Oklahoma State University Athletics
Boynton, Cowboys Host Media Day In GIA
October 19, 2018 | Cowboy Basketball
STILLWATER - The Oklahoma State basketball programs hosted their annual on-campus media day on Thursday. Here's what Cowboy head coach Mike Boynton, Cowgirl head coach Jim Littell and the Cowboys had to say.
Cowboy basketball head coach Mike Boynton
Opening Statement
"I am certainly excited for the season being here. I'm excited to see our guys go out there and do the one thing that I can't do for them: start to gain some experience. I can put them through a lot of drills and teach them how things are going to happen, but when they go out there for the first time and get knocked over, I can't do that for them. I love the group. I think they have potential long-term, but we're at a phase where this is a team that will look much different from last year's team due to experience. But we feel like they're the right type of kids that we want to build the program with."
On naming the team captains
"It was actually a team decision. That's not something I believe is my responsibility. Every team that I've been on that has had great success has been led internally by the players. I don't mean they'll call their own timeouts or sub themselves in, but they're going to manage each other. They're going to manage what happens in our locker room and whatever issues come up so that as a unit they can achieve what they've set as goals for themselves. My job is to help them in the games and to help get them through some adversity."
On his coaching experience this year compared to last
"For me, the job remains the same. I've tried to approach it exactly as I did last year. My job everyday is to come out and be a teacher. I try to educate these kids the same way they're educated in their English classes or Algebra classes or whatever it is. I try not to make it all about the game. I've got a greater responsibility to these young men. This is college athletics. My job is to try to impact their lives in a way that they can take lessons that gives them opportunities to be successful people when they leave here. Because that's the way I approach it, from season to season, that won't change. The outside expectations and what people think of what's going on will only be seen based on the games we play."
On the competition internally
"As a group, they're a really competitive group. You can see that off the court. We've got a pool table in [the locker room] and every time I walk through the locker room, there's someone talking junk to someone else as they're trying to make a ball. That's what you need. You need a group who has a healthy competitive nature about themselves. That's what we've seen through the first two weeks of practice."
On the impact of Mike Cunningham with the amount of the young guys on the team
"Really really helpful. It's one less guy you're speaking Japanese to. Sometimes I feel like I'm speaking Japanese sometimes out there when I say things that I think are very elementary things. And that's okay, its not anything bad, its just different. And sometimes for these guys, practice, they're just trying to survive. They mean well but they just can't wait until it's over because it means they made it through another day. Instead of trying to embrace the learning and development. And that is natural. Having Mike Cunningham around is just one less guy you have to teach every little detail to. You just say something, and it clicks, so that is certainly a benefit."
On any strengths or weaknesses he may have noticed
"It's a little early to tell. I've said this before: Isaac Likekele has separated himself from the pack. He is ready to make an impact on our team. He also doesn't understand how hard it is to win in college. He just doesn't, he's never done it. So when he comes out for the first time, he's going to be more prepared than the others, but he's not going to understand how hard it is to go on the road and win. His very first college game will be a road game. That's where the older guys always have an advantage early on. Lindy Waters and Cam McGriff know what it's like to go into Allen Fieldhouse and try to figure out a way to get a win. They've done it. So Isaac is going to walk in there at some point this year and his eyes are going to be wide open, and his ears are going to be ringing after they announce the opening lineups. So I can't teach him that, but ability-wise he stands out in practice. But there's been times when all of those guys have had great moments. I've seen Yor [Anei] make an impact on our practice for a ten-minute segment where you're like, 'Wow. in a year when he gets stronger and understand and isn't just trying to survive practice, he's going to be a really good player.' Same for Kentrevious [Jones] and [Maurice Calloo] and Duncan [Demuth] as well."
On the bonding of the team and captains
"I try to spend a lot of time – I sometimes call myself an over-communicator, because I want these guys to have a very clear understanding of where they stand with me and what I expect. All throughout the summer I knew pretty early on that we were going to need [the captains] to show that they've been through this. To show how you approach practice. When you have a good practice and coach says that, that doesn't mean that you have a good practice tomorrow. So I spent a lot of time with those guys throughout the summer and even into the fall of explaining to them what we need. They've really embraced that. They've been able to pull these guys together. Again, I don't know everything, but I don't need to as long as we have good leadership inside the locker room then that will give them a chance to help them on the basketball court.
On managing stuff of the court and making changes
"I really haven't to be honest. I've got the same staff that I've had. I respect all of the guys that work with me. None of these guys work for me; we all work for Oklahoma State University. We all serve this basketball program and this community. I feel very confident in the people we have here to do what our mission is: to impact these kids' lives. I don't micromanage people. I believe in the people we have and the character of the people that are within our organization; but I am aware of everything that's going on."
On whether or not the team understands the expectations he has
"I believe so. And part of the reason I believe that is because last year going in, we had inherited a lot of guys that had been recruited already. Part of what we tried to do last year was manage what we had and establish, through them, what we were going to be. At the end of the year, and this is no secret, I had a conversation with every player on our team. I wanted to know if they wanted to be here. I explained to them what being here meant and how that looks for them and how it looks for our program as it relates to what the expectations are. And so we only had three of them on scholarship that made the decision that this is what they wanted to do moving forward. I have no problem with anybody who is not here. But between those guys and the guys we recruited, they have received the message of what it's about and what the expectations are. It doesn't mean they always get it right, but that means that they're clear on when they don't, that they understand what the consequences are as well."
Cowgirl Basketball Head Coach Jim Littell
Opening Statement
"We're very excited for Cowgirl basketball to get started. We've got a lot of new faces in the gym and a lot of youth in the gym right now. We're excited about our progress and where we've come in the last couple of weeks. We're going to have to play a different style of game than in the past -- our personnel kind of dictates that. We feel we've got some nice pieces to the puzzle. We're excited to grow in practice each day then get to the games."
On the style of play this season
"We're probably going to be more guard oriented. We had Kaylee Jensen that we could always bail out with the past three years and we isolated her on the block. We're going to have to develop our post players a lot to be able to do that, so until then we're probably going to have to run an offense that's more guard oriented and we'll have to get the ball in the hands of our guards."
On veteran players at the guard position
"We've got some players that are experienced there, but we're putting in a new system, so it's learning there for all of them. We need some seniors to step up such as Maria Castro, Karli Wheeler and LaTashia Jones. Some of those kids are seniors in classification, but are pretty inexperienced right now. We need those players and our sophomores and freshman to come of age in a hurry."
On Braxtin Miller's growth heading into her sophomore season
"She continues to get better as a player and now her role is shifted a little bit too. We had great scoring from Loryn Goodwin and Kaylee Jensen a year ago, so she's going to be called upon more to score. We'll probably run a lot of things through her and give her a lot of opportunities early in the offense."
On Vivian Gray
"She is a special talent. She is a young lady that really elevates on her jump shot. She's got a good feel for the game and a high basketball IQ. She's going to be a player our fans enjoy watching for the next three years. She's a nice talent."
On young post players stepping up
"They have to. There's no 'we would like them to.' They have to come of age, like I was saying earlier. Kassidy De Lapp has to play a lot for us. Mariam Gnanou has to play a lot. We're counting on LaTashia Jones to do good things for us like scoring when the opportunity arises. The big concern I have for our group right now is rebounding the basketball. I'm old school and find that the team that wins the rebound battle often wins the game. We've got to be fundamental and block people out. We have to go get the basketball and have a clue of where it's coming off. Rebounding is going to be a big factor for the team this year."
Junior guard Lindy Waters
On the team heading into the season
"I'm really excited. Seeing the improvement from June to the foreign trip to starting practices. All the freshmen have come so far. It's exciting just to watch them get better every single day. I was in the same position as them. Just excited for the season."
Graduate transfer guard Mike Cunningham
On being a leader at the PG position
"I feel like it's an easy thing because the guys have a respect for me, having been through college basketball, and I am a point guard. Coach asked me to be a leader, showing that he has trust in me, lets players trust in me also."
Junior guard Thomas Dziagwa
On preseason practices
"I think it's going really well. We are making tremendous strides in every single day in practice. When we watch film as a team, we can actually see those shots. It's very rewarding when we watch film and see the shots we are making. Preseason practices have gone really well."
On the team being comfortable with each other
"I think we are doing really well with that. We spend a lot of time off the court and I think that just carries over onto the court. We played a lot pickup over the summer. Outside of practices and pickups, we are gelling really well as a team. When you get on the court, you can really see it."
Freshman forward Maurice Calloo
On preseason practices
"They are really intense right now. We are just ready to kick off the season and show people what we are made of and what we can do."
Junior forward Cameron McGriff
On the younger players
"They are all in. They are just like anybody else on the team. They know what's expected of them every day. They follow the same foundation that we have."
On playing with a chip on their shoulders
"It drives me every day. One thing that I enjoy is to prove people wrong. We know that if people could pick up 11th in the conference they would. That's the mentality that we have to have every night."
Freshman guard Isaac Likekele
On preseason practices
"It's been a grind. We have been working hard. Just coming in day in and day out after already having a hard day before. It's a mental focus. Everybody has bought in and focused in. That's part of being committed to the excellence."
On coming together as a team
"At first, I thought it was going to be hard but the veterans and the older guys made it easy for us. As soon as we came in they just took us as in as little brothers. Whenever they did that, it just made us feel like we are really stepping into the family which made the transition easy."
On Oklahoma State
"I love it. I love the family atmosphere here. I love all the fan support. I love everybody at this school. They really buy into this whole school thing and everybody seems excited for the basketball season."
Freshman forward Kentrevious Jones
On how his offseason workouts are going to carry onto the court
"I am able to get up and down the court a lot easier, get off the ground easier and move a lot faster. I make my sprints in practice now. The team used to have to do a lot of extra sprints because of me."
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Cowboy basketball head coach Mike Boynton
Opening Statement
"I am certainly excited for the season being here. I'm excited to see our guys go out there and do the one thing that I can't do for them: start to gain some experience. I can put them through a lot of drills and teach them how things are going to happen, but when they go out there for the first time and get knocked over, I can't do that for them. I love the group. I think they have potential long-term, but we're at a phase where this is a team that will look much different from last year's team due to experience. But we feel like they're the right type of kids that we want to build the program with."
On naming the team captains
"It was actually a team decision. That's not something I believe is my responsibility. Every team that I've been on that has had great success has been led internally by the players. I don't mean they'll call their own timeouts or sub themselves in, but they're going to manage each other. They're going to manage what happens in our locker room and whatever issues come up so that as a unit they can achieve what they've set as goals for themselves. My job is to help them in the games and to help get them through some adversity."
On his coaching experience this year compared to last
"For me, the job remains the same. I've tried to approach it exactly as I did last year. My job everyday is to come out and be a teacher. I try to educate these kids the same way they're educated in their English classes or Algebra classes or whatever it is. I try not to make it all about the game. I've got a greater responsibility to these young men. This is college athletics. My job is to try to impact their lives in a way that they can take lessons that gives them opportunities to be successful people when they leave here. Because that's the way I approach it, from season to season, that won't change. The outside expectations and what people think of what's going on will only be seen based on the games we play."
On the competition internally
"As a group, they're a really competitive group. You can see that off the court. We've got a pool table in [the locker room] and every time I walk through the locker room, there's someone talking junk to someone else as they're trying to make a ball. That's what you need. You need a group who has a healthy competitive nature about themselves. That's what we've seen through the first two weeks of practice."
On the impact of Mike Cunningham with the amount of the young guys on the team
"Really really helpful. It's one less guy you're speaking Japanese to. Sometimes I feel like I'm speaking Japanese sometimes out there when I say things that I think are very elementary things. And that's okay, its not anything bad, its just different. And sometimes for these guys, practice, they're just trying to survive. They mean well but they just can't wait until it's over because it means they made it through another day. Instead of trying to embrace the learning and development. And that is natural. Having Mike Cunningham around is just one less guy you have to teach every little detail to. You just say something, and it clicks, so that is certainly a benefit."
On any strengths or weaknesses he may have noticed
"It's a little early to tell. I've said this before: Isaac Likekele has separated himself from the pack. He is ready to make an impact on our team. He also doesn't understand how hard it is to win in college. He just doesn't, he's never done it. So when he comes out for the first time, he's going to be more prepared than the others, but he's not going to understand how hard it is to go on the road and win. His very first college game will be a road game. That's where the older guys always have an advantage early on. Lindy Waters and Cam McGriff know what it's like to go into Allen Fieldhouse and try to figure out a way to get a win. They've done it. So Isaac is going to walk in there at some point this year and his eyes are going to be wide open, and his ears are going to be ringing after they announce the opening lineups. So I can't teach him that, but ability-wise he stands out in practice. But there's been times when all of those guys have had great moments. I've seen Yor [Anei] make an impact on our practice for a ten-minute segment where you're like, 'Wow. in a year when he gets stronger and understand and isn't just trying to survive practice, he's going to be a really good player.' Same for Kentrevious [Jones] and [Maurice Calloo] and Duncan [Demuth] as well."
On the bonding of the team and captains
"I try to spend a lot of time – I sometimes call myself an over-communicator, because I want these guys to have a very clear understanding of where they stand with me and what I expect. All throughout the summer I knew pretty early on that we were going to need [the captains] to show that they've been through this. To show how you approach practice. When you have a good practice and coach says that, that doesn't mean that you have a good practice tomorrow. So I spent a lot of time with those guys throughout the summer and even into the fall of explaining to them what we need. They've really embraced that. They've been able to pull these guys together. Again, I don't know everything, but I don't need to as long as we have good leadership inside the locker room then that will give them a chance to help them on the basketball court.
On managing stuff of the court and making changes
"I really haven't to be honest. I've got the same staff that I've had. I respect all of the guys that work with me. None of these guys work for me; we all work for Oklahoma State University. We all serve this basketball program and this community. I feel very confident in the people we have here to do what our mission is: to impact these kids' lives. I don't micromanage people. I believe in the people we have and the character of the people that are within our organization; but I am aware of everything that's going on."
On whether or not the team understands the expectations he has
"I believe so. And part of the reason I believe that is because last year going in, we had inherited a lot of guys that had been recruited already. Part of what we tried to do last year was manage what we had and establish, through them, what we were going to be. At the end of the year, and this is no secret, I had a conversation with every player on our team. I wanted to know if they wanted to be here. I explained to them what being here meant and how that looks for them and how it looks for our program as it relates to what the expectations are. And so we only had three of them on scholarship that made the decision that this is what they wanted to do moving forward. I have no problem with anybody who is not here. But between those guys and the guys we recruited, they have received the message of what it's about and what the expectations are. It doesn't mean they always get it right, but that means that they're clear on when they don't, that they understand what the consequences are as well."
Cowgirl Basketball Head Coach Jim Littell
Opening Statement
"We're very excited for Cowgirl basketball to get started. We've got a lot of new faces in the gym and a lot of youth in the gym right now. We're excited about our progress and where we've come in the last couple of weeks. We're going to have to play a different style of game than in the past -- our personnel kind of dictates that. We feel we've got some nice pieces to the puzzle. We're excited to grow in practice each day then get to the games."
On the style of play this season
"We're probably going to be more guard oriented. We had Kaylee Jensen that we could always bail out with the past three years and we isolated her on the block. We're going to have to develop our post players a lot to be able to do that, so until then we're probably going to have to run an offense that's more guard oriented and we'll have to get the ball in the hands of our guards."
On veteran players at the guard position
"We've got some players that are experienced there, but we're putting in a new system, so it's learning there for all of them. We need some seniors to step up such as Maria Castro, Karli Wheeler and LaTashia Jones. Some of those kids are seniors in classification, but are pretty inexperienced right now. We need those players and our sophomores and freshman to come of age in a hurry."
On Braxtin Miller's growth heading into her sophomore season
"She continues to get better as a player and now her role is shifted a little bit too. We had great scoring from Loryn Goodwin and Kaylee Jensen a year ago, so she's going to be called upon more to score. We'll probably run a lot of things through her and give her a lot of opportunities early in the offense."
On Vivian Gray
"She is a special talent. She is a young lady that really elevates on her jump shot. She's got a good feel for the game and a high basketball IQ. She's going to be a player our fans enjoy watching for the next three years. She's a nice talent."
On young post players stepping up
"They have to. There's no 'we would like them to.' They have to come of age, like I was saying earlier. Kassidy De Lapp has to play a lot for us. Mariam Gnanou has to play a lot. We're counting on LaTashia Jones to do good things for us like scoring when the opportunity arises. The big concern I have for our group right now is rebounding the basketball. I'm old school and find that the team that wins the rebound battle often wins the game. We've got to be fundamental and block people out. We have to go get the basketball and have a clue of where it's coming off. Rebounding is going to be a big factor for the team this year."
Junior guard Lindy Waters
On the team heading into the season
"I'm really excited. Seeing the improvement from June to the foreign trip to starting practices. All the freshmen have come so far. It's exciting just to watch them get better every single day. I was in the same position as them. Just excited for the season."
Graduate transfer guard Mike Cunningham
On being a leader at the PG position
"I feel like it's an easy thing because the guys have a respect for me, having been through college basketball, and I am a point guard. Coach asked me to be a leader, showing that he has trust in me, lets players trust in me also."
Junior guard Thomas Dziagwa
On preseason practices
"I think it's going really well. We are making tremendous strides in every single day in practice. When we watch film as a team, we can actually see those shots. It's very rewarding when we watch film and see the shots we are making. Preseason practices have gone really well."
On the team being comfortable with each other
"I think we are doing really well with that. We spend a lot of time off the court and I think that just carries over onto the court. We played a lot pickup over the summer. Outside of practices and pickups, we are gelling really well as a team. When you get on the court, you can really see it."
Freshman forward Maurice Calloo
On preseason practices
"They are really intense right now. We are just ready to kick off the season and show people what we are made of and what we can do."
Junior forward Cameron McGriff
On the younger players
"They are all in. They are just like anybody else on the team. They know what's expected of them every day. They follow the same foundation that we have."
On playing with a chip on their shoulders
"It drives me every day. One thing that I enjoy is to prove people wrong. We know that if people could pick up 11th in the conference they would. That's the mentality that we have to have every night."
Freshman guard Isaac Likekele
On preseason practices
"It's been a grind. We have been working hard. Just coming in day in and day out after already having a hard day before. It's a mental focus. Everybody has bought in and focused in. That's part of being committed to the excellence."
On coming together as a team
"At first, I thought it was going to be hard but the veterans and the older guys made it easy for us. As soon as we came in they just took us as in as little brothers. Whenever they did that, it just made us feel like we are really stepping into the family which made the transition easy."
On Oklahoma State
"I love it. I love the family atmosphere here. I love all the fan support. I love everybody at this school. They really buy into this whole school thing and everybody seems excited for the basketball season."
Freshman forward Kentrevious Jones
On how his offseason workouts are going to carry onto the court
"I am able to get up and down the court a lot easier, get off the ground easier and move a lot faster. I make my sprints in practice now. The team used to have to do a lot of extra sprints because of me."
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Players Mentioned
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