What Would be a Successful Trip to Charleston For Oklahoma State?
Oklahoma State is off to a good start, but it will get tested in an early-season tournament.
On Thursday, the Cowboys and new coach Steve Lutz will tip off their fourth game of the season in Charleston as part of the Charleston Classic. OSU is one of eight teams in the field and will compete against some solid programs, giving the team an opportunity to see where it stands in late November.
OSU will tip off its games at 1:30 p.m. against Florida Atlantic. Both teams are in their first season with a new coach after Dusty May took the job at Michigan, with former OSU coach Mike Boynton following him there after his firing.
The Cowboys haven’t lost yet this season, but there is no guarantee that will hold up much longer. FAU is 3-2 this season with losses to UCF and Charleston but is a small favorite against the Cowboys and is also projected to win by ESPN’s analytics.
After their game against the Owls, the Cowboys will face either Drake or Miami on Friday. Drake and Miami both enter the Charleston Classic at 3-0, making their matchup one of the most intriguing in the opening round.
While OSU has been unable to make the NCAA Tournament in recent years, it has a chance to make a statement against some teams that have seen postseason success. While there is no guarantee that OSU will make it past FAU or beat the winner of Drake-Miami, making it to the championship game would be an undeniable success for the Cowboys.
That potential title matchup would pit OSU against one of the four other teams in the field: Seton Hall, VCU, Vanderbilt and Nevada. Regardless of how far OSU makes it, it will play three games in Charleston, and coming back to Stillwater with a winning record would be a solid trip.
But if the Cowboys can run the table and make it back to Stillwater with a 6-0 record, Steve Lutz’s team might be ready to make more noise in the Big 12 than anyone expected.
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Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.