These Shoes Were Made for Flying to Omaha, Boynton on the Move
STILLWATER – Here comes Mike Boynton running into and moving his way around The End Zone looking like he is on a Price is Right shopping spree. The Oklahoma State head basketball coach grabbed an Oklahoma State Nike gym bag off the shelf and started filling it with his sizes in Nike polos. He made sure he got one of those sweet orange polos with darker orange stripes and the Cowboys script logo over the heart. Boynton kind of made sure the shirts were folded, went to the register and paid for his new wardrobe before flying out the door headed to Stillwater Municipal Airport for his private aviation flight to Omaha.
Boynton did not elaborate on who he was going to see exactly, more than like multiple who’s. Boynton is going to the OSA MAYB Summer Slam Presented by Pella Doors and Windows. The massive tournament features divisions for all ages at the Omaha Sports Academy, but we noticed there are 17 teams in the high school senior division and 27 teams in the high school sophomore and junior division. That tournament goes on over the weekend through Sunday.
Boynton, who just got the good news on Thursday of landing Memphis big man transfer Moussa Cisse, is now looking for his future recruits. Getting the 6-11 native of Guinea was huge. Last season playing for Penny Hardaway at Memphis he averaged 6.6 points and 6.3 rebounds a game.
When I butchered the pronunciation of Cisse, Boynton helped out with the text of a pronunciation guide (Mouse-A See-Say). I thanked him as he shopped quickly in The Endzone. He told me there wasn’t anything he could add until the paperwork (scholarship agreement) with Cisse was signed.
“I see what they did with Cade Cunningham,” Cisse said on ESPN. “I had to decide whether to go to the NBA or college. I watched a lot of film and saw the way they developed players. That was attractive to me. Coach Mike Boynton has been talking to me for a while now, trying hard. I can tell that he really likes me, and he can give be a chance to develop my game and take it to the next level.”
Looking for future big men, future players period will also take Boynton on this trip to Louisville, where he won’t be thinking about the thoroughbreds at the race track, but the thoroughbred basketball talent at the Grassroots Showdown for grades 11-through-5. The tournament, all under one roof in the Kentucky Expo Center, will have close to 200 teams. There will be plenty of players to see.