NCAA Basketball: Options for Cade Cunningham after Ok State postseason ban

Major NCAA Basketball news with Oklahoma State banned from postseason play. How does this affect No. 1 recruit Cade Cunningham?

Things have been looking up this offseason for Oklahoma State, confirming that they have the No. 1 overall recruit in the 2020 NCAA Basketball class, Cade Cunningham, prepared to arrive in Stillwater. He’s the highest-rated freshman ever to arrive for the Cowboys and gave the program optimism that they’d return back to the NCAA Tournament.

But there always was a dark presence that the program had to deal with. They had an assistant in Lamont Evans a few years ago who was alleged by the NCAA to be participating in a number of impermissible recruiting violations and was part of the blockbuster FBI Investigation into the sport overall.

He was fired immediately by the team but the NCAA still went after the Oklahoma State Basketball program for potential sanctions. It all came ahead on Friday, with the announcement that the program will be banned from postseason play for the upcoming season, along with other sanctions. This isn’t too surprising considering that the NCAA has been determined to punish teams involved in the scandal but the Cowboys punishment is the first shoe to drop. Programs such as Kansas, Arizona, Lousiville and LSU should be very worried about now.

Oklahoma State is not happy about this development, with head coach Mike Boynton already saying that they plan to appeal the ruling. The odds of it being overturned will be tough and for now, the assumption is that Ok State won’t be part of the 2021 NCAA Basketball Tournament.

This will be tough for all players on the team, including seniors with only one year of eligibility. But the biggest name that has been mentioned is Cunningham, making it yet another No. 1 recruit who’ll miss out on the Big Dance. But that doesn’t have to be the case, with there being a number of options he can consider, even though we’re in June.

Coach Boynton has made it clear that he’ll support his players in anything they want to do, even if that includes leaving the team. They’ll be a lot to consider in the next week for Cunningham. Here are some potential scenarios, including both pros and cons of them to be considered at this time.