Mike Boynton Shifts Focus to Returning Players: ‘The Future is Here’

The future of Oklahoma State basketball might be bright, but Mike Boynton isn’t taking his battle-tested veterans for granted.

Oklahoma State’s basketball season came to a swift end on Wednesday night. A would-be blowout to TCU turned into a last-minute nail-biter, but the result was the same nonetheless. Oklahoma State earned an early exit from Kansas City and finishes 12-20, the same record it did during Travis Ford’s last season. But the feeling around the program and the fanbase is somehow infinitely different than it was four years ago at this time.

The just seven scholarship players at his disposal provided Mike Boynton with a safety net, if he needed one. Most people that follow the program knew it would get worse before it got better. And his incoming recruiting class, currently ranked No. 23 by 247Sports, is providing palpable buzz for next fall.

But following the near comeback to TCU in Kansas City, Boynton’s focus was singularly on those currently in his locker room.

“What you guys have gone through should give you a great sense of what we can become,” said Boynton. “Cause I’m sure you guys have heard it. Everybody’s talking about what the future of the program is. The truth is, the future of the program is here. We are the future of the program.

“We’re gonna add some guys, for sure. We’re gonna add some more guys that we don’t know who they are right now, but the future’s here.”

When OSU basketball reconvenes this fall there will be several new faces filling out its roster with four-star guards Marcus Watson and Avery Anderson and the highly touted brothers Keylan and Kalib Boone, at the least, joining the fold.

But Boynton, the recruiting enthusiast, knows that he will also have to depend just as much, if not more, on his returning vets and this year’s crop of seasoned freshmen including Isaac Likekele and Yor Anei (who has turned into a defensive star).

“I do believe the way we got better, the way our kids played gives me hope that, you know, everybody talks about the future but the future is here,” Boynton said at the podium next to Anei on Wednesday night. “Now. One of them was sitting right next to me. So we’re excited about what we can become as we get back in the offseason and figure out how to get better for next year.”

"We are the future." – @thacoachmike #c2e #okstate pic.twitter.com/2nuLuPAYuS

— Cowboy Basketball (@OSUMBB) March 14, 2019