Boynton and Oklahoma State Fight Disappointment and Go Back to the Future in NIT

STILLWATER – It took a few minutes to get the disappointment questions over with. Not making it into the NCAA Tournament doesn’t sit easy in Stillwater, Okla. and it is absolutely frustrating when you’ve won eight games, nine with the Bedlam win in the Big 12 Tournament, in the toughest conference in America. 

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Boyngton

‘”That usually is a magic number unless you are Oklahoma State,” Boynton said in pontificating off the first question. “Because I think we won eight games in my first-year (as head coach) and came up short as well. We just have to keep getting better.”

That is the chin up and looking forward attitude the Cowboys need as the top seed in the NIT. I get it. It is the one tournament that no team wants to be the top seed in, but when you just miss out on the “big dance,” right or wrong, it is the only choice. 

Because of spring break and the fact that Oklahoma State is hosting the NCAA Wrestling Championships at the BOK Center in Tulsa, personnel is at a premium and students and fans are mostly out of town, so the Cowboys will hit the road to Youngstown, Ohio and the Youngstown State Penguins for their first-round game.

“This is still an opportunity to keep playing, play in another tournament, and have an opportunity to play for a championship,” Boynton said of Wednesday (March 15) night. ““I know there are some logistical challenges around here this week and we have a lot of staff helping to run the (NCAA) wrestling championship and obviously, the women, congratulations to them on a heckuva season and wish them well on their time up in Bloomington. We have a tall task in front of us, a really good team that is going to be excited for us to come and play on their home court.”

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The Beeghly Center at Youngstown State.

Oh yeah, the court. The Penguins (24-9/15-5) play on Beeghly Court, an all-purpose building that also has a competitive pool and diving well. The basketball portion of the building seats 6,500. Hey, that is what old Gallagher Hall held before the roof was lifted and the “old lady: as whe was often called became larger and modern Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Cowboys players will get a chance to go back to the future with a game in an atmosphere similar to what Bryant Reeves, Desmond Mason, Doug Gottlieb, and even their coach, Eddie Sutton, played in back in the day at Gallagher Hall.  

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Old Gallagher Hall at Oklahoma State.

“It’s a chance to continue on as a competitor in what I imagine will be a pretty good environment.,” Boynton said of Beeghly Arena. “They are in a little different situation.”

There is a common opponent. Oklahoma State on the road beat Oakland (Mich.) by 29 in a 91-62 romp on the road. Youngstown State plays in the Horizon League and beat Okaland twice (by 16 points and then by four). The Penguins, loaded with shooters and shooting almost 37 percent from three-point range split with the Horizon’s NCAA qualifier Northern Kentucky in the regular season before losing a second time in the Horizon Tournament.

Now the Cowboys need to beat Youngstown State to help push the disappointment away. Boynton said the team did not watch the NCAA Selection Show together, but they watched and they practiced Monday and talked about it.

“Disappointment is a real thing, but it is also reality that we looked like a lot of others teams and trying to get 12 people to come to a consensus … You know all the votes didn’t go our way on that deal,” he said. 

Now he wants to help his team change the inevitable narrative for teams like his this time of the year.

“I don’t want these kids to feel like failures, because they’re not,” Boynton said. 

They will have a chance to prove it in a similar environment to where past Cowboys teams did a lot of proving.