Mike Boynton Talks Young OSU Team Amidst Experienced Big 12 Conference

STILLWATER – The start of the 2023-24 season for the Oklahoma State men’s basketball team is less than a month away. With that, the Big 12 kicked off its annual Basketball Media Day up in Kansas City on Wednesday.

The Cowboys, who lost quite a few key players to the transfer portal during the offseason, start the season at home against Abilene Christian on Monday, November 6. While most entered the portal as grad transfers, Avery Anderson III and Tyreek Smith just to name a few, one big piece from last season was center Moussa Cisse, who transferred to Ole Miss.

There are quite a few rather large holes to fill, both size and statistically. Mike Boynton and Co. put together a rather athletic 2023 signing class, which included several high-rated freshmen, including Eric Dailey Jr., Jamyron Keller, Justin McBride and McDonald’s All-American, Brandon Garrison.

They’ve also supplemented the incoming freshmen, and returning players, such as Bryce Thompson and Quion Williams, with talented transfer players, such as guard Javon Small, Jarius Hicklen and Mike Marsh.

Boynton was asked about the youth of his roster during his availability at Big 12 Media Day on Wednesday morning.

“I think we’ve always been pretty intentional about being who we are and believing in the foundation of our program being about development. I don’t want to say we were more intentional than we were in previous years. We’ve always been very aggressive in the recruiting space through the high school realm. We’ll continue that because I truly believe that we’re still about making people better. Our track record of development has been good, and it will continue to be. Now, we are also very aware that more experienced teams have had success in college basketball recently. We’re trying to strike a good balance and that’s why in the spring we did go into the portal and seek some guys to fill some spots we thought we needed [filled]. We were able to identify some guys that we felt filled a need in areas that we thought would make our team better, help our freshmen come along and also help us compete in one of the most competitive conferences in the country. The three guys we got late, Javon Small, Jarius Hicklen and Mike Marsh are all guys who have played many college basketball games. Jarius Hicklen and Mike Marsh are both fifth year guys and Javon is a two-year starter at point guard already. We’ll continue to recruit aggressively at the high school level, but we do know that we have to find some balance in the portal. But they have to be the right guys. I truly believe that fit is still the most important thing. You can find yourself in a tough spot if you find the wrong guys out of the portal as well.

Small has a chance to be an impact player for the Pokes this season but is currently working his way back from a leg injury.

“He’s still working his way back to full health with regard to that. We ran all the tests and did background on his ability to get back to full strength. We were able to see him some this summer and play with us on our trip. He’s an impact player. He’s a guy that we believe can be one of the best point guards in our league and a guy that really sets the tone of where our team can be at the end, ultimately in terms of making the game easier for his teammates. He takes great pride in being able to facilitate. He gets other guys the basketball, but he also has the ability to score himself. He’s a very confident player, but also has the level of humility to be embraced by his teammates because he knows it's not just about him.”