Two teams with orange as their dominant colors, Oklahoma State and Florida, will meet Sunday in an East Region final devoid of local angles. In the space of 24 hours, Syracuse fans here packed bars to see their beloved Orangemen get blown out by Michigan State on Thursday. They then put their remaining energy Friday behind Big East brother Seton Hall.

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By the time Oklahoma State (27-6) wrapped up a rugged 68-66 semifinal victory over the Pirates (22-10), the fans were grabbing at straws. Neither the remaining Duke fans -- cheering alum and Seton Hall coach Tommy Amaker -- nor Syracuse fans -- cheering their Big East brothers -- could get satisfaction.

"It's going to be weird," Oklahoma State guard Doug Gottlieb said, "There will be 30,000 people here (Sunday) but they won't know who to root for. Both teams wear orange. It's going to be a weird deal for fans wearing orange to cheer for someone other than the 'Cuse."

That's the charm of the tournament. Oklahoma State has traveled halfway across the country to tour western and central New York by bus and come within one game of the Final Four. And suddenly, they're the bad guys.

"It's a wonderful thing to be a part of," Gottlieb said. "It's just about survival. It's great for our state. We have a conference (Big 12) that's been overlooked for the past couple of years. And it's great for coach, I know looking in his eyes this might be his last shot. A man who has been coaching for 40 years knows he's on the cusp of something special."

Cowboys coach Eddie Sutton isn't tipping his hand about his future. In fact, before his team made its run, he was determined to keep coaching at least four years at age 64. Retirement is the least of his worries. Fifth-seeded Florida got to Sunday by handing Duke its first loss in a regional semifinal since 1987.

"Maybe," Sutton said of the fickle fans, "they'll come over to our side on Sunday."

The less said about the actual game the better. It was a grinder that was not as exciting as the final score indicated. Oklahoma State was bad (39.3 percent shooting), Seton Hall was worse (36.2 percent). The Pirates couldn't duplicate their gut-wrenching overtime victories over Oregon and Temple. In fact, they couldn't duplicate overtime, largely because they were exhausted.

Leading scorer Darius Lane played 40 minutes, setting a dubious record for most 3 attempts launched in this year's tournament -- 18. It was dubious because Lane made only two. Overall, the Pirates attempted almost half their shots from beyond the arc, hitting only 7-of-34.

"We had the energy tonight," Lane said. "We just ran out of time."

It turned out that point guard Shaheen Holloway was nowhere near being able to play. He came out during warm ups, his left ankle securely wrapped in a compression boot. The ankle and the body attached to it, never budged off the bench. The severely sprained ankle suffered Sunday was labored over by Seton Hall staff, but it would not come around.

Team orthopedist Dr. Greg Gallick said if the Pirates had advanced, Holloway was a possibility for Sunday. But first the Pirates would have to win, which they couldn't without Holloway's leadership and 13 points per game. Backup Ty Shine played all 40 minutes as well, but shot only 4-of-16 and scored 11 points.

"Who knows if he'd have played if we would have won or not," Lane said of Holloway. "I wish he could have played. I don't think he let us down by not playing. He wanted to win this bad. The crowd was great, that's why it's so tough."

Oklahoma State's Doug Gottlieb (left) and Seton Hall's Ty Shine wish each other well after the game.(AP)

Holloway was near tears having watched his season and career end.

"It's a bad way for it to go down," Holloway said. "I'm real proud of the team. I don't want to start crying. I was hoping they could pull through one more so I could play Sunday ... If I could have played a couple of minutes maybe some things could have changed. I never had this kind of feeling before, the way I feel right now."

While the Big East and Syracuse languish over missed opportunities, Oklahoma State considered the possibilities of two Big 12 teams in the Final Four. Iowa State plays Michigan State on Saturday in the Midwest Region final.

Oklahoma State will have its turn on Sunday after dropping a few more dollars into the local economy.

"It's probably a Big East thing," Cowboys forward Brian Montonati said. "We've been on the road and in tough situations before. Our conference, it's almost impossible to play on the road and get wins. We basically tune the crowd out. That shows how competitive our league is. We beat each other up all year long. Iowa State has a terrific shot to get to the Final Four. So do we."

Notes

• The Big 12 got no respect in the postgame notes. The notes stated that Oklahoma State was the first Big 12 team to advance to a regional final since Kansas in 1996. Actually, the Cowboys are the second after Iowa State.
• Duke's loss marks the first time since 1995 the East Region's No. 1 seed has not reached the final.
• Florida's 21 assists tie it for second-most in this year's tournament.
• Seton Hall and Oklahoma State combined for 87 rebounds. That ties for second-most behind St. Bonaventure and Kentucky combining for 88.
• Oklahoma State last got this far in 1995 when it advanced to the Final Four.