BIG 12 CONFERENCE MEN'S BASKETBALL TIPOFF MEDIA DAY

October 18, 2023

Mike Boynton, Jr.

Oklahoma State Cowboys

Media Day Press Conference

MIKE BOYNTON: I'm thankful. I'm thankful to be here. Thankful for the conference and its leadership, especially Commissioner Yormark and all the things that he's doing to continue to keep our league at the forefront of college basketball.

Looking forward to the season, like everybody else, I'm sure, and really excited about our group. It's a very, very different group than we've had. Probably the youngest team I've ever had at Oklahoma State in terms of having as many freshmen as we do.

But I do like the balance that we have because we have some experienced guys who have been through this league but other guys who have also had experience in college basketball at other places.

Looking forward to seeing how much we can get better from the start of the season a few weeks ago until whenever we hang our jerseys up for the last time at the end.

Q. Was it intentional to target freshmen for this roster construction? The Big 12 is really old this year. You guys have some of the most freshmen compared to the rest of the league.

MIKE BOYNTON: Yeah, that's a good question. I think we've always been pretty intentional about being who we are and believing in the foundation of our program, being about development.

I don't want to say we were specifically more intentional this year than in any other previous years. We've always been really aggressive in the recruiting space, through the high school realm. We'll continue that because I truly believe that we're still about making people better. I think our track record of development has been pretty good.

It'll continue to be that.

Now, we are also very aware that more experienced teams have had more success here in college basketball recently, so we're trying to strike a good balance. That's why in the spring we did go into the portal and seek some guys who could fill some spots that we thought were needed. We were able to identify some guys that we really felt filled a need in areas that we thought would make our team better, help the freshmen come along, but also give us a chance in compete in what's the most competitive conference in the country.

So the three guys we got late in Javon Small, Jarius Hicklen, and Mike Marshall are all guys who have played many, many college basketball games. Mike Marshall and Jarius Hicklen both being fifth-year guys and Javon being a two-year starter at point guard already.

I think we'll continue to recruit aggressively at the also level, but we do know that you've got to find some balance in the portal, but it's got to be the right guys. I truly believe that fit is still the most important thing.

You can find yourself in a tough spot if you get the wrong guys out of the portal, as well.

Q. Can you tell us more about Javon and he had a leg injury. How does that stand?

MIKE BOYNTON: He's still working his way back to full health with regard to that, but we ran all the tests and did all the background on his ability to get back to full strength. We were able to see him some this summer play with us on our trip. He's an impact player. He's a guy that we believe can really be one of the best point guards in our league, can be a guy who really sets the tone for what our team can ultimately be at the end in terms of making the game easier for his teammates.

He takes great pride in being a guy who facilitates, gets other guys good shots, takes care of the basketball. But he also has the ability to score himself. A very confident player, but he also has a level of humility that allows him to be embraced by his teammates because he knows it's not just about him and his own personal goals, but winning is a very, very high priority for him.

Q. How competitive do you think the conference is going to be with the new additions that you got?

MIKE BOYNTON: Yeah, it's crazy to think that I'm doing this for the seventh time now as head coach. Seems like the time has really flown by. I've enjoyed every minute of it, but the competition is a real thing. It's been baptism by fire. It was my first head coaching job when I was 35 years old. And the league continues to get better.

I think the new teams, all four this year and then the ones we add moving forward, will continue to elevate this conference above what I ever imagined would be one conference's strength. We're going to get away from the double round-robin which I'm not necessarily upset about because it was really a gauntlet going through this league. It'll continue to be, it's just that maybe you don't have to go to every place every year like you used to. You still play everybody, but the league is going to be as strong as it's ever been.

I think this year, you'll come in and not really know who's going to finish. I think we all have assumptions on what the order of finish -- I saw the predictions out. I think it's less predictable now in college sports to do that than ever before because of the roster turnover everywhere, but the league in general is going to be really, really good, as it always has been.