in one season.

Season Outlook

This might be the hardest team in the Big 12 to project. Their ceiling might be a fourth place finish. That is, if Forte continues his red hot shooting, Evans is the real deal, and Newberry and Solomon make massive strides. But their floor is something like seventh or eighth place if Evans struggle, and Solomon and Newberry don’t get much  better. For that reason, I’ll say that any appearance in the NCAA tournament would have to be considered a good year for Travis Ford and his Cowboys.

Next: West Virginia Mountaineers 2015-16 Season Preview

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