RELOAD: OKWU brings explosive hoops talents on board to mix with veterans
Gimme an “O”.
Gimme a “K”.
Gimme a “W”.
Gimme a “U”.
Normally those initials would coalesce to form the initialism of Oklahoma Wesleyan University.
But, considering the potential of next winter’s OKWU men’s basketball team, there might be a slight change — Oklahoma “Wow!” University.
That’s due to the recruiting triumphs of head coach Donnie Bostwick and his staff — prizes that include a 6-foot-8 player who earned All-Region honors in junior college ball last season, a former Vinita point guard that averaged 18 ppg his senior season, and several other high-ceiling talents, including a former Nowata High dynamo.
“Recruiting has gone pretty well,” Bostwick said in a recent interview. “We’ve also got a couple of redshirt players we think could help us.”
The Eagles are coming off an eye-opening record of 27-5 last season. But, lacking the depth of experience as in previous seasons, OKWU failed to qualify for the NAIA Sweet 16 for the first time in four years, and for just the second time in Bostwick’s 10 years as Eagles’ coach.
A fetching milestone also looms large this season for the Bostwick Era — his 300th career win at OKWU. His Eagle record coming into the 2023-24 campaign is 284-56 (,835) — which rivals Mark Few of Gonzaga (.836) as the highest winning percentage of active coaches across all college levels with at least 10 years of service at the same school.
(Bostwick owns a 415-111 (.789) career record overall, including six seasons at Southwestern Assemblies of God in Texas. He leads all NAIA coaches in winning percentage).
Bostwick welcomes back a high percentage of last year’s impact warriors, including three of his top four leading scorers (Jaden Lietzke, 6-7, 15.7; Kaleb Stokes, 6-6, 13.4; Derrick Talton Jr., 5-10, 8.9) and his two leading rebounders (Lietzke, 7.5; Stokes, 7.3) from last season.
Some of the departed talent includes veteran starters Austin Poling (6-0) and Brandon Bird (6-4) and impact reserve Aaron Paulukaitis (6-8).
Following are some of the new faces and fresh skills OKWU fans can expect to see next winter or in years to come:
WADE AUTENREITH (JT, 6-8): Autenreith should be the latest of a string of talented live wires that have come from the West Coast. “He had 22 double-doubles the last two years,” Bostwick noted. “We wanted to give Jaden Lietzke another force down there (in the post). We wanted to have another big man ready to go. … He’s the one transfer we’re bringing in.” Autenreith averaged 15.3 ppg and 8.3 rpg last season for Clackamas (Ore.) Community College. Clackamas finished 23-9 last season. Autenreith earned a spot on the Northwest Athletic Conference South Region First Team. He also was named to the NABC NWAC All-America Team.
PAUL GLASSCOCK (Fr., 5-11): Glasscock started at quarterback and point guard for the Vinita High Hornets. As a senior PG he averaged 18 ppg and 6 rpg. “He has a lot of strength and ability,” Bostwick said. “He’s one of those guys who plays bigger than this size. He’s an extremely good outside shooter.” Glasscock reaped a major honor by being named as just one of 12 players statewide to the Oklahoma Coaches Association Class 4A All-Star team.
SKYLAR STEVENS (Fr., 6-0): Stevens provided explosive play and prodigious senior leadership to spearhead Nowata High’s surprise charge last winter to a 20-win season (20-7) and strong playoff run. “He’s another good shooter,” Bostwick said. “He has to develop a little bit. He may or may not help us immediately but I think he will down the road.”
BLAINE BIRD (Fr., 6-1): Bird graduated from Guyer-Denton (Texas) High and brings strong genes in the program as the younger brother of Brandon Bird, a multi-year starter.
OVIE AGBIGBE (Fr., 6-5): Agbigbe is a a product of Midlothian (Texas) High, where he excelled in a shooting guard/small forward role. “He’s very athletic, very strong,” Bostwick said. “I think he’ll come in and help us pretty quickly.”
BERTO KENTISH (Fr., 5-8): Kentish hails from Panama. During the 2022 season he averaged 9.7 points and 4.4 assists per game. Bostwick labeled him as “an athletic guard.”
REDSHIRTS: Bostwick also is looking at a few returning OKWU redshirt battlers to vie for prime spots, namely Pawnee High graduate Gunnar Gordon (6-3), an All-State selection in 2022; and Jaden Wilson (6-4) of Lake Ridge (Texas) High.
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BASKETBALL CAMPS
Bostwick has scheduled a basketball camp for June 4-7, aimed at boys girls ages 8 to 18.
The fee for overnight campers will be $295.
Registration for extended day campers (9 a.m. to 9 p.m.) is $195.
Day campers (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) register for $150.
The four-day camp will take place at the Mueller Sports Center. OKWU coaches will provide instruction in all important fundamental aspects of the game.
For more information, or to register, go to the Oklahoma Wesleyan University men’s basketball website and scroll down to “Camps.”
Bostwick also has scheduled the Diaper Dandy Basketball Camp for young beginners, ages four to eight, for June 8-9.
The camp hours will be from 9 a.m. to noon, and the fee is $65.
An invitation-only select prospect camp is planned for late July.
Those interested in attending must send a highlight video.
Among the activities will be skill workouts with one-on-one, two-on-two, three-on-three and five-on-five play.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: RELOAD: OKWU brings explosive hoops talents on board to mix with vets
