Why Oklahoma State men's basketball's international tour 'couldn't come at a better time'

STILLWATER — Mike Boynton sees his Oklahoma State men’s basketball team’s upcoming trip to Spain as an opportunity to make up for lost time.

The trip for the international exhibition, as allowed by the NCAA once every four years, is highly important to a team with so many newcomers, because it affords the Cowboys additional practice time, game action they wouldn’t have otherwise gotten, and 10 days together to better get to know each other.

All those things matter for Boynton, but the last one might be the most important for him.

As the program went through rebuilding its roster in late spring, Boynton was involved in every detail. But shortly after the players could report to campus in June, the coach was off to Europe as an assistant for the Team USA U19 squad that included OSU incoming freshman Eric Dailey Jr.

That month Boynton missed would have been his primary opportunity to interact in non-basketball situations with his new players.

“Usually, I would have the guys over to my house a couple times throughout the summer, or I would go to their place,” Boynton said Wednesday before the team departed for Spain. “I just haven’t been able to do those things I normally would do. This trip will be good, because I’ll be able to go on a walk with somebody or sit at dinner with different guys and really spend that time I missed in the summer.

“And to be honest, I haven’t seen my family, either. I’m fortunately gonna be able to have them with us.”

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WIth a roster that includes three returning scholarship players, the Cowboys will take any additional team-building moments they can squeeze out of the summer.

OSU was initially aligned to play an international tour last year, but for a variety of reasons, Boynton and his staff decided to hold off. Now, the timing of this trip couldn’t be better for the 11-day event that will take the Cowboys to Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona.

“We’ve been putting in all this work all summer,” super-senior guard John-Michael Wright said. “To be able to cap it off with a trip to Europe, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for everybody in this program. We’re excited to see the work we put in against some more competition, just be able to gel with the new team against other players.”

Team chemistry can be developed in practice, but the process speeds up when facing outside competition.

“It can provide a lot of team chemistry,” senior guard Bryce Thompson said. “We’ll get a lot of time together without being here in the continuous grind of lifting and practice. It’s something different where we can be in a different area and bond with each other. We’ll have a lot of stuff we can do and just have fun.

“Doing that, that stuff kinda translates back to the court, because we’ll be closer with each other and be able to trust each other.”

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Boynton says he hasn’t even thought about a potential starting lineup, and he knows when he does, it still won’t mean much. He plans to experiment with different combinations and varied lineups to see what might click.

He has a lot of new pieces to work with, and a lot to learn about each of them before he can truly begin putting the puzzle together.

In his brief time at OSU, East Carolina transfer point guard Javon Small has shown himself as a bonding force for the offense. New big men Mike Marsh, Isaiah Miranda and McDonald’s All American Brandon Garrison from Del City each show varied skills and talents.

Dailey is an exciting young player, and Boynton talked about how impressed he has been with freshman guard Connor Dow, because of the Broken Arrow native’s overall ability beyond just being a sharpshooter.

And Boynton has plenty more pieces to work with as he learns all their capabilities, especially in the unique competition this Spain trip provides.

“This couldn’t come at a better time, considering there’s nine (new) guys, many of which, for different reasons, could need to play this year,” Boynton said. “The opportunity to establish the foundation of what we do on the court, and more importantly, get to know each other, and really dive deep into the team bonding. … I think it’ll be very beneficial.”

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma State basketball's Spain trip couldn't come at a better time