Cowboys Want to Be Ranked and a Bedlam Victory Looks like the Missing Piece

STILLWATER — Oklahoma State’s second-year head coach wasn’t shy on Tuesday. Put the bull’s-eye on the unbeaten Cowboys and let teams take their best shot.

“We’ll take it all, I want to be ranked,” Steve Lutz said. “You know, let’s be ranked. And let’s not sneak up on people. Let’s be somebody that people have to prepare for, rather than, you know, beating Iowa State when they’re No. 9 last year, and nobody expects it. Let’s expect it every single night. That’s what we were brought here to do.”

Oklahoma State used to be something of a mainstay in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings.

In an 18-season stretch from 1989-2007, Oklahoma State cracked the rankings at least once 14 times, but the Cowboys didn’t just pop into the top 25 for a visit. In 11 seasons, Oklahoma State ranked somewhere inside the top 15, and during eight different seasons the Cowboys ranked inside the top 10.

In the 18 years since, the Cowboys earned a ranking during only four seasons. Only one group of Cowboys (2013-14) cracked the top 10, and no team received a ranking at all for even a single week since Cade Cunningham led Oklahoma State as high as No. 11 in March of 2021, roughly 4.5 years ago.

That could all change after this weekend, as the Pokes are the unofficial No. 27 team in the poll after finishing second in the others receiving votes section. Oklahoma State is on the cusp of returning to the top 25 largely because it is one of only eight teams left in the nation that remain unbeaten.

“There’s a ton of OSU fans who have gone through thick and thin,” senior Kirk Cole said. “And so I think the people that have followed OSU basketball through the thick and thin, it would mean a lot to them (getting ranked), and it means a lot to the staff, the coaches, everyone who’s been OSU for a long time. So as much as it’s great for us, it’s great for the community of Stillwater.”

Six of the other unbeatens are ranked, and four make up the entire top four. That puts Oklahoma State as something of an outlier, though in fairness, five of those teams have multiple Quad 1 wins and the sixth, Nebraska, is 4-0 in Quad 2 games.

Oklahoma State only has two such Quad 2 wins, home over Sam Houston (RPI rank No. 71) and at Northwestern (RPI No. 81). Saturday’s neutral site game vs Oklahoma (RPI No. 70) gives the Cowboys a chance to secure a third Quad 2 victory.

Not that a ranking, no matter how historic, would be on anyone’s mind once Bedlam actually tips off at noon in the Paycom Center.

“It just means so much to so many people … I mean, it’s funny how our fans and our friends and people that you know and love and are dear to you, they go, man, it’s great, coach, you guys are 9-0, you’re number 27 in the AP poll,” Lutz said. “But if you lose this weekend, nobody really cares about all that other stuff. And I get it.”

Oklahoma State enters Saturday’s contest on a three-game losing streak in the rivalry after last year’s 80-65 loss. OSU hasn’t beaten the Sooners since March 2023, but this weekend could more than make up for lost time considering what’s at stake.

Although the 2025-26 season is still young, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently projects OSU to receive one of the final three byes into the round of 64 in March. The Sooners are expected to miss the tournament entirely by five spots.

Then there’s the fact that Oklahoma State’s final three non-conference games come against teams ranked outside the top 300 in RPI. That means OSU should be heavy favorites to win out and enter Big 12 play on what could be a 13-game winning streak.

It also means the Cowboys won’t have any more chances to impress AP voters between Bedlam and a Jan. 3 trip to No. 16 Texas Tech.

“It’s just a number, but I think from outside looking in, that’ll motivate more people to come to the games, more people to watch the games,” OSU’s No. 2 scorer Anthony Roy said of the potential to crack the top 25.

Which brings Lutz around to his final challenge, this time to the fans.

“If we continue to have success, the fans are going to have to fill it (GIA),” Lutz said. “Because we’ve said it from day one that, ‘hey, Coach, you just got to win. You got to put a good product on the floor.’ Well, we’re winning. We’re putting a good product on the floor. So let’s see Paycom be full of Cowboys this weekend. You know, let’s have a lot of orange and black in that arena, and let’s dominate that arena.”