Oklahoma State Embracing New Era of Roster Building
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Oklahoma State has been one of the most active teams in the transfer portal, and it could lead to success.
Over the past few seasons, the college basketball landscape has changed drastically. After decades upon decades of teams bringing in high school recruits and developing them throughout four years to try and achieve success, that formula seemingly disappeared overnight.
With the introductions of the transfer portal and NIL, team building took on a drastically different look. Since those two things have become more prevalent in college sports, men’s college basketball has been dominated by teams able to add substantial veteran talent through the portal.
In 2023-24, OSU looked to change the narrative and had one of the youngest teams in the Big 12. However, a 4-14 mark left the Cowboys with no choice but to fire Mike Boynton after he failed to lead the team to an NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in his seven seasons.
With almost all of the young talent from that team on the way out, incoming coach Steve Lutz had almost no choice but to build through the portal, something he did successfully at his previous stops.
Over the course of the offseason, Lutz added a number of talented recruits from around the country, giving OSU plenty of experience down the roster. However, it didn’t quite lead to success. The Cowboys finished with a losing record and went 7-13 in conference play.
With many of the pieces of last season’s team also gone, OSU entered this offseason with some large holes on the roster. With a full offseason to work and recruit, Lutz has delivered with a few early impact signings.
With high-volume scorers coming into Stillwater to play in the backcourt, the Cowboys could be in for a much different season in 2026. The additions of Anthony Roy, Kanye Clary, Isaiah Coleman and Vyctorius Miller show that the Cowboys and Lutz are ready to take on the new approach to building a roster.
With so many teams around the country relying on incoming transfers every season, having a good portal recruiter and basketball mind at head coach is more important than ever, and it appears Lutz checks those boxes in Stillwater.
Ivan is a sports media student at Oklahoma State University. He has covered OSU athletics since 2022 and also covers the OKC Thunder for Inside The Thunder and Thunderous Intentions.