Is OSU’s 2019 Recruiting Class the Best in Program History?

Mike Boynton has Oklahoma State basketball rolling like a (more athletic) bubble boy on water.

The Cowboys landed four-star prospect Marcus Watson on Sunday, giving them a top-10 class in 2019 and the No. 2 overall class in the Big 12. From top (Watson) to bottom (Keylan Boone), there is strength and legitimate NBA-level potential. All but Keylan are ranked four-stars, and even Keylan’s been said to have four-star talent.

But how do we measure how good a class is?

There are innumerable ways to grab a ruler and measure. Average commit ranking is perhaps the best indicator of how strong a class is. You can have 30 commitments and be ranked No. 1 in the country with two-star recruits, for example (exaggerated slightly). But the key is having strength in both numbers and quality — and OSU has achieved both.

OSU’s 2019 class, for example, has an overall average prospect rating of 93.76. That’s an average of a four-star recruit — which makes sense, because OSU has three in Watson, Kalib Boone and Avery Anderson.

Using that measure, here’s a look at how other OSU recruiting classes in basketball have finished.

All the ????

That is … again, using that specific measure, the best in program history.

There have been some stellar classes over the years — 2005 with Gerald Green, Byron Eaton and Terrel Harris, for instance, or 2015 with Jawun Evans, Igor Ibaka (!) and Davon Dillard — but based on average prospect ranking, 2019 tops all of them dating all the way back to the inception of recruiting rankings.

I think Boynton can coach, and I thought he could recruit.

Now, I know he can do both.