Oklahoma State Must Make Jump in Big 12 Standings Next Season

Oklahoma State simply has to give itself a chance in the Steve Lutz era.

Over the past several seasons, OSU has seen limited success in men’s basketball. While Mike Boynton’s team narrowly missed the NCAA Tournament in 2023, the Cowboys have mostly seen a lack of success since making the big dance in 2021.

For the Cowboys to get back into those discussions of making the NCAA Tournament on a consistent basis, they must raise the floor of their program. When Lutz took the job last year, it was clear that OSU would struggle regardless of the roster he put together, given the circumstances of when he was hired.

As he enters his second season at the helm in Stillwater, Lutz has a chance to truly turn the program into his own. While he was able to implement his general playstyle in 2024-25, his personnel wasn’t always a perfect fit.

Throughout this offseason, Lutz has targeted proben scorers who can play on both ends, which ideally will help the Cowboys get stops and get in transition. If OSU can play fast and have a good squad on both sides of the floor, it would unlock the Lutz-style basketball that attracted OSU to its head coach in the first place.

Of course, if OSU can accomplish those goals, it should be able to have a competitive year in the Big 12. For the Cowboys to find any sort of long-term success, they will need to get out of the bottom tier of the conference they were typically stuck in throughout the Boynton era.

Climbing out of the bottom tier isn’t always easy, particularly in a conference as top-heavy as the Big 12. However, the Cowboys don’t need to be better than teams like Houston just yet. They simply need to compete with those teams consistently and earn some wins against the teams close to them in the standings.

Making it into the middle tier of the Big 12 is easier said than done, and it obviously isn’t the end goal for the Cowboys. But if they can at least show they are better than that bottom tier, Steve Lutz and company could have a solid foundation moving forward.