Despite Trials, OSU Seniors Leave Legacy

Cowboy veterans keep rallying through difficult times

The Cowboys stumbled through January, finding but one victory. And a nonconference win at that – on the road against Texas A&M in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

Their January league mark: 0-7.

And February didn’t start any better, with a blowout loss to Bedlam rival Oklahoma in Norman on the first day the calendar flipped.

The Pokes were in full scuffle mode, with no real vision for hope, losing routinely by double digits. And, surprisingly, their seniors were scuffling, too, just when the squad and the coaches and the fan base needed the most.

For a group that’s been through a lot at OSU, and I mean a LOT, career fatigue from so much fighting and losing seemed to be setting in. Still facing more than a month to the finish, it was reasonable to wonder if these seniors had simply had enough.

Not hardly.

The Cowboys finally scored a breakthrough at home against TCU, then won two of their next three, finally looking like the team that started the season so hot before Isaac Likekele was striken with illness.

Now we know how much Likekele means to this team, and it wasn’t until he returned to form that his benefits, on both ends of the floor, fully showed.

But there was toughness and grit and improved play as well from Cam McGriff, Lindy Waters, Thomas Dziagwa and Jonathan Laurent, the old vets on the squad. OSU’s senior core refused to rest and be done, again proving reliable.

And that will be their legacy at 3 p.m. Saturday, when the Cowboys hold Senior Day at Gallagher-Iba Arena, recognizing Waters, McGriff, Dziagwa and Laurent, along with Trey Reeves and JK Hadlock. While other players came and went throughout their careers, leaving them to shoulder the burden and deal with never quite living up to expectations – their own and those of outsiders – OSU’s long-term seniors stuck out their chin, over and over again, despite repeated blows, and represented the Cowboys with the kind of program pride Mr. Iba could appreciate.

And despite it all, they appreciate it, too.

“It’s been a blessing to be able to be where I’m at right now with all of the things that’s happened in the past,” Waters said. “A lot of players don’t stay for four years…

“Being here, I’ve had 30-something teammates. Guys get kicked off, guys transfer. Guys that commit here and you become friends on their visits and then they de-commit. They come and go. To be able to be here all four years without ever thinking of going anywhere else, it’s special.”

Just being able to say that, with so much turmoil, including coaching changes for McGriff, Waters and Dziagwa, and the unrealized dream of making an NCAA Tournament marking their careers.

“It’s been unique, no doubt,” Dziagwa said. “There’s probably not a lot of players playing in the country who can say that they have a story like Lindy, Cam and I’s.”

In a day and age when college basketball players change locales more than guys fleeing from the mob in witness protection, McGriff, Waters and Dziagwa stayed in Stillwater. After Travis Ford, who recruited them, was fired. After Brad Underwood, who became their first Cowboys coach, bolted for Illinois after one season. After disappointment seemed to attach to them.

“These guys had an opportunity when Brad left to say, ‘You know what? No thanks, man. I’ve been through enough here, I want to move on and start something new. I’m not really sure you can coach anyway,’” Boynton said of his three senior captains.

“But they believed in me, believed in this program and they believed in each other.”

And that will be their legacy.