What Would Make for Successful NCAA Tournament for Cowgirl Basketball?

Jacie Hoyt's squad is set for the big dance once again.

Oklahoma State Cowgirls head coach Jacie Hoyt reacts after a score against Iowa State during the second quarter in the senior day women basketball at Hilton Coliseum on February. 25, 2026, in Ames, Iowa. | Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oklahoma State is getting set for another trip to the NCAA Tournament. 

OSU women’s basketball is nearing yet another trip to the big dance under Jacie Hoyt, and it’s looking for its first win there since her arrival. After first-round exits in 2023 and 2025, OSU will have its third chance in four years to advance past its first game of the NCAA Tournament. 

While the Cowgirls don’t yet know which team they will face in that first game or where they‘ll be headed, it’s still possible to lay out some goals for the Cowgirls in the postseason. 

After a disappointing loss to Kansas State in their first game of the Big 12 Tournament, the Cowgirls are looking to put their fourth-quarter struggles behind them and find some success in the big dance. That loss to the Wildcats in Kansas City was the latest example of the Cowgirls’ season-long struggles to find consistency. 

Without much consistency this season, OSU’s bar for success in the NCAA Tournament should be as simple as beating its opponent in the first round. With a national title contender almost certainly awaiting OSU in the second round, getting to the second weekend would be an unrealistic expectation for the Cowgirls. 

Of course, that was a fair and reasonable expectation coming into the season. Entering the season ranked in the top 25 and coming off a great 2025 campaign, there was plenty of hope that OSU’s 2025-26 season could be the best in program history. 

Based on those standards alone, another first-round loss would be a bit disappointing. Of course, OSU shouldn’t be upset with its current situation, even if it can’t make it out of its first game. 

Cowgirl basketball isn’t a program with high levels of success historically, and while OSU was anticipated to be better this season, another trip to the NCAA Tournament is impossible to be mad about. Under Hoyt, the program has become one that expects to make it to the tournament every season, and with that standard set, the long-term outlook of the program is incredibly bright. 

Sure, no one in Stillwater will be thrilled if OSU is again headed back home after just one game, but getting to the postseason for the third time in four seasons under Hoyt is nothing to overlook. Hoyt has this program moving in the right direction, even if there have been some bumps in the road, and getting her first win in the NCAA Tournament would be a huge step forward for the Cowgirls.