Welcome to my team preview series for 2024-25. Each day between now and the start of the college basketball season, I will preview one team or conference, both on Instagram (@collegehoopsoutlet) and through an article here. The preview will go in-depth on the roster build of the team, my expectations for their upcoming season, and the state of the program under their current head coach.
Oklahoma State (Projected: 14th in Big 12)
Steve Lutz takes over for Oklahoma State this offseason, a so-far successful coach through three years at the Division I level. Lutz took Texas A&M-CC to two tournaments before leading Western Kentucky to the Big Dance this past season in his lone season with the Tops. He’ll now be tasked with rebuilding Oklahoma State in an absolute gauntlet of a conference, the Big 12.
Much of what Lutz will deal with at Oklahoma State is a clean slate, but he does have three holdovers from Mike Boynton’s 2023-24 team. Bryce Thompson (12 ppg) has been a staple of the last three Oklahoma State teams, and will get one last go-around with the Cowboys this year. Thompson hasn’t quite been able to take a leap that most people thought he would after being a highly-touted recruit that transferred after his freshman year at Kansas. If Thompson can finally take a jump, the Cowboys will be in good position to at least put up a fight in the Big 12.
The two other returners for Oklahoma State are both sophomores, Jamyron Keller (7 ppg) and Connor Dow (2 ppg). Keller averaged 19 mpg, mostly off the bench, for the Cowboys in his freshman campaign and should continue to grow as a player in the coming seasons. Dow played just 11 mpg, but did still get the chance to start seven games and is another guy in the backcourt that could be useful for the future.
Plenty of players did leave following the dismissal of former Cowboys head coach Mike Boynton, a list totaling up to nine including star point guard Javon Small (15 ppg, 5 rpg, 4 apg) who transferred to Big 12 rivals West Virginia. Two other players who were promising freshmen last season also entered the portal, Eric Dailey Jr. (9 ppg, 5 rpg) and Brandon Garrison (8 ppg, 5 rpg). Concluding the departures list were John-Michael Wright (9 ppg), Quion Williams (8 ppg, 6 rpg), Jarius Hicklen (5 ppg), Mike Marsh (3 ppg), Justin McBride (3 ppg), and Isaiah Miranda (3 ppg).
To build the program back up, Lutz had no choice but to hit the transfer portal hard this spring, and he did just that, including a late power conference addition at the end of June. The biggest get in the portal for Lutz came early though, with the signing of La Salle transfer Khalil Brantley (15 ppg, 5 rpg, 4 apg at La Salle). Brantley is a strong guard who can get to the bucket with ease and can score confidently at all three levels. His passing ability is among the elite in college basketball and should translate well to the Big 12 where he will have even more talented teammates. FIU transfer Arturo Dean (13 ppg, 5 rpg, 4 apg at FIU) is another exciting addition to the Cowboys backcourt. Dean is a small, lightning-quick guard who has the same great passing ability as Brantley, but is more of a gambler on both sides of the ball. Dean averaged 3.7 turnovers per game this past season but also averaged 3.4 steals per game to offset his turnover issues.
The transfer class doesn’t stop there though, with experienced veterans Devo Davis (6 ppg, 3 rpg at Arkansas) and Brandon Newman (10 ppg, 5 rpg at WKU) filling out the backcourt. The frontcourt undergoes a full transformation, adding four power conference transfers. UCF transfer Marchelus Avery (8 ppg, 4 rpg at UCF) and Xavier transfer Abou Ousmane (7 ppg, 6 rpg at Xavier) are my picks to start, but Robert Jennings (4 ppg, 3 rpg at Texas Tech) and Patrick Suemnick (4 ppg, 3 rpg at West Virginia) should both see time off the bench.
It’s quite a jump for Steve Lutz, going from the Southland to the Big 12 in just 24 months’ time, but he seems to already have Oklahoma State trending in the right direction. I like the pieces the Cowboys brought in via the transfer portal and the fact that Lutz was able to keep two promising freshmen from Mike Boynton’s squad. It would be a big ask of Lutz to make a fourth straight tournament in four years as a D1 head coach, but I’ve seen crazier things.
The frontcourt seems as if it will figure itself out, with four high-major transfer dueling it for playing time, but the backcourt is where I’m intrigued by what will happen for Oklahoma State. A program veteran in Bryce Thompson, three experienced transfers, a wildcard in Arturo Dean, and two promising young returners will leave Lutz no shortage of depth, but it remains to be seen who will erupt as the primary players. The X-factors on this team for me are Devo Davis and Arturo Dean, who I believe have the widest ranges of outcomes out of any of the players on the roster. Davis was great at times for Arkansas, but was a shell of himself in 2023-24. Dean is a turnover machine, but also takes the types of gambles you sometimes need defensively as a possible 6th-man, scrappy guard. If Davis and Dean both figure things out in the Big 12, this Cowboys team could become sneaky good.
It would take a lot of progress in year one for Lutz to make the tournament, especially in year one, but I do think he has the program headed where they want to go and will reach one soon enough. For 2024-25 though, there’s too much unknown for me to put Oklahoma State any higher than 14th in the new 16-team Big 12, but that’s not to say it won’t be a highly competitive team throughout conference play.