Racing into the open court, Cezar Guerrero scanned the floor and spotted an ideal target. His eyes widened. Flanked to his left, with little resistance from the Texas defense, was Markel Brown – OSU's sophomore guard who is nationally recognized for high-flying dunks.

It's been a rough year for the Oklahoma State basketball team.

Departures, suspensions and minor injuries have plagued the entire roster, but nobody has had it quite as tough as Jéan-Paul Olukemi.

As the final buzzer sounded, an exhausted Keiton Page found himself in an unfamiliar place. Page – the Big 12 leader in minutes per game – was getting a rare rest, watching the final 33 seconds of Oklahoma State's 90-78 win over Texas from the bench.

Missouri's trip to Stillwater earlier this season did not go as planned. Ranked No. 2 at the time, the Tigers planned to play the game and get back to Columbia, Mo., with a road victory. Instead, Missouri players walked off the court on Jan. 25 with their heads down as Oklahoma State students rushed the court to celebrate the Cowboy victory.

Limping across Gallagher-Iba's Pistol Pete lobby, a walking boot securing his sprained right foot, Philip Jurick labors toward the training room. Moments later, Jéan-Paul Olukemi appears at the arena entrance, gingerly moving on his surgically repaired right knee.

Our trip began early Saturday morning. At around 6:30 am, we pulled out of Stillwater, a city and university known for its rich history in basketball and Gallagher-Iba Arena, "The rowdiest arena in the country." As we pulled away from the town recently nicknamed "Lob Stilly", we headed for north for Oklahoma State's matchup with the Kansas Jayhawks.

A lot happened in 1989.

Isaiah Thomas led the Detroit Pistons to their first NBA title, Kevin Costner starred in Field of Dreams and Travis Ford completed his senior year of high school.

Times are harder than usual at Oklahoma State University. In the past, this is the point when the Cowboys were busy putting the final touches on a resume that was almost always picked up by the NCAA tournament selection committee. But this isn't the past.

  There were plenty of large ovations Tuesday night, but one of the loudest cheers came during a timeout at timeout at Gallagher-Iba Arena. Sitting courtside with his kid, Desmond Mason was shown on the jumbotron and the Oklahoma State faithful erupted.