Oklahoma St. Cowboys swingman Jean-Paul Olukemi is out for the year with a torn ACL, head coach Travis Ford announced Monday. Olukemi tore the ACL in the first half of the Cowboys' 67-61 loss to Virginia Tech on Saturday.

The 6-5 junior was third on the Cowboys in scoring on the season, averaging 9.4 points per game, while also grabbing 4.8 rebounds per game.

Fourth leading scorer Markel Brown also limped off the court on Saturday and is now listed as "day to day" with a hip injury, according to Ford.

So far this season Oklahoma State has been disappointing, posting a 7-6 record in non-conference play and the loss of Olukemi will severely affect the Cowboys scoring output. Highly touted freshman Le'Bryan Nash, who is not playing up to his top 10 Rivals.com ranking, will need to step up and help carry the team, along with Keiton Page.

Oklahoma State begins conference play on Wednesday when they host the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

If the Le'Bryan Nash roller coaster is going to continue as it has, the Oklahoma St. Cowboys might be in for a long New York City afternoon as they face the 14^th ranked Pittsburgh Panthers.

Over his last five games, Nash has followed up a double-digit scoring performance with single digit outputs. 16 against Stanford, zero against Virginia Tech. 21 against Tulsa, nine against Langston. Now coming off a team high 19-points, one has to wonder which LBN we'll see in NYC.

And it's not like he's facing a cupcake. Thought Pitt hasn't faced a ranked team this season, and are actually ranked close to Ok State in Jeff Sagrain's ratings (Pitt is 53^rd, Ok State 66^th) the experience-laden Panthers are distributing the ball at a frenetic pace, ranking 4^th nationally in team assists per game.

Scoring wise, Pitt is led by Ashton Gibbs (18.9 ppg) and Nasir Robinson (13.9). Second leading scorer Tray Woodall has an injured groin and will be out a month.

Similar to Nash, Pitt has a highly touted freshman that hasn't quit reached his potential in Khem Birch. The 6-9 forward was ranked ninth in last season final Rivals.com ranking (Nash was 6^th) but is struggling to find himself, averaging a pedestrian 4.3 ppg and 5.4 rpg.

For OK State, the winning formula is simple. Nash needs to lead the team in scoring, standing right beside Keiton Page and Jean-Paul Olukemi. As it was in the Missouri State victory, those three contributed 47 of the team's 72 points. If Nash, Olukemi and Page can light the scoreboard up, then Markel Brown can continue to contribute while Mike Cobbins can go for his third straight double off the bench.

The game tips tomorrow at 1:30p CST and can be seen on ESPN2.

During our preseason previews, I predicted the Missouri St. Bears to defeat the Oklahoma St. Cowboys tonight. It was under the category of "Surprise 2011-12 game Oklahoma State will lose."

Well, at this stage of the season, I'm not sure how much of a surprise it really would be.

At the time, I thought MO State's Kyle Weems would have improved upon his 16 ppg last season "while Ok State is trying to get its sea legs." I was half right. Weems' scoring has dropped to 12.5 ppg this season, good for only second on the team, while shooting a paltry 30.1% from the floor... but the Cowboys are still trying to find their sea legs.

The Le'Bryan Nash era, which was supposed to take the Big 12 by storm, has been more of a tropical depression than hurricane. Nash, the fifth rated high school senior last season, is averaging only 11.7 ppg, good for second on the team, and is now coming off the bench. Jean-Paul Olukemi's scoring is also down, from 11.1 ppg last year to 8.6 this season.

The real story for the Cowboys is the improved play of Markel Brown, who has nearly doubled his scoring average from last season to 12 ppg and might be the best dunker in the conference. Brown IS Cowboys basketball leading the Pokes in ppg, rpg, apg and spg.

Soon enough Ok State will get their act together. Nash will play up to his potential, JP will also. But for the time being they are relying on Brown, Keiton Page and freshman Cezar Guerrero to lead them to victory. If they want to win tonight in Springfield (Editor's Note: home to some great Chinese food actually!), they need soon to become now.

The game tips at 8pm CST and can be seen on ESPNU.

Coming into the season Le'Bryan Nash was the Oklahoma St. Cowboys freshman on everyone's lips, but fellow frosh Cezar Guerrero is the reason the Pokes overcame a strong effort from UT-San Antonio tonight, defeating the Roadrunners 90-85 in overtime at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater.

Guerrero scored six points in the final 15 seconds of regulation to revive the Cowboys and send the game into overtime. A jumper, free throw, steal and three-pointer within a three second span by Guerrero tied the game at 77 before heading to the extra frame. The Roadrunners' Sei Paye, who hit the game winner Wednesday night against Oral Roberts, missed a last second layup to end regulation.

Guerrero led Ok State with 29 points helped in part by eight threes. Nash and J.P. Olukemi each had double digit performances, despite poor shooting from both. Nash put in 18 on 5-13 shooting from the field (8-12 from the line) while Olukemi went 1-6 and ended up with 12 points, based on his 10-12 shooting from the charity stripe.

Roadrunner JUCO transfer Michael Hale III led UTSA with 26 points.

The Cowboys were without lone senior Keiton Page, who sat out with what Ok State described as a type of turf toe.

With the win, Ok State advances to the Final Four of the NIT Season Tip-Off along with Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Stanford. The semifinals will take place November 23 with the championship and consolation game tipping on November 25.

The much anticipated start of the Le'Bryan Nash era at Oklahoma State begins this evening.

Nash, Rivals' sixth ranked player in the Class of 2011, is arguably the highest profiled recruit to play for the Cowboys. The 6'7 small forward from Dallas committed to the OK State after offers from most of the elite schools in the country including Big 12 foes Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

Through two exhibition games, Nash has averaged 18 ppg and 7.5 rpg, highlighted by a 26 point, 11 rebound performance in his first game, in only 22 minutes of floor time.

Nash will be joined in the starting lineup by senior guard Keiton Page and junior forward J.P. Olukemi. Those three form the nucleus of the Cowboys' 2011-12 campaign and will need to take over offensively for departed Marshall Moses.

Page is the team's leading returning scorer, having put in 13.2 ppg, helped by an 89.4% free throw percentage. In his first season in the Big 12, Olukemi was third on the team in scoring with an average of 11.1 ppg.  

Personally, I'm excited to see redshirt freshman Michael Cobbins, who was the 40^th ranked player in the Class of 2010. Despite modest numbers in the two exhibition games, the 6'8 Amarillo, Texas native should account for some of the rebounding lost with the graduations of Matt Pilgrim and Moses and the legal battles of Darrell Williams.

Tonight's game against the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders tips at 7:00 p.m. CT at Gallagher-Iba Arena in Stillwater. The game will also be the first in the Islanders' Big 12 tour, having Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and West Virginia on the schedule.

How will the Oklahoma St. Cowboys fare this season? What will their overall and Big 12 records be? Will they make a postseason tournament?

We'll answer all those questions, plus guess which teams they'll upset and which will upset them after The Jump.

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I like the Oklahoma St. Cowboys schedule, if only because it is non-standard. Between the NIT Season Tip-Off in New York, the All-College Basketball Classic in OKC and The Showcase in Dallas, then road games in Birmingham, AL and Springfield, MO the Cowboys will get out more than most other colleges.

See the entire 2011-12 Oklahoma State Cowboys schedule after The Jump and come back tomorrow for our predictions on the outcome.

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OK, I am man enough to admit that I might be the only one who thinks Oklahoma St. Cowboys head coach Travis Ford should be on the hot seat. And maybe ‘hot seat' is a little too dramatic, but I think Ford might have a spot on a ‘luke warm seat.'

Let's take a quick look at some statistics.

In three seasons in Stillwater, Ford has:

• Compiled a 24-24 conference record
• Led the Cowboys to Big 12 conference tournament seedings of 7^th, 7^th and 9^th
• Had the Big 12 POY in James Anderson in 2010 and finished 9-7 in conference

To his credit, Ford has guided the Pokes to three 20+ win seasons and three postseason tournament appearances, but Oklahoma State has a storied basketball tradition and deserves more.

This year, Ok State will welcome in uber freshman LeBryan Nash. Nash, who is arguably the highest profiled recruit to come to the school, will bring an immense amount of talent, but also an immense amount of expectations. And with those expectations, Ford's seat becomes even hotter.

If the Cowboys cannot finish higher than middle of the pack (come back on Friday to see our predictions), then fans and administrators should start to wonder if Ford is the right man for the job.

Now I know I'm playing the ‘what if' game, but if Ford can't get a either team with a Big 12 POY or a team with a heralded freshman to a first round conference tourney bye, then... what?

I like Ford and don't mean to hate, but I look at the teams he's had at Ok State and feel they've underachieved. Obviously James Anderson was great, and Marshall Moses improved greatly in his four years as has Keiton Page. But the teams haven't performed up to snuff.

This year might be Ford's most challenging, simply because of the amount of talent on the team. Between Nash, Page, Markel Brown and Jean-Paul Olukemi, the Pokes are stacked - mostly on the outside, but stacked none-the-less - which will lead to anticipation of a deep run in conference. If Ford can't lead the squad to meet expectations, then the administration might want to start looking elsewhere.