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BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL MEDIA DAYOctober 24, 2018Mike BoyntonKansas City, Missouri THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Mike Boynton from Oklahoma State. Coach? MIKE BOYNTON: Good morning, everybody. Thank you for being here. We're excited about basketball, it's October 24th. Any coach who tells you otherwise, you should check his health. But at the same time I should be back in Stillwater focusing on my team considering that the votes we got probably qualify for 11th or 12th, but there are only 10 teams. So we look forward to the challenge and we are excited about getting started. THE MODERATOR: We will take questions for Coach. Q. What's this roller coaster been like for you going from a 21-win team to this year losing those key seniors and rebuilding? MIKE BOYNTON: This has probably been the easiest part of this roller coaster for me. As you probably remember a year ago I sat here there was a lot of uncertainty about the program and its direction and certainly my ability to do the job at this position. But we were fortunate, we had some really good upperclassmen, surrounded by a great staff who all helped me kind of keep the ship above sea and moving in the right direction. Now we have had some transition. Not only did we lose four guys who would have been very strong contributors, but we had two late transfers from our team, guys who probably could have helped a lot this year. That's okay, I don't begrudge those kids at all, I wish them well. At the same time we're into a new role now in our program and there is excitement in Stillwater now about basketball and what the program can be again as it once was under Coach Sutton. We're excited about the opportunity to build it again and reinvigorate our fan base and they are excited about coming back into GIA and it's a fairly young team. We feel like we have good enough talent that as long as those kids keep working hard, which they have since June they will continue to get better. I don't know what that looks like as far as wins and losses but we feel good about the direction we're headed. Q. Coach, whether they were impactful at the top of the stat sheet or lower. The amount of players that you did lose from last season is obviously a big one and noteworthy. How do you adjust to having such a different looking roster and the completely different overhaul of faces on your roster this season? MIKE BOYNTON: Thanks for the question. I think it's part of our industry right now. There is a lot of turnover everywhere and it looks different at every school. For us we haven't had a bunch of one-and-done's come through but there have been a couple of kids leave for graduation which we always want but also guys wondering if they could find a better situation for themselves personally. I wish those kids well. I don't hold kids from being able to transfer if they want to or block them from a certain school. At the end of the day we provide an education and an opportunity for these kids to grow. So when they want to leave the program we wish them well but the guys that are in our program are the guys we really do focus on and we've got a group of mostly freshmen who we feel really good about, what they can become. They're not there yet. We've got a couple of guys who haven't played yet but have been in our program that we feel can make big-time contributions to us. I know that's not a lot of outside expectations as there weren't last year, but the work that our guys have put in and continue to do, you know, starting in June, we went on a foreign trip. We feel like we're a step ahead of what we possibly could have been otherwise and we look forward to getting out there and competing. We go out there and try to play hard like everybody else, we will be 0-0 when we tip off our first game and it will be how we perform at the end of the day. I feel confident in our staff and our ability to get these kids better. As they continue to get better, the results will take care of themselves. THE MODERATOR: Okay, Coach. Thank you. Good luck on the season. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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