Bedlam III

The Big 12 Tournament is always a pressure-filled affair.

On each game rides the chance of getting to the NCAA Tournament, improving a seed or to at least get a last-minute upset to feel better about the year.

For the Cowboys, add the fact that they are playing Oklahoma in the opening round on Wednesday in Kansas City, Mo., and it hardly seems like a joking matter.

It still doesn’t stop Matt Pilgrim, though.

In what will be his first trip to the prestigious conference tournament, the thing that stood out to him was that the start time is a day earlier than last year.

“Dang, we’re going to miss class,” Pilgrim said of the fact that the team’s Spring Break started when they boarded the bus Monday afternoon as a result of the change.

Wednesday will mark the second consecutive year OSU faces its Bedlam rival for the third time in a season, though the Cowboys are not the underdogs this time around. The regular season series is split 1-1 after OSU lost in overtime at OU and won by 21 when the teams played in Gallagher-Iba Arena.

Pilgrim, a junior forward, is in his first year as a Cowboy after transferring from Kentucky, but said he doesn’t feel any added pressure from the postseason or facing OU.

“I’m just going to come into the game like I always do­­ — silly and prepared,” Pilgrim said. “It’s going to be an interesting matchup.”

The Cowboys are generally considered an NCAA Tournament lock after they defeated then-No. 1 Kansas two weekends ago in one of the biggest upsets of the college basketball season.

It’s a different situation than last year, when Oklahoma State was on the bubble until defeating second-seeded Oklahoma on its way to the semifinals. The run earned them a nine seed in the field of 64 at the NCAA Tournament.

Even though the Cowboys aren’t fighting for a tournament berth this week, junior guard Nick Sidorakis said the Cowboys are still motivated to put on a good show at the Sprint Center.

“We have motivation to go in there and win the Big 12 Championship,” he said. “We know what we can play like when we play to the fullest of our potential. We have to say motivated.”

In his final chance at the Big 12 Tournament, senior guard Obi Muonelo, the traditional team comedian, said he is taking the postseason as seriously as possible.

He said a run to the championship would be a great way to finish his college-career, and with the way OSU is playing, it isn’t out of the question.

“Being a senior, I really want to get a Big 12 title,” he said. “I think we can make a run at this. Mentally, I know what it takes to have everyone focused for a four-day run and I think we can do it.”

If the Cowboys win against the Sooners, they will face a rematch with Kansas State. In January, Oklahoma State defeated KSU in Lawrence, when the Wildcats were ranked seventh in the nation.

This weekend, just 40 miles away from the first upset, the Cowboys will have to do it again to advance to the championship.

Looking poised to make his second NCAA Tournament trip in as many years at the helm of the program, coach Travis Ford said he knows what is at stake for his team a week before the madness begins.

Competing against a field likely to include six other tournament teams, Ford said he needs to have the youngest team in the conference motivated and prepared to face the rigors the next four days will bring.

“If anyone (in the Big 12) can win some games in what I think is the best tournament in America, I think everyone has a chance of improving their seed (for the NCAA Tournament),” Ford said. “It’s going to be a battle in Kansas City, you can count on that.”