Underwood's shocking move has 2 programs going in opposite directions

Oklahoma State was one of the fastest-playing teams in the country this season, but nothing compares to the speed in which head coach Brad Underwood left the Cowboys for the same position with Illinois on Saturday afternoon.

At roughly 2:31 p.m. ET on Friday, Jawun Evans swished home a deep triple at the buzzer to make the final score in Oklahoma State's opening-round loss to Michigan 92-91.

At 4:16 p.m. ET on Saturday, Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman posted his first Tweet in four days, a photo of him with Underwood in Illini gear.

Less than 26 hours elapsed between the time Evans' three found the bottom of the net and Underwood was wearing an Illinois pullover, and it appears Oklahoma State brass were just as shocked as the rest of the college basketball world.

A university official told ESPN's Andy Katz that Underwood flew back to Stillwater with the team following the loss to the Wolverines, landing at 9:00 p.m. ET. The 53-year-old gave no indication to anybody that he was leaving, and both the team and the school found out he was gone via Twitter.

"We are saddened and disappointed by Brad's decision to leave Oklahoma State after one year," Oklahoma State athletic director Mike Holder said in a statement. "We are trying to digest this news."

While Underwood called the Illinois job a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity", annual salary certainly had to be one of the biggest factors in the decision. While the bump in salary from $400,000 to over $1 million in his move from Stephen F. Austin to Oklahoma State was certainly significant, that figure still represented one of the lowest in the Big 12.

ESPN's Jeff Goodman reported after the hiring that the poor relationship between Underwood and athletic director Mike Holder was one of the major reasons for the move.

Regardless of the motivation for the move, the fact of the matter is that Illinois got an incredibly successful basketball coach. Underwood made the NCAA tournament all three years at Stephen F. Austin, and won the opening-round game as a worse seed in two out of three years.

Underwood inherited a 12-20 program when he took over prior to this season, and instantly flipped their record to 20-13, good for fifth in the Big 12. His Cowboys team played one of the most attractive forms of basketball in the country, ranking as the most efficient offense in college basketball according to Ken Pomeroy.

Oklahoma State now heads into the offseason without a head coach, and is also facing the loss of the leading three-point shooter in program history, Phil Forte. Evans is likely also gone, as he's poised to enter the 2017 NBA Draft.

Things will look mighty different for both Oklahoma State and Illinois next season, and it's likely that only one school is happy about that.