2005 Oklahoma State Cowboys Basketball Preview

2005 Oklahoma State Cowboys Team Preview

Cowboys’ coach Eddie Sutton (351-135) has a fine staff that includes his son, Assistant Coach Sean Sutton, and one returning go-to guy—sophomore shooting guard JamesOn Curry. Curry starts with four juniors, three of whom are transfers from Junior Colleges. The bottom line on this team is it’s filled with a lot of inexperienced talent that’s ready to grow.

Oklahoma State saw six key players leave and with those exits 65 of the team’s 78.3 points per game are gone! Those are the points that last season helped them come in a strong second in the highly competitive Big 12 and go onto the NCAA regional semi-final where they lost to Arizona. The Cowboys were first in shooting in the Big 12 and 14th in the NCAA. Do they have the talent and shooters to counter that deficit?

Curry, now a sophomore, should be able to pick it up and contribute more than his 9.4 points per game. His accuracy rate was very strong, going 47.4% from the floor and 43.3 from the 3-point line and beyond.

Junior college All-American Torre Johnson plays forward with passion and precision, hitting for 21.7 PPG and grabbing 8.7 RPG. He’s the heir apparent to the departed Joey Graham (17.7 PPG and 6.2 RPG).

At guard Jamaal Brown, who was the number three junior college guard in the country, can make plays happen by passing, shooting, and rebounding. The passing is especially good news for the Cowboys since they led the league in assists last season and finished 13th in the NCAA. Brown, who’s on the move a lot, can also rebound (7.9 RPG) and shoot (15.0 PPG).

Kenneth Cooper, 6’ 10” and 245-pounds, is a freshman who looks to have a promising future at center. In high school he could block shots, score (20.0 PPG) and rebound (12.0 RPG). He’s the whole package.

If this team were competitive this season, it would be a miracle. But once they develop as a team and individually, they could dominate the Big 12 for years. When that happens the coach will probably either be Eddie Sutton (781 – 299 overall in 35 years) or coach-to-be Sean Sutton. Some day when this team takes the court, they’ll be number one.

We have also listed the link to the official Oklahoma State Cowboys athletic site, for those that would like more info on the 2005 Oklahoma State mens basketball team. If not continue on below to more of the individual big 12 schools.