Cowboys’ Highly Touted Freshman Class and Slimmed Down Sophomores Signal Bright Future

STILLWATER — Last season’s Cowboy basketball roster was filled with experience from different levels, but Steve Lutz’s third Oklahoma State squad has a good amount of youth.

There were technically seven underclassmen on last season’s Oklahoma State roster, but two of those underclassmen were 22-year-old freshmen (Lefteris Mantzoukas and Daniel Guetta). Lutz’s new squad has eight traditional underclassmen:

Benjamin Ahmed, sophomore
Ryan Crotty, sophomore
Mekhi Ragland, sophomore
Jacob Walker (Sam Houston transfer), sophomore
Latrell Allmond, freshman
Jalen Montonati, freshman
Anthony Felesi, freshman
Parker Robinson, freshmen

Despite the team’s youth, this looks (on paper) like Lutz’s best team to date.

OSU’s class of freshmen ranked seventh nationally, according to 247Sports. That ranks second in the Big 12 behind only Kansas with the outlet naming all four of the Cowboys’ freshmen as four-star prospects.

Allmond leads the group in accolades, coming in as the program’s 11th McDonald’s All-American. A pickup late in the cycle, Felesi came in at No. 34 in 247Sports’ national rankings. Meanwhile Montonati was the state’s best prospect for some time, and Robinson averaged 18.1 points a game last season at Overtime Elite while shooting a season-best 39% from 3.

As good as that group might be, college practices are no joke — especially Lutz practices.

“They’re all beat up a little bit right now,” said a smiling Lutz. “They’re freshmen. It doesn’t matter if you were the 500th-ranked player or you were a McDonald’s All-American — it’s hard. It’s hard when coach is not telling you that everything you’re doing is correct. It’s hard when you come across the lane and somebody lays you out and you’ve never been hit like that before. So, they’re all beat up. They spend a lot of time in the training table, but they’re all wonderful human beings and they’re gonna be good basketball players.”

The freshman class is experiencing what the trio of Ahmed, Crotty and Ragland went through last season.

Ahmed made the biggest impact among that class last season, playing in 21 games (seven starts) while averaging 4.9 points and 3.6 rebounds a contest. Ahmed was noticeably more trim when he met with reporters on Tuesday.

“I think just learn from last season,” Ahmed said. “You know what to work on, you know how practice is gonna go. We have the experience now. We know what Coach Lutz wants. …

“From last year to this year, I’m getting my body right. Lost weight, getting in better shape, too, because I had an injury on my foot. So, I think I’m just getting in better shape, and that’s like the biggest deal for me right now, to be in better shape to play more.”

Lutz also noted Ahmed bettering his body, and the Cowboys’ coach also pointed to Ragland as another guy who has gotten in better shape this offseason.

Ragland was listed at 6-foot-11, 330 pounds as a freshman. There were moments last season where you could see the potential with his soft touch around the rim, but he no doubt needed to trim down to have success at this level.

“I give Mekhi a lot of credit — he went in the month of May and part of June to Phoenix to, I don’t know the word to use, maybe get healthy and to really learn the nutritional aspect of how he needs to function,” Lutz said. “He dropped some weight, and he came back and he looked slimmer and trimmer than he has. So, I’m really proud of him.”

Lastly, Crotty played the most minutes of OSU’s freshmen last season, totaling 281 minutes on the floor. That came after a high school career that saw Crotty hit 247 3-pointers across his junior and senior seasons.

His opportunities were inconsistent last season, and he wasn’t able to truly get into his rhythm from 3. But bettering other aspects of his game would likely lead to more consistent minutes, thus more consistent 3-point opportunities. And it sounds as if he is also moving in the right direction heading into his sophomore year.

“Ryan has done a good job with his body,” Lutz said. “He’s in great shape. It’s the best shape I’ve seen him in since he’s touched foot on campus. I expect big things out of all of them.”