Possible postseason ban didn’t stop Cunningham
Cade Cunningham always figured he’d get a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament even after he enrolled at a school facing a postseason ban.
Oklahoma State was sanctioned by the NCAA back in June stemming from a federal corruption investigation into college basketball. Those penalties included a one-year restriction from the postseason.
Cunningham, the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit in his class, committed to Oklahoma State anyway, maintaining his faith that the postseason issue would work out in his favor. Playing for the Cowboys kept him within a four-hour drive of his 2-year-old daughter, Riley, in Texas. It also enabled him to join his older brother, Cannen, an assistant coach on Oklahoma State’s staff.
“To be completely honest with you, I knew that if we did what we had to in all the regular-season games, I know how this works,” Cunningham said. “They were going to put us in.”
The Cowboys (20-8) are playing because the sanctions remain under appeal, giving the likely No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA draft an NCAA Tournament showcase.
Oklahoma State, the No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region, will try for its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2009 when it faces Atlantic Sun champion Liberty (23-5) at Indiana Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis.
“I think we have a team that can beat anybody in the field,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Boynton said. “Certainly there are a lot of factors that go into each game, but I’ll say this: There’s not anybody we could play that I wouldn’t go into the game thinking I have the best player in the game.”
Cunningham led Oklahoma State to its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2017 while the Cowboys dealt with the distraction of the potential ban.
An NCAA infractions committee determined former assistant coach Lamont Evans accepted up to $22,000 in bribes intended to help steer athletes to specific financial advisers. Boynton wasn’t accused of any wrongdoing, and the events occurred years before Cunningham committed to Oklahoma State.
The 6-foot-8 freshman guard is the first Oklahoma State player to earn first-team Associated Press All-america honors. He leads the Big 12 in scoring (20.2 points per game) and averaged 6.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
Boynton said Cunningham has been a solid teammate who’s deferred credit to others.
But he certainly realizes how good he is.
That was apparent this week when Cunningham was asked if he knew how Carmelo Anthony led Syracuse to a 2003 NCAA Tournament title as a freshman.
“I’ve been saying I wanted to have a Melo-type year since I got here,” Cunningham said. He later added that “Melo’s (are) big shoes to fill, but I’m up for the challenge.”