The Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball team represents Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States in NCAA Division I men's basketball competition. All women's teams at the school are known as Cowgirls. The Cowboys currently compete in the Big 12 Conference. In 2020, CBS Sports ranked Oklahoma State the 25th best college basketball program of all-time, ahead of such programs as Oklahoma and Texas. Oklahoma State men’s basketball has a very rich history of success, having won more national titles and advanced to the NCAA Championship, Final Four, Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen more times than any Big 12 program other than Kansas. Oklahoma State has won a combined 23 regular season conference titles and conference tournament titles, which is the most of any program in the state of Oklahoma.

The Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball program is the intercollegiate men's basketball program of the University of Kansas. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I and the team competes in the Big 12 Conference. Kansas is considered one of the most prestigious college basketball programs in the country with six overall national championships, as well being runner-up six times and having the most conference titles in the nation. The Jayhawks also own the NCAA record for most consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances with 28 consecutive appearances. Since the 1984 tournament, the Jayhawks have only missed the tournament twice and both times were due to disciplinary action from the NCAA; they were ruled ineligible for the 1989 tournament and had their 2018 appearance was vacated. They have not missed the tournament strictly due to on the court performance since the 1983 tournament. They were also, along with Dartmouth, the first team to appear in multiple NCAA Tournaments after making their second appearance in the 1942 tournament. The Jayhawks had been ranked in the AP poll for 231 consecutive polls, a streak that had stretched from the poll released on February 2, 2009, poll through the poll released on February 8, 2021, which is the longest streak in AP poll history. Of the 24 seasons the Big 12 conference has been in existence, Kansas has won at least a share of 19 regular-season conference titles.