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The Cowboys are off to a booming start with their 2025 class, but they could soon add another centerpiece to the group. Four-star defensive lineman Michael Riles announced his top six on Wednesday morning: Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Texas A&M, Florida, UCF and Texas Tech. Out of Port Arthur Memorial High School in Port Arthur, Texas, Riles is the No. 253 player in the 2025 247Sports Composite rankings. Along with his finalists, he also had announced offers to Texas, TCU, USC and others.
Riles is a four-star prospect according to 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals, with the latter being the highest on the 6-foot-3, 235-pound defender by listing him as the No. 153 player in the class and the No. 26 player from the state of Texas. He played all along the defensive line for Port Arthur Memorial in his junior season, as the Titans went 8-3, making an appearance in the Texas 5A-DI state playoffs. Oklahoma State offered Riles back in September, and he took an official visit to Stillwater in April. OSU’s 2025 class sits at 24th nationally, according to 247Sports. If Riles were to commit now, it would bump OSU’s class up to 19th nationally. The Cowboys’ class sits fifth in the Big 12 behind Arizona State, Texas Tech, UCF and TCU, but a Riles commitment would bump OSU up to No. 3 in the conference. Riles would be OSU’s highest-rated commitment of the group, per 247Sports. Among the Cowboys’ nine commits, only Kyle Kema (Wichita) is expected to play defense, so adding a prospect like Riles could help get the ball rolling there. But with that being said, there is still plenty of time between now and the early signing period in December. Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. Thanks for stopping by – here’s your daily dose of Oklahoma State sports news. ScoresMen’s Golf: Cowboys in fourth at Rancho Santa Fe Regional OSU Bullets• Doug Gottlieb has taken the leap into college coaching – accepted a job as a D1 head coach yesterday (PFB) • Steve Lutz landed the big he’s been looking for yesterday when a 6’10” forward from the Big East committed to OSU (PFB) • It just feels like bad business to assume Mike Gundy will win less than eight games given history:
• Lexi Kilfoyl was selected in the pro softball draft (TulsaWorld) • Do you see five games here you think OSU will lose?
Non-OSU Bullets• Thunder delivered their most convincing playoff win Monday night • Our children raise us (faith-based) These prints look awesome:
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. The Cowboys have a big man. Xavier transfer center Abou Ousmane committed to Oklahoma State on Tuesday. Listed at 6-foot-10, 244 pounds, Ousmane has averaged eight points, 5.3 rebounds and one block a game through his first four seasons at the college level. He should have one year of eligibility remaining.
Out of Brooklyn, New York, Ousmane started his career at North Texas, picking the Mean Green over offers from Rhode Island, Cleveland State, Bryant, Saint Louis and others. Rivals listed Ousmane as a three-star prospect. Despite not being too heralded of a recruit, Ousmane made an instant impact at North Texas, playing in 26 games as a freshman. He then started all 32 of UNT’s games as a sophomore and averaged 10.2 points and 5.9 rebounds a game. He recorded his first career double-double as a sophomore against Marshall, putting up 22 points and 11 rebounds. Ousmane made 34 starts as a junior, averaging 11.1 points, six rebounds and 1.3 blocks a game. That season included a 37-point, 11-rebound double-double against UTSA — one of five double-doubles for Ousmane in the season. He scored 20 or more points four times as a junior, recording a double-double in three of those instances. He hit the portal ahead of last year and wound up at Xavier. In his one season with the Musketeers, Ousmane averaged 6.7 points and a career-high 6.7 rebounds a game while playing in the Big East. He had four double-doubles with Xavier, including a 16-point, 10-rebound effort against Seton Hall. Ousmane enters Oklahoma State having tallied 1,008 points and 668 rebounds in his career. He boasts a career field-goal percentage of 49% and has shot 58% from the foul line. Ousmane adds some much-needed size to the Cowboys’ roster as the only player listed taller than 6-foot-7. He becomes the sixth player new OSU coach Steve Lutz has pulled from the portal, joining Arturo Dean (FIU), Robert Jennings II (Texas Tech), Marchelus Avery (UCF), Davonte Davis (Arkansas) and Brandon Newman (Western Kentucky). Ousmane is the 10th scholarship player on Lutz’s roster, meaning Lutz still has three scholarships to work with. Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. David Taylor didn’t come to Stillwater alone. Taylor was named the eighth wrestling coach in Oklahoma State history the night of May 6. Three days later, before he even stepped foot on campus, Taylor appointed his first two assistants — Jimmy Kennedy and Thomas Gilman. And when Taylor finally did fly to Stillwater on Thursday, Kennedy and Gilman stepped off the plane with Taylor, walking alongside their new leader at Stillwater Regional Airport. The scene created an iconic picture that seemingly got Cowboy fans looking forward to the new era — even though none of the current staff originally hails from OSU or competed under former coach John Smith, who retired after this past season. “What I like about these guys is their characters are the highest that I know,” Taylor said. “And I just want to be around them. They’re people that are selfless, and I think to be a great coach you have to serve your athletes. They’re willing to do that.” Kennedy was appointed associate head coach while Gilman was named an assistant. Cowboy fans were already familiar with Gilman, a former Iowa wrestler, because of the OSU-Iowa rivalry. Kennedy is essentially an unknown to OSU wrestling fans, though, and has even been described by national wrestling media as one of Penn State’s best kept secrets. “We have a lot of work to do, but just waking up and trying to navigate those things day by day,” Kennedy said. “I think that’s exciting. And then also the unknown. The unknown is exciting. You know, when you get comfortable, you get in a routine, it’s good, but it’s exciting to break that up.” Although unidentified by the OSU wrestling community, Kennedy was an expected hire once Taylor was named head coach. Kennedy is Taylor’s brother-in-law and both of have been around the Penn State wrestling program together the past three years. Taylor has basically always been at State College since his wrestling career started there in 2009, but Kennedy arrived there in 2022 as an assistant coach. During that span, the Nittany Lions won three NCAA titles, including breaking the NCAA tournament team points record this past season. Before venturing to Penn State, Kennedy was an assistant at Northwestern for four years after starting there as a volunteer. His stops at Penn State and Northwestern make Kennedy the most experienced coach on OSU’s newly assembled staff so far. This is both Taylor and Gilman’s first real coaching experience at the collegiate level. As a wrestler, Kennedy was a three-time All-American at Illinois before a successful international career that saw him make the United States World Championships team in 2014. Taylor and Gilman, though, did have more successful wrestling careers, as both earned medals at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. But as all men have helped sparked success at other places, all are now in Stillwater together, trying to reach the pinnacle of college wrestling and reach the heights of Penn State — a monster Taylor and Kennedy helped create. “Just guys that want to come here to win,” Kennedy said. “Bring those types of people in. Do you want to be a national champion? You want to be a world champion? Those are the people that we want to coach. Oklahoma’s got great wrestling and Oklahoma State’s the place to be. And we’ll just need to lead through example with our work ethic. I think that’ll trickle down to the college guys, as well.” Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. Every time there is an Oklahoma State basketball coaching vacancy, Doug Gottlieb’s name gets brought up, and that eventually turns to some questioning Gottlieb’s coaching experience. Well, Gottlieb might be on track to getting some major experience. Gottlieb, Oklahoma State’s all-time leader in assists, is a “serious candidate” for the vacancy at Green Bay, according to Jon Rothstein. Curry Hicks Sage reported something similar on Monday. Gottlieb was considered a candidate for the same job last offseason before Sundance Wicks took over. Wicks on Sunday took the Wyoming job after just one season leading the Phoenix, where Green Bay went 18-14. Gottlieb has differing levels of coaching experience, but his primary gig is as host of The Doug Gottlieb Show on FOX Sports Radio. He helped out with Mike Boynton’s staff as a consultant last season. He has also done some consulting work with Texas, Texas Tech and Baylor over the years. “Doug and I have become good friends over the years,” Boynton said earlier this year. “We’ve always shared ideas. Obviously he loves this place, loves this program. I thought that he could lend some external support to our staff. So, for the last four or five months, he comes in for a couple days monthly, about — sometimes more, sometimes less — and just sits in our meetings, watches practices and sends me thoughts, and we talk on the phone occasionally about what he sees.” Upon Boynton’s dismissal, Gottlieb was again brought up as a potential candidate for the opening he speaks so highly of, but that led to the same discourse of whether a guy could go from radio host to high-major coach. Coaching runs in the Gottlieb family, which also provides Gottlieb with ties to Wisconsin. Gottlieb was born in Milwaukee while his father, Bob, was the coach at UW-Milwaukee. Gregg Gottlieb, Doug’s brother, was an assistant on the San Diego State women’s team this past season and has also made stops at Grand Canyon (women’s), Oregon State (men’s), Cal (men’s), San Diego State (men’s), Sacramento State (men’s) and Cal Poly (men’s). Gottlieb runs an AAU program, Branch West, and he helped lead Team USA to a gold medal at the 2017 Maccabiah Games, an international Jewish and Israeli multi-sport event held in Israel every four years. He also coached in the 2009 Maccabiah Games alongside Bruce Peral and coached the Stillwater Stars TBT team in 2021. Green Bay plays in the Horizon League, last making the NCAA Tournament in 2016 under Linc Darner. Before that, the Phoenix hadn’t been to the Tournament since 1996. Wicks turned around the team from a 3-29 record during the 2022-23 season to 18-14 this past season. In the three seasons before Wicks arrived, Green Bay went a combined 16-71. Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. Thanks for stopping by – here’s your daily dose of Oklahoma State sports news. ScoresMen’s Golf: Cowboys in second through one round OSU Bullets• Of the 134 teams playing FBS football, Cowboy Football returns the third-most production (yards, scoring, tackles, etc.) (X) • Led by Rayhan Thomas in second, the Pokes are one shot back from the leader, North Florida through one round (Golf Stat) • Kind of interesting stat from PFB’s Marshall Scott – Steve Lutz’s teams don’t really prioritize three-point shooting: The three teams Lutz has been the head coach for have all had success without relying on the 3 too heavily, which is why this is at the bottom of my list of questions. Just 25.3% of the Hilltoppers’ points last season came from 3, which ranked 306th (of 362) nationally. OSU ranked 72nd nationally in that stat last season, for reference. [PFB] • Why Chad Weiberg went outside of the program to replace John Smith (O’Colly) • This Cowboy Baseball team at No. 19 feels right doesn’t it?
Non-OSU Bullets• The gym that offers $40k per year memberships • The neglected ministry of asking questions (faith-based) Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. Steve Lutz’s first Oklahoma State roster is filling up, as after starting his tenure with nine scholarships available, he is down to four. Brandon Newman is the latest new Cowboy, having committed to OSU on Friday. With it coming down to the final pieces, I started looking at what needs the Cowboys still have. Where Lutz and Co. have done an excellent job in thus far seems to be defense and grit. Arturo Dean joins as the national leader in steals from a season ago. Davonte Davis has an energy about him that is tough to match. And Robert Jennings II had a 16.3 offensive rebound percentage, which would have ranked eighth nationally had he logged enough minutes to qualify. With that being said, here are three question areas I still have about OSU’s roster to this point. 1. SizeNo one on OSU’s current roster was listed taller than 6-foot-7 last season. If the Cowboys had to play a game as is, Jennings would likely be the Cowboys’ starting center. Tech listed him at 6-7, 230 pounds last season. After his commitment, Jennings told PFB he thinks he’ll play some center, and with Lutz’s up-tempo style, a small-ball center could help unlock some things. But, it’d be tough to imagine the Cowboys having a ton of success in the Big 12 without some more frontcourt depth. And it seems as if Lutz and Co. have been on the lookout for that. Moussa Cisse took a visit to Stillwater before announcing a commitment to Memphis this past weekend. Xavier transfer Abou Ousmane has also been on a visit to Stillwater. Ousmane was listed at 6-foot-10, 244 pounds last season. He started his career at North Texas, playing in 92 games (66 starts) in three seasons in Denton. He averaged double figures in scoring each of his past two seasons with the Mean Green before putting up 6.7 points and 6.4 rebounds a game with Xavier this past season. 2. ScoringScoring is such a blanket term, and who knows? Lutz’s system could provide a player an outlet he might not have had in previous systems to score. But, here are the points per game from last season for everyone on the roster:
Three guys averaging double figures? OSU had only two of those last season, so what’s the issue? Well, there might not be any issues, but it’s worth noting that Bryce Thompson is the only one of those double-figure scorers to do it at the high-major level last season. Parts of Dean’s situation relate similarly to Javon Small of last offseason. Both had just finished up their sophomore seasons at a lower level before transferring to Oklahoma State, as Small put up 15.8 in his final season at East Carolina. The only worries I have with that is that Small was listed at 6-3 last season to Dean’s 5-11, and Small hit 33% of his 3s in his final season at ECU, where as Dean shot 30% from 3 last season. Again, totally plausible that Dean could take a step forward in scoring and 3-point shooting (Small shot 37% in his year with the Cowboys) this upcoming season, but it would probably be ideal to have another bonafide scorer on the roster. Newman and Davis are interesting in that they’ve both shown to be scoring threats throughout their careers, but it’s a matter of how that will translate to Stillwater. Newman put up eight points a game as a redshirt freshman at Purdue but fell off that pace in his final two seasons with the Boilermakers. He averaged 10.1 a game with Lutz at Western Kentucky, so now it’s about bringing that to the Big 12 from Conference USA. Davis put up 10.9 points a game as a junior in 2022-23 before taking an odd step back this past season as the Razorbacks struggled. If some combination of those guys can take a step forward — whether it be because of Lutz’s system or just gained experience at the college level — OSU could be fine in the scoring department. But it’s hard to say for sure without seeing it come to life (duh). 3. 3-Point ShootingThe three teams Lutz has been the head coach for have all had success without relying on the 3 too heavily, which is why this is at the bottom of my list of questions. Just 25.3% of the Hilltoppers’ points last season came from 3, which ranked 306th (of 362) nationally. OSU ranked 72nd nationally in that stat last season, for reference. With that being said, here are the 3-point percentages from last season for everyone on the OSU roster currently:
For reference, last season Jarius Hicklen shot 38.8% and Small shot 37.4%. Just like with the scoring, however, there are caveats as to why this could be just fine. Newman shot 37.9% from 3 as a redshirt freshman. Thompson shot 37% as during the 2022-23 season. Avery shot 41.8% (!!) at New Mexico State in 2022-23. Davis shot 34.6 % during the 2022-23 season. If that quartet can get closer to those types of numbers, the Cowboys will be just fine. If not, it might be worth looking for some more 3-point help with these final scholarships. Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.
Thanks for stopping by – here’s your daily dose of Oklahoma State sports news.
OSU Bullets• Cowgirls are hosting a softball regional, ended up as a top-five seed, and have the right to host a Super Regional if they get there (PFB) • Cowboys saw game three of the Texas Tech series canceled due to weather (PFB) • GoPokes 247 projects the Cowboys’ breakout player for this fall:I’m excited to see how Obi Ezeigbo does this season. He has natural talent and performed really well at Gannon, but how will he do at the Power 5 level after spending an offseason with Paul Randolph and Bryan Nardo again. [GoPokes 247]• ICYMI – Cowgirl Tennis’ dream season ended prematurely after a loss to Tennessee over the weekend (TulsaWorld) • Pokes start the Rancho Santa Fe Regional today, wrap up Wednesday:
Non-OSU Bullets• This BBQ joint in Dallas looks legit • Love this take on Christians agreeing (faith-based) What a solid idea for folks to evaluate:
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. The road to OKC runs through Payne County. Oklahoma State earned the No. 5 national seed and will host the Stillwater Regional starting this Friday. The Cowgirls will host Kentucky, Michigan and Northern Colorado. It’s the fourth consecutive season the Cowgirls have earned a top eight seed, meaning they’re guaranteed a Super Regional spot should they advance. The Cowgirls enter the postseason 44-10 after going 21-6 in conference play, winning 10 of 12. They did drop their regular season finale to No. 2 seed Oklahoma (though they earned the series win over the Sooners 2-1) and then fell to BYU 7-2 in the Big 12 Championship. But the Cowgirls don’t necessarily need to enter the postseason on fire. Last year, OSU lost 11 of their final 13 games entering the regional round only to advance to the WCWS for the fourth consecutive time. Only the two Oklahoma schools have made it to OKC their last for tries. Things get started with Michigan and Kentucky squaring off in Cowgirl Stadium at 2 p.m. Friday. OSU will face Northern Colorado at 4:30 p.m. in the four-team, double-elimination tournament. The winner of the Stillwater Regional will face the winner of the regional hosted by No. 12 Arkansas. Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog. |
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