Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Quotables: Boynton, Dailey and Miranda
December 15, 2023 | Cowboy Basketball
With a full week between games, Mike Boynton Jr. and staff spent finals week doing some studying of their own. Self-study, that is. Consistency is the goal for the Cowboys who – with the debut of 7-foot-1 freshman Isaiah Miranda -- finally have all 12 scholarship players healthy and available. Thursday at his weekly press conference, Boynton talked with local media about locking in roles and rotations, Miranda's potential impact, the evolution of basketball's big men and the "tall task" that awaits the Cowboys this Sunday against Oral Roberts. Read on for some of the highlights:
Head coach Mike Boynton Jr. on…
… The scouting report on ORU:
"They're really good. They've got three dynamic offensive weapons in Weaver, Thompson and McBride. McBride and Thompson hardly ever come off the court. So they just keep coming at you... They have a great sense of how to evaluate the game as it goes, right? They're not coming out and having to sit or starting on the bench and coming in. So that gives a different element of how you prepare for guys like that. And one of the things is, you don't want to let them get off to a good start, because they can they can play well the whole game. The other thing is you've got to try to give them different looks and try to wear them down over the course of the game, and hopefully they fatigue out. Which, obviously, they're conditioned well enough after 10 games to be able to play through most of the game. But they're really, really good offensively. They don't have a ton of size, but they're competitive in there. They've got a freshman big who's getting better. And I've just been really, really impressed with Russ (Springman) and what he's doing over there. Obviously, taking over a program that's been really successful is hard because the expectations don't change, especially when you have guys who return that have been a part of that success. So kudos to him. They had K-State beat two weeks ago. They lost to Tech last night. They've played a really tough schedule. We've got a tall task ahead of us.
How they've spent their extra time with no mid-week game:
"Finals is a big deal. That's what most of these guys are in. We've got some guys who have difficult loads, and we need to give them some space to get there. As a staff, we've spent some more time studying our numbers through nine games and, you know, some trends and lineups and stuff like that. And some things that maybe we can pare down. Sometimes with young guys, you can't really be as complicated. None of my stuff's complicated, but it probably needs to be a little bit slimmer. And maybe you can do some stuff out of timeouts when you have time to draw it up. But we've got to get them playing more fluidly throughout the game. And so those are the things that our staff have been really, really looking at.
… Trimming the rotation ahead of Big 12 play:
"It's been harder this year, with just so many guys in and out. My plan, actually, was to try to get closer to a rotation earlier -- like now -- and be at seven-and-a-half, eight, maybe nine with foul trouble. The game dictates that. But you don't have Isaiah until game nine. You don't have Javon for game one. You miss Thompson for three of the games in the middle. You're talking about three guys who are going to be -- you think -- a part of what you want to do moving forward. We're still trying to figure out that rotation. I think some things are fairly well-established. Q (Quion Williams) is a high-minute guy who's going to play a lot. I think Dailey has been pretty consistent, in terms of minutes. Garrison's kind of evolved into a heavy minute guy. Javon's probably the highest usage player. We've just got to get Bryce (Thompson) playing a little bit more consistently on the offensive end. Our numbers would tell us that we're actually better on defense when he's in a game. And that's probably news to him even, because that's not where he's hung his hat in his career, so far. It's not an excuse, just a reality -- not having your guys play enough together makes it harder to establish that with the guys who aren't playing as much -- and the guys that come to mind are Justin McBride and maybe Connor (Dow)…. So I want to get there over the next two weeks, before we get into conference play. The games will kind of determine that, but I'd like to be able to get to where we've got eight guys that we feel pretty good about, playing majority of minutes.
… Playing with freshmen heavy lineups in 2023-24:
"College basketball is hard. I think I saw something last week, where there's like 16 freshmen at the power (conference level) that are averaging double-digit points. And two of them were on our team at that point in Keller, and Dailey... College basketball is, in general, older than it's ever been. We've probably got one more year of this with this senior class having another COVID year. And then it'll kind of start to probably teeter out. But the reality is, I don't think coaches are going to get comfortable living with a bunch of young guys all the time, because it's hard. They just don't understand the urgency and the gravity of every possession now, because they never have had to. A turnover is just the turnover. Well, a turnover could be the reason you lose the game, like one of them."
… Redshirt freshman Isaiah Miranda's impact going forward:
"He brings a different element to our team, in terms of length, rim protection and rebounding, that we need. It's less about what he is offensively, because there's still a lot to develop there. But he gives us a lob threat in pick-and-rolls, which I'm sure Javon (Small) appreciates, in particular.... He just gives us the ability to look different defensively, specifically. Another body. Basketball's a long year in terms of the number of games you play in a relatively short amount of time, and as we get into Big 12 play in the next month, we'll need as many healthy bodies to contribute as possible."
… An ankle injury that delayed Miranda's debut by two additional weeks:
"He was pretty distraught, because it'd been a while since he played. Obviously, that was elongated (with the setback), but give credit to him, because he was pretty determined that he wasn't going to miss much longer. He did multiple days of extra treatment and he worked pretty hard with our strength coach to develop some confidence and stability in (his ankle) to be able to help us."
… Miranda's presence in OSU's zone defense:
(From) a player standpoint, I can imagine at 6-1 playing against a zone with a 7-1 guy standing up front. Maybe I'm looking at the coach like 'What do you want us to do?' And we move him around quite a bit. He doesn't have to move as quickly to cover as much ground as many people, so it gives us some advantages there. It's definitely a different zone with him in it at that spot."
… Recollections of his first time seeing Miranda play:
"I heard about Isaiah when he was a sophomore in high school. I remember the first time I saw him. It was at one of those high school scholastic events in maybe like 2021?... You could see the raw athleticism. He still does some things in practice that I don't know if I'll seen 10 other people in my life do, but that was the first time."
"Like, he can jump, and his head can be above the cylinder; sometimes well above that. I've seen him hit his head on the side of the backboard catching lobs. I just wonder what life is like up there."
… Coaching and working with a unique 7-footer like Miranda:
He's an untraditional big... He's actually a pretty skilled guy. He's not the brute strength force of a Shaquille O'Neal type. You've got to study the game. You've got to watch it with him. You've got to show him some other guys that you've studied, like him, who have a similar skill set and athletic ability. And then it's just reps. As much as possible, just put them in those positions in practice. And we've got to get his conditioning up."
… Whether the game of basketball is evolving toward players of Miranda's size and skill:
"Generally speaking, yes. I do think there's still an element to brute force that's undeniable... I think where it's evolved mostly is, it's much more of a skill game than people actually recognize. I think when you watch the NBA, it seems like it's easy. And they're like the smartest, most skilled players in the world. I go down to watch the Thunder, occasionally. And I get there early enough to watch warmups. My son's getting into this, and so we go down there and we watch all of these guys. I mean, Joel Embiid to Tyrese Maxey to Robert Covington -- three totally different players on the same team, right? They can all shoot the ball from anywhere on floor. It's pretty remarkable how the game has evolved in that regard. Big guys have Nikola Jokich, Luka's at (6-7). The size of the guys with the skill is where the game is probably evolved the most.
Redshirt freshman forward/center Isaiah Miranda on…
… His feelings following his long-awaited collegiate debut:
"A relief. I feel like every time it was time for me to show the world I could play basketball, something happened. To finally get my jitters out, being on the court with my teammates and doing everything I feel like I've been trying to prepare for -- it's just a blessing to finally get a chance now."
… Factors in his decision to come to Oklahoma State:
"The coaching staff, really. Everything they were telling me, they weren't trying to sugarcoat anything. They just kept everything straightforward and were transparent. So it was pretty easy to make my decision, when everything is in front of you. You don't have to ask too much about what's happening behind the scenes, because they already like told you. I feel like we're all on the same page here. We all want the same angle.
His perspective after a month on the sideline rehabbing injuries:
"It was good for me to kind of sit back and observe... So when I came in, it wasn't a big shock. I knew pretty much everything by the time I was ready to play. I'm still trying to get the feel of the game with my teammates and still try to build that chemistry. I feel like that's the biggest thing for me right now."
The team's focus over the last four games of the non-conference season:"
… The source of his lateral quickness:
"I've always been into soccer and different sports like that where I had to move laterally. I even played tennis for a year when I was younger. I was just bored. Moving laterally has always been a natural thing. I don't know. When I was developing as a younger kid, my AAU coaches never had me too much (with my) back to the basket. So, I feel like I had a lot of freedom with like, the style of play I wanted to get into. So I would find myself guarding a lot of guards in practice, trying to bring up the ball and see what I could do there. They were always just trying to keep me diverse. I feel like that's where that came from. It just happened naturally."
… What he was like as tennis player:
"I don't know. I was like 11, but I feel like I was pretty good. I had a nice little backhand."
… OSU's big man rotation:
It's actually really fun. We all push each other hard. Even when (Eric is) in the rotation with us -- with the bigs -- we're all just pushing each other, trying to reach our potential. It's great having Big Mike (Marsh), too, because he's a little bit more experienced than all of us, coming from a different school and being a grad transfer. So he just teaches us a different aspect of the game. There's only so much our coaches can tell us. He's actually been through it for the last five years and seeing every angle of the game. He shows us a lot, teaches us a lot during practice, so that's a good addition. And then BG (Brandon Garrison), he's in the same boat as me and (Eric) and Justin (McBride). We're all still learning. So it's fun, just seeing the progress from the beginning of the season to now. We've all gotten way better."
Freshman forward Eric Dailey Jr. on…
… The team's focus heading into the last four games of non-conference play:
"Playing 40 minutes of great basketball. That's one thing we're trying to stress. We're a young team, and we're a new team, as well... I think when we put it all together, we're gonna be a great team. And the second half of season, going into conference play, we see the mistakes we've made and we'll work on those things going into conference play… I feel like we're going to shock a lot of people."
Why he's so confident things will turn around:
"Reps remove doubt... Playing more games, you only get more comfortable with your teammates... Everybody's understanding their roles better as the games go on. We've played nine games, so far, and we've got a lot more to go. Day-by-day, that's all we can do, get better each practice. We can't hang our heads. Just keep continuing to get better, because we've got a long ways to go."
How the team is handling this 4-5 start:
That's going to be the main thing, just getting better as a team and working on the little things. The fixes that we have are little fixes. It's not like (there are) drastic changes that we have to make. Just little things. Some things we've just got to focus more on and some things we've got to get away from. When we put it all together, we're going to definitely shock some people. I see the potential in the team. And everybody else on our team sees the potential as well... Just play 40 minutes of good basketball. That's the name of the game.
… What Miranda brings to the table:
"Have y'all seen him jump before? His athleticism. His energy. Last game, we played the zone. I was at the bottom and he was at the top. And I saw him do this [stretches arms wide]. And I was like, 'Yo.' And he's moving like he's 6-2, and I'm like, 'Bro, this is crazy.' He switched off onto a guard, and the guard just threw the ball back to the next man. We're going to have that defensively. He's going to be a rim protector... He's going to bring a lot of good pieces to the team. The thing with him is just staying consistent. We all need that. We all need to stay consistent."
Head coach Mike Boynton Jr. on…
… The scouting report on ORU:
"They're really good. They've got three dynamic offensive weapons in Weaver, Thompson and McBride. McBride and Thompson hardly ever come off the court. So they just keep coming at you... They have a great sense of how to evaluate the game as it goes, right? They're not coming out and having to sit or starting on the bench and coming in. So that gives a different element of how you prepare for guys like that. And one of the things is, you don't want to let them get off to a good start, because they can they can play well the whole game. The other thing is you've got to try to give them different looks and try to wear them down over the course of the game, and hopefully they fatigue out. Which, obviously, they're conditioned well enough after 10 games to be able to play through most of the game. But they're really, really good offensively. They don't have a ton of size, but they're competitive in there. They've got a freshman big who's getting better. And I've just been really, really impressed with Russ (Springman) and what he's doing over there. Obviously, taking over a program that's been really successful is hard because the expectations don't change, especially when you have guys who return that have been a part of that success. So kudos to him. They had K-State beat two weeks ago. They lost to Tech last night. They've played a really tough schedule. We've got a tall task ahead of us.
How they've spent their extra time with no mid-week game:
"Finals is a big deal. That's what most of these guys are in. We've got some guys who have difficult loads, and we need to give them some space to get there. As a staff, we've spent some more time studying our numbers through nine games and, you know, some trends and lineups and stuff like that. And some things that maybe we can pare down. Sometimes with young guys, you can't really be as complicated. None of my stuff's complicated, but it probably needs to be a little bit slimmer. And maybe you can do some stuff out of timeouts when you have time to draw it up. But we've got to get them playing more fluidly throughout the game. And so those are the things that our staff have been really, really looking at.
… Trimming the rotation ahead of Big 12 play:
"It's been harder this year, with just so many guys in and out. My plan, actually, was to try to get closer to a rotation earlier -- like now -- and be at seven-and-a-half, eight, maybe nine with foul trouble. The game dictates that. But you don't have Isaiah until game nine. You don't have Javon for game one. You miss Thompson for three of the games in the middle. You're talking about three guys who are going to be -- you think -- a part of what you want to do moving forward. We're still trying to figure out that rotation. I think some things are fairly well-established. Q (Quion Williams) is a high-minute guy who's going to play a lot. I think Dailey has been pretty consistent, in terms of minutes. Garrison's kind of evolved into a heavy minute guy. Javon's probably the highest usage player. We've just got to get Bryce (Thompson) playing a little bit more consistently on the offensive end. Our numbers would tell us that we're actually better on defense when he's in a game. And that's probably news to him even, because that's not where he's hung his hat in his career, so far. It's not an excuse, just a reality -- not having your guys play enough together makes it harder to establish that with the guys who aren't playing as much -- and the guys that come to mind are Justin McBride and maybe Connor (Dow)…. So I want to get there over the next two weeks, before we get into conference play. The games will kind of determine that, but I'd like to be able to get to where we've got eight guys that we feel pretty good about, playing majority of minutes.
… Playing with freshmen heavy lineups in 2023-24:
"College basketball is hard. I think I saw something last week, where there's like 16 freshmen at the power (conference level) that are averaging double-digit points. And two of them were on our team at that point in Keller, and Dailey... College basketball is, in general, older than it's ever been. We've probably got one more year of this with this senior class having another COVID year. And then it'll kind of start to probably teeter out. But the reality is, I don't think coaches are going to get comfortable living with a bunch of young guys all the time, because it's hard. They just don't understand the urgency and the gravity of every possession now, because they never have had to. A turnover is just the turnover. Well, a turnover could be the reason you lose the game, like one of them."
… Redshirt freshman Isaiah Miranda's impact going forward:
"He brings a different element to our team, in terms of length, rim protection and rebounding, that we need. It's less about what he is offensively, because there's still a lot to develop there. But he gives us a lob threat in pick-and-rolls, which I'm sure Javon (Small) appreciates, in particular.... He just gives us the ability to look different defensively, specifically. Another body. Basketball's a long year in terms of the number of games you play in a relatively short amount of time, and as we get into Big 12 play in the next month, we'll need as many healthy bodies to contribute as possible."
… An ankle injury that delayed Miranda's debut by two additional weeks:
"He was pretty distraught, because it'd been a while since he played. Obviously, that was elongated (with the setback), but give credit to him, because he was pretty determined that he wasn't going to miss much longer. He did multiple days of extra treatment and he worked pretty hard with our strength coach to develop some confidence and stability in (his ankle) to be able to help us."
… Miranda's presence in OSU's zone defense:
(From) a player standpoint, I can imagine at 6-1 playing against a zone with a 7-1 guy standing up front. Maybe I'm looking at the coach like 'What do you want us to do?' And we move him around quite a bit. He doesn't have to move as quickly to cover as much ground as many people, so it gives us some advantages there. It's definitely a different zone with him in it at that spot."
… Recollections of his first time seeing Miranda play:
"I heard about Isaiah when he was a sophomore in high school. I remember the first time I saw him. It was at one of those high school scholastic events in maybe like 2021?... You could see the raw athleticism. He still does some things in practice that I don't know if I'll seen 10 other people in my life do, but that was the first time."
"Like, he can jump, and his head can be above the cylinder; sometimes well above that. I've seen him hit his head on the side of the backboard catching lobs. I just wonder what life is like up there."
… Coaching and working with a unique 7-footer like Miranda:
He's an untraditional big... He's actually a pretty skilled guy. He's not the brute strength force of a Shaquille O'Neal type. You've got to study the game. You've got to watch it with him. You've got to show him some other guys that you've studied, like him, who have a similar skill set and athletic ability. And then it's just reps. As much as possible, just put them in those positions in practice. And we've got to get his conditioning up."
… Whether the game of basketball is evolving toward players of Miranda's size and skill:
"Generally speaking, yes. I do think there's still an element to brute force that's undeniable... I think where it's evolved mostly is, it's much more of a skill game than people actually recognize. I think when you watch the NBA, it seems like it's easy. And they're like the smartest, most skilled players in the world. I go down to watch the Thunder, occasionally. And I get there early enough to watch warmups. My son's getting into this, and so we go down there and we watch all of these guys. I mean, Joel Embiid to Tyrese Maxey to Robert Covington -- three totally different players on the same team, right? They can all shoot the ball from anywhere on floor. It's pretty remarkable how the game has evolved in that regard. Big guys have Nikola Jokich, Luka's at (6-7). The size of the guys with the skill is where the game is probably evolved the most.
Redshirt freshman forward/center Isaiah Miranda on…
… His feelings following his long-awaited collegiate debut:
"A relief. I feel like every time it was time for me to show the world I could play basketball, something happened. To finally get my jitters out, being on the court with my teammates and doing everything I feel like I've been trying to prepare for -- it's just a blessing to finally get a chance now."
… Factors in his decision to come to Oklahoma State:
"The coaching staff, really. Everything they were telling me, they weren't trying to sugarcoat anything. They just kept everything straightforward and were transparent. So it was pretty easy to make my decision, when everything is in front of you. You don't have to ask too much about what's happening behind the scenes, because they already like told you. I feel like we're all on the same page here. We all want the same angle.
His perspective after a month on the sideline rehabbing injuries:
"It was good for me to kind of sit back and observe... So when I came in, it wasn't a big shock. I knew pretty much everything by the time I was ready to play. I'm still trying to get the feel of the game with my teammates and still try to build that chemistry. I feel like that's the biggest thing for me right now."
The team's focus over the last four games of the non-conference season:"
… The source of his lateral quickness:
"I've always been into soccer and different sports like that where I had to move laterally. I even played tennis for a year when I was younger. I was just bored. Moving laterally has always been a natural thing. I don't know. When I was developing as a younger kid, my AAU coaches never had me too much (with my) back to the basket. So, I feel like I had a lot of freedom with like, the style of play I wanted to get into. So I would find myself guarding a lot of guards in practice, trying to bring up the ball and see what I could do there. They were always just trying to keep me diverse. I feel like that's where that came from. It just happened naturally."
… What he was like as tennis player:
"I don't know. I was like 11, but I feel like I was pretty good. I had a nice little backhand."
… OSU's big man rotation:
It's actually really fun. We all push each other hard. Even when (Eric is) in the rotation with us -- with the bigs -- we're all just pushing each other, trying to reach our potential. It's great having Big Mike (Marsh), too, because he's a little bit more experienced than all of us, coming from a different school and being a grad transfer. So he just teaches us a different aspect of the game. There's only so much our coaches can tell us. He's actually been through it for the last five years and seeing every angle of the game. He shows us a lot, teaches us a lot during practice, so that's a good addition. And then BG (Brandon Garrison), he's in the same boat as me and (Eric) and Justin (McBride). We're all still learning. So it's fun, just seeing the progress from the beginning of the season to now. We've all gotten way better."
Freshman forward Eric Dailey Jr. on…
… The team's focus heading into the last four games of non-conference play:
"Playing 40 minutes of great basketball. That's one thing we're trying to stress. We're a young team, and we're a new team, as well... I think when we put it all together, we're gonna be a great team. And the second half of season, going into conference play, we see the mistakes we've made and we'll work on those things going into conference play… I feel like we're going to shock a lot of people."
Why he's so confident things will turn around:
"Reps remove doubt... Playing more games, you only get more comfortable with your teammates... Everybody's understanding their roles better as the games go on. We've played nine games, so far, and we've got a lot more to go. Day-by-day, that's all we can do, get better each practice. We can't hang our heads. Just keep continuing to get better, because we've got a long ways to go."
How the team is handling this 4-5 start:
That's going to be the main thing, just getting better as a team and working on the little things. The fixes that we have are little fixes. It's not like (there are) drastic changes that we have to make. Just little things. Some things we've just got to focus more on and some things we've got to get away from. When we put it all together, we're going to definitely shock some people. I see the potential in the team. And everybody else on our team sees the potential as well... Just play 40 minutes of good basketball. That's the name of the game.
… What Miranda brings to the table:
"Have y'all seen him jump before? His athleticism. His energy. Last game, we played the zone. I was at the bottom and he was at the top. And I saw him do this [stretches arms wide]. And I was like, 'Yo.' And he's moving like he's 6-2, and I'm like, 'Bro, this is crazy.' He switched off onto a guard, and the guard just threw the ball back to the next man. We're going to have that defensively. He's going to be a rim protector... He's going to bring a lot of good pieces to the team. The thing with him is just staying consistent. We all need that. We all need to stay consistent."
Players Mentioned
F
/ Cowboy Basketball
C
/ Cowboy Basketball
F
/ Cowboy Basketball
F/C
/ Cowboy Basketball
G
/ Cowboy BasketballTuesday, July 07
Tuesday, July 07
Friday, June 05
Friday, May 29
