With Cade Cunningham, Oklahoma State could be sleeper in 2020-21 NCAA basketball season

Oklahoma State had a disappointing 2019-20 college basketball season as the Cowboys finished 7-11 in Big 12 regular-season play and 18-14 overall. While most major conference schools did not get to play a conference tournament game, OSU did and won in the first round last Wednesday 72-71 over a bad Iowa State club.

Still, there was a zero percent chance barring a run to the Big 12 Tournament title that Oklahoma State was going to make the 2020 NCAA Tournament, which proved a moot point with the coronavirus forcing the cancellation of the Big Dance. Michael Boynton has been OSU's coach three seasons and is now 0-for-3 in reaching the NCAA Tournament.

Boynton's job might be in trouble in many circumstances, but he will not be let go because he's bringing in one of the nation's top recruiting classes for next season. Along with a few good returning starters, OSU could be excellent long-shot value on the college basketball futures odds for the 2020-21 season.

Sister site 247Sports ranks Boynton's recruiting class No. 10 nationally (first in Big 12; other sites have the Pokes higher nationally), and it's led by the country's No. 1 overall recruit, 6-foot-6 guard Cade Cunningham.

He is a Dallas native but played high school ball at national powerhouse and basketball factory Montverde (Fla.) Academy, the No. 1 team in the nation. Cunningham picked the Pokes over Kentucky, North Carolina, Washington and Florida. His older brother, Cannen, was hired to Boynton's staff last year.

Cunningham won the 2020 Naismith High School Player of the Year Trophy, the first Oklahoma State signee to do so, and is considered OSU's best recruit ever and the first five-star to sign with the school since two-time All-American Marcus Smart in 2012. Cunningham already is projected as a potential No. 1 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. Boynton also has signed four-star Oklahoma City guard Rondel Walker and three-star Texas forward Montreal Pena.

Oklahoma State will lose leading scorer Cameron McGriff, a senior, and a few other key contributors, but Isaac Likekele averaged 10.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists as a sophomore. He had the coast-to-coast winning layup in the final seconds vs. Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament. Raw but talented Yor Anei, a near 7-footer, also showed major promise as a sophomore and is a terrific shot-blocker.

As it was, OSU got much better late in the season, closing on a four-game winning streak and taking seven of its final nine. This could be a team to be reckoned with in 2020-21. The last time the Cowboys reached the Final Four was in 2004 under Eddie Sutton. The 2021 Final Four is in Indianapolis.