Notebook on Oklahoma State’s Final Open Summer Basketball Practice

I took my kids to OSU’s open practice on Thursday evening in GIA (more on that in a minute) to check out the mostly new basketball team and see what the turnover from last season looks like. We had an awesome time, even though most of the basketball consisted of assistant coach John Cooper looking exasperated about one of his bigs playing out of position in a drill that barely involved a basketball.

The hoops was not scintillating for the majority of the time, and head coach Mike Boynton was at an event with head coach Mike Gundy in Altus, USA, but I still made a few notes, talked to a few guys and got some superlatives from my 5- and 4-year-olds. Let’s go.

• The first thing I noticed: Everybody is going short shorts! Remember when Jeffrey Carroll triple rolled his shorts last year and everybody was like, “oh.”

Yeah, it’s a thing now, and apparently it has been for a while (RIP Fab Five). I saw enough of Yor Anei’s thighs to last me a couple of lifetimes, but I have to say, as a shorter shorts connoisseur myself, I’m in on this trend.

• The bodies that stuck out to me: Dizzy, Lindy and Cam. As I’m writing this I’m now realizing that my first two points are about short shorts and college students’ bodies, which is maybe not great!

Anyway, Dizzy looks tall and thin. Not sure it means much for his defense or ability to finish at the rim, but he looks way different. Lindy looks bulked up as well. Maybe not “Emmanuel Ogbah after Rob Glass got a hold of him” thick, but he looks ready to play 30 minutes a night in a real league. And Crime Dog, goodness, looks like a cross between Joey Graham and Markelle Martin.

• Here’s how the music blasting during practice went: rap song, rap song, rap song, rap song, Taylor Swift, rap song, rap song. I never saw it coming, but all of a sudden Shake It Off is just pumping on the sideline, much to my daughter’s delight.

• While we’re here, OSU really set these open practices up well. The bottom ring was actually pretty full — like, “Christmas break game against Northwestern State” full — and they dovetailed it with an alumni event so you had guys like Ivan McFarlin, Marcus Dove and Country in attendance. There were kids everywhere, players signing and taking pictures afterwards and a general atmosphere you don’t get too often in college football or hoops.

I don’t want to get out over my skis and say it was electric because it’s an August practice with a team that may or may not actually be good, but there’s definitely an upbeat, “something special might be unfolding over the next few years” vibe around the program.

Mike Boynton has fans showing up to practice. Just let that fact set in for a minute.

— Adam Lunt (@AdamLunt817) August 3, 2018

• Ice is nice. I interviewed freshman Isaac Likekele this summer, and it seemed like he had the same thing Spencer Sanders has. An unidentifiable quality that galvanizes other 20-year-olds. I have no idea if either of them actually have it, but they certainly both seem to. Nothing about Thursday’s practice changed my mind about Ice. The sample size is smaller than Rudolph’s hands, I know, but he sees the floor well, seems built for the Big 12 and is somebody other guys look to already.

I talked to him for a few minutes after practice, and he was breaking down OSU’s scholarship situation (so many freshmen and juniors!), talking about how cool it was that OSU had so many fans in attendance and introducing himself to my kids. Fully subscribed.

• A few scrimmage notes. MY THOUGHTS ARE DEFINITELY FULLY FORMED AFTER WATCHING A 5-MINUTE SCRIMMAGE AT THE BEGINNING OF AUGUST ABOUT WHAT THIS TEAM IS GOING TO BE IN FEBRUARY.

• Calloo can shoot! He hit a pair of triples, which would be a nice weapon.
• Weathers looks the part. No idea if he’s good, but he looks and scrimmages like somebody who is.
• Cam is a monster. The put-back dunks, the rim-running rolls. He’s unbelievable.
• Dizzy is the guy in drills who takes everything way too seriously and cares way too much, which I obviously love. I might also be that guy.

• I asked Maurice Calloo, Kentrevious Jones and Michael Weathers about what Boynton has taught them off the court. Their three answers: “patience,” “how I carry myself,” and “respect everybody.” Pretty cool.

• My daughter’s favorite player (“because of his hair”) and my favorite interview was Kentrevious Jones. He told us a successful trip looks like winning some games and coming back with all the Gucci he can afford (Michael Weathers claims everyone on the team is just copying his craving for some upscale fashion).

Jones — who has dropped somewhere close to 30 pounds but is still about two Kyle Boones — said his mom and grandma call him “Little Boy.”

• OSU heads out on Saturday morning for its trip to Europe. Boynton, who continues to get it, is giving his staff downtime in the evenings to spend time with their spouses or each other with far more cultural-experience stuff planned than actual basketball. I’m excited to see how much Gucci Little Boy comes back with.