Breaking Down OSU’s Roster for the 2018-19 Season

Gone is the 2018 season, and though it’s fun to reflect upon what just went down in Mike Boynton’s first year, it’s equally as entertaining to take a peek into what his team will look like in year two.

Seniors Jeffrey Carroll, Mitchell Solomon and Kendall Smith, all starters, have played their final games for Oklahoma State, and Tavarius Shine’s future is largely unknown. This leaves a lot of minutes for less-utilized players on the roster, as well as for those who were ineligible or incoming recruits. Here I’ll try to make sense of what the Cowboys’ roster will look like when the season begins in the fall.

Guards

Brandon Averette, Junior

Averette returns for his third year as a Cowboy next season. He earned five more minutes per game this year and produced accordingly, averaging 6.3 points and 2.8 assists per game. He really pushed the tempo and got OSU some easy buckets early in the season. You’d like to see him shoot a higher percentage, however. He hit 10 of 22 threes in his first season (45.5 percent), but connected on just 10 of 37 attempts in 2017-18 (27 percent).

Thomas Dziagwa, Junior

Dizzy isn’t going to do much for you on defense. At this point in his career, we know he’s a knockdown shooter who has the green light from almost anywhere on the floor. He shot 41 percent from three during the season’s first 14 games, but shot just 30.2 percent from that point forward.

Lindy Waters, Junior

I’m a big fan of Waters’ game, and I argue he’s the most offensively skilled player on the Cowboys’ roster. He seems to know when to give up the rock, and he just looks fluid with the ball in his hands. I’m really interested to see what kind of leap he makes in his junior season. He averaged 8.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game while shooting better than 37 percent from deep in 2017-18.

Michael Weathers, Redshirt sophomore

We haven’t seem much of Weathers, but the numbers from his lone season at Miami (OH) are impressive. He played less than 30 minutes per game but still managed to average 16.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists while shooting 43 percent from the floor. He shot only 22.1 percent from deep, so imagine how much of a threat he could develop into if that increased to, say, 30 percent. Baby steps.

Curtis Jones, Redshirt junior

Jones, a former top-100 high school prospect, had a minimal impact in Indiana. The 6-foot-4 guard played only 11 minutes per game in each of his first two seasons there, which was probably a factor that led him to pursue his career elsewhere. The fact that he played for Indiana, though, raises eyebrows. Yeah, he averaged only 3.4 points per game in 40 contests, but he’s a former four-star prospect who received offers from Georgetown, West Virginia and North Carolina, among others. Fans will have to wait until after the fall semester to see Jones in action.

Forwards

Cam McGriff, Junior

If there was a poll question asking who will lead the Cowboys next season, I’d be willing to bet more than 85 percent say it’s McGriff. Cam burst onto the scene in Stillwater after his performance against TCU on Jan. 30, and he started every game for the Cowboys after that. His defensive game is already stellar, and it’ll be fun to watch him grow into more of an offensive leader with the absence of those seniors.

Yankuba Sima, Senior

Sima’s debut season in Stillwater came with mixed reviews, but overall I’d say it was good. He’ll need to clean up some of his footwork and get a better feel for the game in the offeason, but he was kinda thrown into the fire after he became eligible. It’ll be interesting to see what he can do after a full offseason with Boynton as he prepares for what I assume to be a starting job.

Yor Anei, Freshman

Anei is a three-star forward from Overland Park, Kansas. He also received offers from Kansas State, Texas A&M and Iowa. He’s a tall, lanky rim protector who can finish around the glass. With that being said, the defenders in the Big 12 are much bigger and stronger than they are in high school. He looks like a guy who can be a high-energy player off the bench in spurts, at least early in his career. He also (somewhat) lit up this three-point competition, so that’s something to keep an eye out for, as well.

Duncan Demuth, Freshman

Duncan is due for endless puns because of his name, and I’m sure he’s already been called Dunkin’ Duncan 12,000 times. He projects as a wing/stretch 4 who can finish in the midrange game. He also has range from beyond the arc. Demuth received offers from Florida State, South Carolina and Iowa State.

Lucas N’Guessan, Junior

Unless N’Guessan adds a ton of muscle in the weight room, we know what he brings to the table. He’s a serviceable big who can eat a couple of minutes here and there if others get in foul trouble, but that’s about it. When he does put a shot up, he makes it. His career-low for field goal percentage is 52.2 percent. He’ll also get a block or two here and there.

Trey Reeves, Junior

Everybody loves Reeves, the son of former OSU great Bryant Reeves. That said, he appeared in only nine games this season and averaged 2.4 minutes per game when he saw the court.