Oklahoma State Can't Get Discouraged by Portal Departures

The Cowboys have some work to do in the offseason, but that might be a good thing.

Oklahoma State coach Steve Lutz shouts at Oklahoma State Cowboys guard Anthony Roy (9) during a BIG 12 men's college basketball game between the Oklahoma State Cowboys (OSU) and the BYU Cougars at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater, Okla., Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026. | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oklahoma State will have to rebuild its roster again, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Over the past few days, several of OSU’s top players from last season have made their decisions about their future in Stillwater. While the Cowboys know that some of the players from this season will be around for next year, most announcements thus far have featured the Pokes’ top contributors departing the program.

Once again, it looks like Steve Lutz will be tasked with building a competitive roster through the transfer portal. While he was unable to reach OSU’s top goals in his first two years, he also saw steady improvements in both seasons, which should be an encouraging sign going into this offseason.

Obviously, any team that loses the individual talents that the Cowboys had on this season’s roster will have some challenges in the offseason. Still, it gets a bit easier for OSU to move on knowing that the chemistry and team success simply wasn’t at the level Lutz and company are hoping for moving forward.

In some ways, this transfer portal season is somewhat similar to football, given how much turnover there will be in the offseason. While there will be some players that stick around, the majority of next year’s contributors played somewhere else last season.

Of course, it’s still not quite the same as the football saga. While it was easy for OSU football to digest a plethora of players from a 1-11 team leaving the program, this Cowboy basketball team was still a solid group that ultimately fell short of its top goals.

The Pokes still finished with a winning record and picked up some quality wins along the way. The 2025-26 team had the outline of a truly successful team, but it didn’t quite have the highs that the program was hoping for, particularly after the hot start in nonconfernce play.

The Pokes’ NIT appearance will ideally be the final one for quite some time. Under Lutz in his third year, the Cowboys’ expectations are undoubtedly to make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2021. 

While OSU was in a position to reach that goal in 2026, the final month and change of the season simply didn’t go as planned. With a new roster in 2026-27, the Cowboys will be looking to build some chemistry and find a way to get the program back on the right track.