What Are OSU’s Options if Courtney Ramey Plans Fall Through?

Chances are you’ve heard the name of Courtney Ramey, the 2018 point guard target OSU is hell-bent to land in the upcoming signing period.

The four-star product from Saint Louis put himself back on the market in the wake of Rick Pitino’s ouster at Louisville, de-committing from the Cardinals and sending schools like Oklahoma State, among the many point guard-needy programs, into a late-cycle frenzy.

Boynton has made it a point to personally recruit Ramey in recent weeks to establish a rapport with him and his father, who has a big say in where he ultimately lands, and all signs point to Oklahoma State being the favorite .. for now.

But Missouri, Illinois, Texas, Ohio State and other major programs haven’t let up in their pursuit despite OSU’s surge in his standings. So, where might OSU turn if it *gasp* doesn’t win the Ramey sweepstakes? Here’s where things stand right now and three avenues OSU could take.

1. Get a four-year player

It’s important to note when touching on Oklahoma State’s point guard pursuit that it’s the position of highest importance in 2018. Not only is Mike Boynton in a must-replace situation for grad transfer Kendall Smith, but he also booted Zack Dawson — a four-star PG from Florida — off of the team earlier this season.

To that end, right now it seems there is just one iron in the fire: Amir Harris, who picked up an OSU offer earlier this month.

Harris was previously committed to Rhode Island but opened up his options last fall after, I presume, someone got in his ear to tell him he could play high-major ball rather than going to a non-Power 5 program.

At 6-foot-4, 170-pounds, Harris has good size to run an offense; however, Harris is far from a polished product. And right now, the belief is that he is a contingency plan being used to challenge Ramey’s standing with the Pokes.

“[He is] definitely best used on the ball,” Rivals analyst Corey Evans told me last week. “His major deficiency is shooting the basketball, which makes it even more vital that he’s on the ball. People were asking: ‘Does this offer to Harris mean that OSU is out on Courtney?’ No, that’s not it at all. It actually might be OSU’s way of saying to Ramey: ‘Hey, there’s someone else in the picture. Do you want us or not?’”

So where else might OSU look? As far as four-year players are available, most high-end prospects are already committed at this stage in the game. But Memphis-area point guard Tyler Harris and New York native Mika Adams-Woods might be two off-the-beaten-path ball-handlers worth kicking the tires on.

2. Go grad transfer .. again

There’s no shame in hunting the graduate transfer market to land your point guard. It’s no more than a band-aid fix and not a long-term solution, which is why I prefer four-year players because they can grow and develop and allow you to focus your recruiting efforts elsewhere. But as we’ve seen this year with Kendall Smith, there are capable bodies at lower levels who can contribute at the Power 5 level.

In this regard, there’s not many options available now. Which is fine, because OSU won’t know its fate with Ramey for a month or two. Grad transfers names will start trickling out after the season or slightly before it ends, which would give coaches the summer to land a name and get them on campus to acclimate before the 2018 season.

3. Stand pat

Definitely the least appealing of the options. If Ramey falls through, it’s not the end of the world, but a contingency plan ideally consists of at least bringing someone in.

However if OSU stands pat, it still has Brandon Averette, it could use transfer Michael Weathers on the ball where he played at Miami (OH), and could even move over Indiana transfer Curtis Jones — who I expect to play off the ball when he becomes eligible after the fall semester in 2018 — into a distributor role.

If OSU does stand pat at point guard (which to me would signal that literally all of OSU’s options fell through), then I wouldn’t be too shocked to see OSU bring in a shooting guard/combo guard who, if necessary, could run the offense.