The Cowboys are 12-2 with a win over Missouri State and a loss at Gonzaga. The Cowboys return 3 starters from last season (a squad that posted a 22-11 overall record, including a 9-7 mark in the Big XII Conference). The Cowboys are projected to finish 8th in the Big XII Conference.
The Cowboys are lead by F Marshall Moses, G Keiton Page and F J.P. Olukemi. Moses is averaging 17 points/game (leads the team), 8 rebounds/game (co leads the team with F Darrell Williams) and 1 assist/game. Williams is a transfer from Midland (Texas) Community College whose other offers were from DePaul, Gonzaga and St. John's.
Page is averaging 14 points/game, 2 rebounds/game and 2 assists/game. Page, a junior who looks less like a Big 12 player than anybody else in the Big 12, was OSU's third-leading scorer last season, averaging 11 points and 3 assists per game while shooting 38% from three-point range, a figure that includes some preposterously long shots.
Olukemi is averaging 10 points/game, 4 rebounds/game and 1 assist/game. Olukemi is another JUCO transfer who head coach Travis Ford says needs to adjust to Division I basketball but will probably play a lot.
G Ray Penn leads the team in assists with 3 assists/game. Penn was starting until a stress reaction in his heel cost him most of the Big 12 season. He is part of the reason Ford is so excited about the athleticism and versatility of this year's team, and Penn is already 100 percent again.
This Cowboys team is a team that could have struggled early with all of the newcomers. Having Penn back and healthy should be a big boost to a team that really didn't have much of a point guard the second half of last season. The Cowboys will struggle because they don't have James Anderson or Obi Muonelo to create match-up problems. The Cowboys are going to need Williams to be problematic for opposing defenses. This looks like a team that is going to spend most of the season on "The Bubble". Right now Joey Brackets has the Cowboys in his "First Four Out".
