Steve Lutz will now try his hand at rebuilding Oklahoma State men’s basketball in the image of its legends as he takes over as head coach for the 2024-25 season.
Lutz is one of the game’s rising coaching stars. In just three seasons — two of which were at Texas A&M Corpus Christi and last season at Western Kentucky — he took his teams to the NCAA Tournament each season. The Cowboys are rolling the dice that the young coach has the goods to get them back rolling in the Big 12.
He replaces Mike Boynton Jr., who went 119-109 in seven seasons with the Cowboys. He was well-respected in the Stillwater community but the Cowboys simply didn’t win enough, as they made one NCAA Tournament and two NIT events. He is now an assistant coach under Dusty May at Michigan.
This being the transfer portal era, the roster is almost brand new. Just a few holdovers remain from Boynton’s last team and Lutz had to work the portal and the recruiting trail to fill out the roster. The goal was to put together a group of players that could have an immediate impact this season and build a foundation for the future.
Here’s a preview of the Oklahoma State Cowboys’ upcoming season.
Odds
BetOnline’s opening odds gave the Cyclones +30000 odds to win the national title. The Big 12 coaches picked Oklahoma State to finish 14th in the preseason poll,. The Cowboys were not in the AP preseason Top 25.
Three Players to Watch
G Bryce Thompson: The former McDonald’s All-American is recovering from shoulder surgery and participated in some summer workouts but he didn’t go through contact. He should be ready to start the season. He’s the one holdover player that could be a star offensively as he was OSU’s second-leading scorer last season with 11.6 points per game.
G Khalil Brantley: the leading scorer at La Salle last season, Brantley could be the starter at point guard for the Cowboys. With the Explorers he averaged 15.0 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 2023-24. The Cowboys are excited about his prospects in the Big 12.
G Brandon Newman: the trendy thing to do these days is for a new coach to bring one or more of his former players with him via transfer. Newman fits that category. He played at Western Kentucky for Lutz last season and averaged more than 10 points per game, which was a career high.
Biggest Strength
A fresh start. When athletic directors make coaching changes these days, the expectation is that the roster is going to flip. The Cowboys definitely flipped. There are more newcomers on this roster than holdovers, which means building chemistry will be a challenge early. But considering where Oklahoma State was under Boynton, perhaps a flip in talent isn’t a bad thing. This program desperately needs a change of direction and some energy, especially on the offensive end. The Cowboys hope Lutz can provide that and a fresh start could be all the difference.
Biggest Weakness
Inside the paint. For all of the work that lets did in constructing his roster, it looks thin when it comes to actual interior play. Oklahoma State could lean on Marchelus Avery, who transferred in from UCF and averaged 7.6 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. They also brought in forward Patrick Suemnick and forward Robert Jennings II, from West Virginia and Texas Tech, respectively. There’s also a Xavier transfer Abou Ousame. With 6.7 points and 6.4 rebounds last year, and more than 1,000 points for his career, the Cowboys’ inside game may start with the 6-9 forward.
Season Prediction
When you have a new coach, a new group of players and a new system, you never quite know how it’s all going to fit together. After all, no one saw Kansas state’s Elite Eight run coming in Jerome Tang’s first season as coach. That team turned over nearly its entire roster. We don’t think we know how talented Oklahoma State is just yet. But we do know the difficulty in this conference and we do know how hard it’s been for the Cowboys to compete the last couple of years. We’re projecting 14-17 wins for the Cowboys going into the Big 12 Tournament.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
