Three Reasons Oklahoma State Cowgirls Basketball Won the Offseason
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The Oklahoma State Cowboys underwent an extreme makeover this offseason. It couldn’t have gone much better.
The Cowgirls only return one player from last year’s team, long-time guard Stailee Heard. The rest of the roster is filled with transfers and freshmen. Head coach Jacie Hoyt and her staff pulled the No. 1 transfer class in the country, led by center Audi Crooks and guard Liv McGill.
On Thursday, Oklahoma State received a report card of sorts. In three ways, the Cowgirls received validation that they won the offseason.
The Big 12 Preseason Poll
For the first time under Hoyt, the Cowgirls were selected by the league’s coaches to win the Big 12 Conference. It was the first time the OSU was voted the preseason favorite, and the Cowgirls are the sixth different team to be selected as the preseason favorite in as many years.
It was a close vote. Four different teams received at least one first-place vote, including last year’s regular-season champion, TCU, and conference tournament champion, West Virginia. The Cowgirls received seven first-place votes and had 215 points to TCU’s six first-place votes and 212 points. Baylor was third with two first-place votes and 199 points while WVU was fourth with a first-place vote and 186 points.
It’s going to be a close race. But the coaches clearly respected the work that Hoyt and her staff did this offseason to flip the program and see them as a clear contender to win the league.
OSU hasn’t won a regular-season or conference tournament title since 1991 in the Big Eight Conference.
The Talent
That transfer portal class received plenty of recognition from the coaches, especially Crooks and McGill. The coaches have experience with Crooks, who was at Iowa State for three seasons before transferring to Oklahoma State. McGill was at Florida last year.
Crooks was named the preseason player of the year, her second straight year selected to that honor and making her the first OSU player in history to win the award. Last year she was the country’s second-leading scorer with 25.8 points per game. No Big 12 player reached 2,000 career points faster than her (89 games).
Crooks and McGill were named to the preseason first team. McGill was also named the league’s newcomer of the year. McGill was All-SEC first team and an honorable mention all-America last year after she shot 43% from the field and averaged more than 20 points per game. It’s been more than a decade since OSU had a preseason newcomer of the year. Marisha Wallace won the award for the 2013-14 season.
The TV Schedule
On Thursday, Sports Business Journal (subscription required) reported that CBS Sports has agreed with ESPN to take eight women’s basketball games through a sub-license agreement. It’s a similar arrangement that the Big 12 and ESPN have with CBS Sports for men’s games. But this is the first time the league has struck a deal to have women’s games on CBS. It also means the league has three national TV partners for women’s games.
The story did not announce which eight games would be sub-licensed to CBS. Those will probably be announced closer to the league’s media days on Oct. 20-21 in Kansas City. But, given the program’s increased profile, there is little chance the Cowgirls won’t have at least one of their games on CBS Sports this season. That’s great news for exposure for a program that continues to be on the rise.
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Matthew Postins is the publisher of Oklahoma State on SI. He is an award-winning sports journalist who was formerly the editor of the College Football America Yearbook and covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.
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