Big 12 Tournament Loss Puts Oklahoma State Baseball in NCAA Waiting Game

The Oklahoma State Cowboys saw their red-hot run to end the season come to a screeching halt in Arizona. Now, the wait for NCAA Tournament seeding begins.

Oklahoma State's Brennan Phillips. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Oklahoma State Cowboys fought until the Kansas Jayhawks finally put them away.

With a sixth-run eighth inning, the Jayhawks (41-16) ended the Cowboys’ (37-20) run in the Big 12 Tournament on Friday night in Surprise, Ariz., with a 9-2 win.

With the Big 12 Tournament now a single elimination affair, the only upside for the Cowboys is that they get a couple of extra days to rest before they begin a run in the NCAA Tournament next week.

Based on projections at D1 Baseball (subscription required), the Cowboys are a tournament team. They played their way into that position over the past month. The only question now is where they will play?

Cowboys’ NCAA Seeding Waiting Game

Oklahoma State Cowboys head baseball coach Josh Holliday. | STEVE SISNEY / USA TODAY NETWORK

Based on D1 Baseball’s projections, the Cowboys are currently considered a Top 32 seed. When the NCAA Tournament committee releases the brackets on Monday, the Top 16 seeds will host a regional. The next 16 seeds will be the No. 2 seeds at those respective regionals.

The Cowboys had hoped a productive run in Arizona would put them in position for consideration to host. It's highly unlikely the Cowboys will get the opportunity now. Here's why.

D1 Baseball had Oklahoma State as the No. 23 overall seed going into Friday’s action. That seed line didn't move after Oklahoma State defeated UCF, 12-6, on Thursday. It's unlikely the Cowboys will move much in the projected bracket in the next two days.

If D1 Baseball’s projections are correct the Oklahoma State would head to Tallahassee and play in a regional hosted by the Florida State Seminoles, who would be the No. 11 seed. The other participants would be Kentucky and Binghamton.

Obviously, action around the country will have a significant influence over how the NCAA Tournament committee seeds the bracket and where Oklahoma State lands.

At one point the Cowboys appeared to be a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament, but they turned it on in mid-April and now appear to be a dangerous team, regardless of the loss to Kansas.

After losing two out of three to Kansas in mid-April, the Cowboys followed that with a win over Wichita State, a series sweep to Texas Tech in Lubbock, a sweep of TCU and series wins over Arizona State and Arizona win over Arizona State to go 10-2 in their final nine Big 12 games to earn the No. 5 seed at the Big 12 Tournament.