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Comparing Boynton’s First Recruiting Class to Other Former OSU Coaches

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With a full calendar year and then some in the can, we can at least start to evaluate Mike Boynton’s tenure.

We’ve already seen his coaching acumen displayed in big time wins like his regular season sweep over Kansas. The next question is whether he can land the type of talent need to elevate Oklahoma State back toward the top of the Big 12.

With college basketball’s signing period now ended and with 14 of his 15 available scholarships filled for the 2018 recruiting cycle, let’s see how Mike Boynton’s first full class of recruiting looks compared to other former OSU coaches after their inaugural seasons.

The 2017 class will be included for the sake of comparison, but the Underwood situation is obviously different. He was gone before his players unpacked from Indianapolis after their first-round exit in the NCAA Tournament so his first full class was completed by Boynton in Year 1.

All rankings are based on each year’s signing class as rated by 247Sports.

Class of 2007 – Sean Sutton

National Rank: 17
Big 12 Rank: 2
Avg Rating: 0.8980

After going 22-13 in his first year, Sean pulled in some dudes. The culmination of his first full year resulted in a class headlined by James Anderson and Marshall Moses. Sean was a lauded recruiter from his time back on Eddie’s staff. And his first team was just three years removed from OSU’s latest Final Four appearance.

Unfortunately, Sean never got to enjoy the fruits of his recruiting labor as he was out of Stillwater a year later.

Class of 2009 – Travis Ford

National Rank: 24
Big 12 Rank: 5
Avg Rating: 0.7378

Ford was able to bring in some talent before Year 2 with four four-star commits in Raymond Penn, Karron Johnson, Jarred Shaw and Roger Franklin.

But of the seven members of that class only one was in Stillwater two years later and that was Fred Gulley who transferred to Arkansas after Year 3. The rest either didn’t pan out of never stepped foot on campus.

Class of 2017 – Brad Underwood

National Rank: 86
Big 12 Rank: 9
Avg Rating: 0.8885

Underwood’s two additions at the signing period were Zack Dawson, who Mike Boynton dismissed from the program before he could make any impact and Latravian Glover who did not remain committed with the coaching change after Underwood left.

Class of 2018 – Mike Boynton

National Rank: 52
Big 12 Rank: 7
Avg Rating: 0.8884

These rankings come with a bit of a caveat as they do not include three-star center Kentrevious Jones who was originally classified as a 2017 prospect but is available this fall with four years of eligibility remaining. Boynton also landed grad transfer point guard Mike Cunningham who is also not included in these rankings.

With this class Boynton filled several needs including three-star Isaac Likekele at the point guard to go along with Cunningham and finally eligible Michael Weathers.

Yor Anei, Duncan Demuth and Maurice Calloo will add much-needed depth in the front court with Calloo versatile enough to fill a stretch-4 role.

We should also point out that while it’s still early, Boynton’s upcoming 2019 class is up to No. 11 nationally and second in the Big 12 behind Kansas.

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