OSU Basketball: Losing Star Freshmen to Portal Leaves Cowboys in Tough Spot
Oklahoma State’s frontcourt of the future entered the transfer portal as part of a dysfunctional offseason, and it might not be getting better.
The Cowboys wasted no time firing coach Mike Boynton to begin the offseason. Only two days after the Cowboys’ disappointing March 12 loss to UCF in the Big 12 Tournament, OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg decided to move on and begin a search for a new coach.
Nearly three weeks later, OSU finally hired Western Kentucky’s Steve Lutz but has already lost a few players to the transfer portal. Arguably, Brandon Garrison is the most crushing loss to the portal.
Garrison was one of the Cowboys’ bright spots last season but has now turned into one of the team’s lowest points of the offseason. Entering the portal the same day it opened, Garrison is one of the highest-ranked recruits in the portal.
In his one season at OSU, Garrison averaged 7.5 points and 5.3 rebounds while being OSU’s defensive anchor inside with 1.5 blocks per game. After a breakout game to begin conference play against Baylor, Garrison looked ready to contribute for the next few seasons.
But along with Garrison, Eric Dailey Jr. entered the transfer portal later in March. Although Dailey is not necessarily a significant inside presence like Garrison, his skillset mixes well with a traditional big man.
In one season with the Cowboys, Dailey averaged 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds. After starting to begin the season, Dailey became a valuable sixth man and was often OSU’s leading bench scorer.
Albeit unlikely, Lutz should attempt to get those guys back and resell them on the program. Players in the portal have the option to return to the same school, and although it does not happen often, Lutz might have an opportunity to recruit OSU’s portal losses back to Stillwater.
Of course, the most likely situation is that Lutz recruits other players in the portal and sells them on his vision for the program. It might be a challenging situation to be put into, but Lutz has experience in the portal and building programs from the ground up.
IVAN WHITE
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.