Recruiting to Put Oklahoma State Hoops Back on the Map
STILLWATER -- I think it's safe to say that at periods throughout the history of the program, Oklahoma State basketball was considered elite. The first back-to-back national champs, multiple final four appearances, multiple elite players going onto the NBA and one of the winningest coaches in NCAA history.
But there's also been periods of down time, including the most recent stretch dating back to the end of the Eddie Sutton era. I understand that there were some good years sprinkled in there. Sean Sutton's first year they went 22-13, but dropped off the next season. Travis Ford had more winning seasons than losing seasons and made it to the NCAA Tournament, but despite good recruiting at times, never could get over the hump.
After Ford, it seemed that the love the fan base had for Cowboy basketball had nearly faded away. The program that people had loved under Eddie Sutton, and even a few fans for the Henry Iba period, had gotten away from its roots.
Enter Mike Boynton. A young assistant coach that no one had ever heard of with no head coaching experience. We all heard the grumblings: 'There's no way he'll last', he'll be out the door before the ink's dry.'
The first year went much better than expected. The Pokes finished the season 21-15 overall and made a run deep into the NIT despite the distractions of an FBI investigation into the program and former assistant Lamont Evans.
The next season showed promise, but was mired by off the court issues. Boynton and Co. had to hold walk-on tryouts in January just to be able to practice. The Pokes finished 12-20, but did so with the grit and determination of a team that was full of scholarship players.
While dealing with all of that, Mike Boynton and Co. were hard at work to ensure they brought in a class big enough to fill the holes, and talented enough to enure the program was in good hands once the three senior captains, Lindy Waters, Cameron McGriff and Thomas Dziagwa were gone.
Not only did they bring in enough players to fill the holes, but they signed one of the best recruiting classes in the history of the program. They signed four four-star prospects in Marcus Watson, Avery Anderson III, Chris Harris Jr. and Kalib Boone. They signed three-star Keylan Boone, who's quickly proving on the court why he should've been ranked much higher than he was. They also brought in grad transfer Jonathan Laurent.
The class was ranked No. 24 in the country, up just a few spots from the class before that was ranked No. 60 in the country.
Fast forward to this recruiting class and Mike Boynton has already committed four-star guard Rondel Walker out of Oklahoma City and his AAU teammate who, by the way, happens to be the No. 2 overall prospect in the country, five-star guard Cade Cunningham.
The Pokes are also deeply in the mix to land five-star guard Bryce Thompson out of Tulsa, OK who was sitting courtside for Oklahoma State's opener against ORU.
Thompson is set to make his decision live on CBS Sports HQ on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 10 a.m. CT.
The Cowboys are also in on the No. 49 overall prospect, and the No. 8 overall power forward in the 2020 class, four-star JT Thor out of Norcross, GA. In fact, several of the nation's top recruiting experts have picked Oklahoma State as the favorites to land Thor.
Oklahoma State turned the college basketball world on its head earlier this week when it landed the commitment of Cade Cunningham. The 6-6, 215-pound combo guard picked the Pokes over the likes of Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina and projects to be a potential one and done player as some entities are predicting he'll go No. 1 overall in the 2021 NBA Draft.
Cunningham will also be in Stillwater this weekend for the Pokes game against Kansas City. There's also a great chance that Rondel Walker will also be with Cunningham.
Just into his third season as head coach, Mike Boynton has taken a program that failed to sellout an arena less than six times a season, or make it to the NCAA Tournament and win a game and breathed new life into.
"It's been three years for me guys and it is good to see that it is turning," said head coach Mike Boynton. "We started this thing, kind of, cautiously optimistic. There wasn't a whole lot of high expectations that we could do anything positive here. The fan base was skeptical, to say the least, about what this program could look like under our leadership, but to see going on two and half, three years of putting our heads down and working it certainly feels good to see some of those things you envisioned come to light."
There's a buzz around Stillwater, and the rest of Cowboy Country, about Cowboy basketball. The fan base is excited and talking about basketball again. The students are excited, and win the students are excited and show up, Gallagher-Iba Arena is one of the best venues in the country bar none.
Oklahoma State is deep and talented this season, poised to make a run the Big 12 and the coaching staff has, and is recruiting better than most programs in the country. I hope you're ready for it because Oklahoma State basketball is about to become a household name again in college basketball.
