Cowboy Quotables: Coach Lutz talks summer workouts

Cowboy Basketball tipped off summer workouts last week. Oklahoma State head coach Steve Lutz met with local media on Tuesday to discuss the early stages of offseason prep, roster construction, and his expectations heading into year two. Read on for some of the highlights:

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OSU head coach Steve Lutz on...

... Early impressions of the new team:
What I've seen thus far is that they all work very hard. We can shoot the ball better this year, it seems like. But, we haven't gotten into competitive situations yet. So, you know, the jury's a little bit still out.

... Changes to college basketball post settlement:
It's here, right? So, why would we not embrace it? I mean, this has been a long time coming. I've said it from day one that there's a lot of money that is made in college athletics and, for the students to be able to share in that, there's no reason that they shouldn't be able to. Now, with all that being said, I think we've still got some issues to work out and some nuances to work out, but I'm sure that the powers that be will figure that out. I'm sure that there's more to come with all of this. There's going to be more change.

... Managing a roster in this new era:
Just like in professional basketball or baseball or hockey, I mean, there are guys that are making good money and sitting on the bench. My job is to make every decision based upon what's best for Oklahoma State and helping us win basketball games. The person next to me may be making money and may be making more money than the person on my left, but if they can't help us win, they're not going to play. That's the bottom line. When you address that and embrace that in the recruiting process, I don't think you have nearly as many issues, right? Because I'm certainly meeting that issue head-on when we're recruiting them.

... Building this year's roster vs. last:
I'd like to think that we took less risk, and we were more diligent and we had more time to investigate and we had more time to vet who we are and were recruiting. I think that that's going to pay dividends down the road. I think that we've got a good group. That's not to say that last year's group wasn't a good group. I think that they gave us everything that they had. I thought that they played the right way and they represented Oklahoma State well, but our bottom line is not to go to the NIT. Our bottom line is to go to the NCAA tournament. That's what I was hired for and that's what the administration and the boosters and the fans and the university expects. We had a much longer process of investigating and vetting players that fit our system and fit our program and fit our culture. I think that that will certainly prove at the end of the year to have value.

... Anthony Roy:
Anthony's always been able to score the basketball, no matter where he's been, no matter where he's played. He's always been able to score the ball at a high level. He certainly did that for Green Bay in the short time that he was able to play for them. So now we've just got to channel that into the way that we want to play and get him to fit the system and play within the system. But it's certainly a feather in your cap to have somebody that can score the ball at that rate.

... Getting a talented group of scorers to mesh and work together on the court:
I guess that's an important part of being a coach. It's part of coaching, right? I'd rather have a team full of guys that can score and a team full of guys that are athletic and are good people versus the other option. I'd rather have to get guys to take maybe a little lesser role than to try to overachieve. We were trying to be cognizant with addressing some of our scoring issues from last year's team and not having that this year. So every player that was recruited here was told the same thing. That we're not promising you anything. That the best players will play and those that can help us achieve the goals of winning the Big 12 and going to the NCAA tournament, they're going to play. So no one comes in here with any agenda that's any different than the other teammates. And again, as far as I'm concerned, if you can get ahead of that in the recruiting process, it shouldn't prove to be an issue during the season.

... Potential leadership from within the new group:
Yeah, again, we really haven't gotten into team workouts. It's all been individual workouts, last week and this week. So we'll start team workouts next week and I'll have a better answer for you there. But thus far, there's been five or six guys that have tried to organize open gyms, tried to lift their teammates up when times are tough in the individual workouts or maybe when they're struggling -- which is a good thing. But no one has emerged thus far.

... Whether the guys are paying attention to the Thunder and the NBA Finals:
Well, everybody's going to come over to my house tomorrow night and we're going to watch the game. So we'll have food and swim and play cornhole and those sorts of things. We try to utilize the summer as opportunities to bond and get to know one another. Obviously, we've got a lot of new faces that are coming from a lot of different areas. So this is one of the opportunities for us to do that. But I don't think that there's a guy on the team that doesn't recognize the fact that an hour away, we've got an opportunity to win an NBA world title this year. When you go to those games, it's phenomenal. It's a great atmosphere. The fans are fantastic. Those guys are fully aware of that.

... His pitch to fans who enjoy the Thunder's style of play:
I go to the Thunder games, and they're wonderful.Those guys play hard. They play defense. They share the ball. They play the right way. The people in Oklahoma absolutely adore them, as they should. Our team did very much the same thing last year. We gave everything we had. We played hard. We played the right way. We shared the ball. We dove on the floor when there was a ball that was loose. We need the same support here in Stillwater that is in Oklahoma City. We're going to put a better product on the floor next year for the fans and for the state, but we need people to come support it. If we can support the Thunder, we can certainly support the Cowboys.

... The new team's defensive capabilities:
That's going to come this summer. Once we get into some team workouts and employ some team concepts defensively, I'll be able to tell you more. The thing that I think right off the bat that jumps out about this team is really, other than maybe at the point guard position, we're longer and bigger across the front. We don't have a 6'11 or a 7'1 or 7'2 guy rim protector, but your 2's, 3's, and 4's are all bigger and longer, which is different. It will be much different than we had last year. When you have bigger, longer bodies, that allows you to cover more ground defensively. With this team, to me, in my mind, I'm using the summer to decide, if you can score the ball better, do you have to be quite as aggressive in extending your defense up the floor in the half court? That's yet to be determined. Last year, we had to create opportunities on the defensive end through turnovers, through steals, and through getting to the free throw line for us to score. If we're able to score it better, sometimes you can dial it back a little bit, just in terms of your denying of the ball and extending your defense out so far.

... The mindset from guys like Kanye Clary and Anthony Roy who are coming back off season-ending injuries:
I think all those guys are extremely hungry. I know that those guys have been spending an enormous amount of time in the gym here in the two weeks that they've been here. It's evident. We've just got to make sure that -- knock on wood -- we don't have those same injuries and we don't have those same mishaps. We need them for the entire season at 100%.

... Returning players, Robert Jennings and Andrija Vukovic:
Both those guys were fantastic teammates. They bought into what we were trying to do. To be honest with you, there's other guys that wanted to stay and it just didn't work out for one reason or another. This transfer portal was so fluid. It allows them so much freedom. They ended up leaving for whatever reason to fulfill their needs and their wants. For those two guys to say, hey, I want to come back and I want to prove to everyone that we can get to the NCAA tournament just shows a lot about their character. Andrija came in late and dealt with a back injury. As the year progressed, he saw some more playing time.

... Vukovic's progress:
I thought from probably January, February on, he certainly improved. I thought that he gave us as good a look and practice as he possibly could. It's funny, you have Ben and Makai, the other two freshmen, both in the post with him. He's light years ahead of him right now. When you come in late like he did, it's just so hard. He had no idea what he was walking into. He had no idea how fast and physical and athletic these guys were going to be. Just because he probably didn't have the wherewithal, nor the international experience. To me, that's a big difference between he and Lefteris.Lefteris has played internationally for years. He's played at a really, really high level for years. He'll have a much, hopefully a much easier transition.

... Reflecting on year one:
You always self-reflect. I self-reflect during the season as well. You're always trying to figure out ways that you can enhance the program. You can be better, and myself included. At the end of the season, each of us will collect our thoughts and then I ask them to provide those thoughts to me. Then we'll sit down and talk through them. Then we'll try and decide what's the best plan moving forward. Certainly from a defensive efficiency standpoint, I thought we were much better as the year went on. From an offensive efficiency standpoint, we've got to be much better. We're not going to be able to have a chance to win the Big 12 and go to the NCAA tournament at the current rate offensively that we were. You're always trying to tweak it. You're always trying to get better. The bones of it is not going to change. We're going to fight. We're going to defend. We're going to rebound. We're going to play hard. Then we'll have some more freedom offensively. That comes with having a little more offensive talent as well.

... Parsa Fallah:
Parson's been great. You asked a little bit about the leadership, and he's been one of those guys that's tried to lead. He's an infectious personality. He doesn't ever have a bad day when he walks in the room. He brings the energy level up. He adds to the room. He's been great. He's got to get in a little better shape right now. We expect big things from him. I'm telling you, I really think that there's going to be a lot of competition along that front line. I really do. Those two freshmen don't know what they're doing yet, but there's a lot of talent and there's a lot of ability. Millie's coming back for his second year, as we said. He's light years ahead of where he was last year.

... Building the non-conference schedule:
We've got one game, probably, left to schedule. We're scheduling to be in the NCAA tournament and scheduling to have a good seed. In year one, I think that we basically took the schedule that was left over and we added a few here and there to it. Right now, with what we've scheduled, we'll have enough opportunities to schedule ourselves into the NCAA tournament as an at-large bid. I think I counted it up today. Quad 1 and quad two opportunities that are available on our current schedule. If you just go over a five-year average, I think we've got 22 Quad 1 and Quad 2 games. Obviously, you guys don't have privy to it, but I've seen our schedule in the Big 12. We'll have some really good home games.

... Whether he likes going from 20 conference games back to 18:
It gives us more scheduling flexibility. What I mean by that is different programs are in different spaces. When you come into year two, you can schedule a little more aggressively. I'm just going to use West Virginia as an example. They have (had two) new coaches in the last two years. They're in a different space than, say, the University of Houston, who has everyone returning and will be a top three team in the country. You have to schedule differently. As to answer your question, we talked about scheduling for the NCAA tournament. It allows us to do that, but it allows us to pick and choose a little bit better. You can pick and choose your MTE that fits you, rather than maybe, say, going to Maui or something like that.

... Transfer portal rankings and whether or not he pays attention to them:
Obviously, when this thing started, because we were able to sign those four guys quickly. Yyou get sent messages or screenshots of, "hey, you have the number one portal recruiting class and all that kind of stuff." What you have to understand is that we signed four really quickly, and they are good players, but over the next month, everybody signs really good players in this league. I don't know where we ended up, but again, I think that we did a much better job in the portal this year than in the previous year, just as an overall fit for us.

... Having a top-25 transfer portal class:
That's what we want. Isn't that what we all signed up for? Again, when you talk to the administration upon being hired in the spring, the goal was to go to the NCAA tournament. The goal is not to go to the NIT. I thought, again, that the NIT is a great tournament and was great for our basketball team because we got to finish on a high note, and those guys got to play for postseason. Some of them had never done so, but this year our goal has to be to go to the NCAA tournament, and it has to be that way moving forward.

... Whether he is feeling more comfortable, or more pressure heading into year two:
Sure, you feel more confident, only in that you've already been through it before, but we haven't been to (places like) Hilton Coliseum, so that'll be new. I'm assuming we'll end up there this year. There's going to be some newness, but when you get hired on April 5th and you do put a team together in a short amount of time, it's tough. It's just tough. With that being said, we were able to get the bulk of this team put together quicker, which allowed you to reflect a little bit more and probably be a little more choosy in who you brought in with those last spots. That part has allowed us to reflect more and hopefully be smarter about some of the choices here. It never slows down. Men's basketball, we've created a monster. It's 365 days a year for the most part, but I do feel that we're in a better position on June 10th, today, than we were on June 10th last year. I certainly believe that.

... His two new assistant coach hires:
Again, we lost two good coaches and two good friends of mine, and we were able to replace those with another two good coaches and two good friends. I've known Lou Gudino for probably 25, almost 30 years, and he's been very successful everywhere he's been. He's a really good basketball mind, but he's a better person. Dana (Valentine), I think, is a rising star in this business. Obviously, you look at some of the guys that we had from Putnam (Science Academy). Dana was not directly responsible for those guys, by any means, but through that Putnam-Science connection, I've known him for a while. He's going to be good. He's going to be good. I think that the fans will enjoy getting to know both of them and their families, and they will be great additions to Stillwater.

... A roster full of left-handed players:
You know what, man? It's just crazy. I had the same thing at Western Kentucky. I'd be in timeouts, and I'd draw up the play, and then I'd go, shoot, man, let's flip it. We've got to bring them off to their left hand. It took me half a season to figure it out. It just worked out that way. It's not that we went into it and said, hey, we want four left handers. We went into it saying we wanted great people, and some more scoring, and some toughness, and all those sorts of things. It's just the way that it worked out.

... International recruiting and how Lefteris landed on OSU's radar:
If you look into this year's recruiting, you're going to see a lot of international players coming across, and a lot of that is due to the fact that the revenue sharing in the NIL, the market is better here. In Europe, and in a lot of places, there's not quite as much money.
There used to be really, really good money over there, but now you've got coaches coming over (to the U.S.). You've got players coming over. To answer your direct question, Coach (James) Miller originally kind of found Lefteris through an agent and those sorts of things, and then Coach (Keiton) Page went over to Greece to watch him play. We had watched him a bunch on video, but then he went over to Greece to watch him play, and he came back, and he was absolutely sold on him. We wanted size at the forward position, and we really wanted shooting. Obviously, that was one of our downfalls, especially at the power forward, is we didn't shoot great numbers, other than when Chi Chi was hot. We wanted to address that through recruiting, and be able to open up the floor a little bit more, because now you've got opportunity for driving lanes with the rest of those guys.

... The growing competition for top international talent:
The agents nowadays, whether they're overseas or in the United States, they're plugged into what's going on. Yes, I think that (24:55) it was a feather in our cap to get over to Greece ahead of the other power four programs that were recruiting him, and that made a big impression upon him and his family, because they're going to send their son across. No matter how old he is, they're going to send their son across the world, and they want to know that he's well taken care of, and have a name with a face. Those sorts of things matter. I know that sometimes it all gets lost in hey, this is a financial decision as to why kids go places, but there's still a human side to this, and I certainly believe that the human side won out with him.

... 6-foot-8 Christian Coleman's unique skillset:
He's more of a hybrid, kind of a wing. Yesterday in practice, I don't remember who it was. Somebody beat him off the dribble, and he closed down on that miscue, and he blocked it off the glass. He's long, and he's athletic. He's got a really quick first step, or quick first jump, but then he's got an even quicker second jump. He'll provide us some versatility, I think, defensively and switching ball screens and stuff like that. That was certainly one of our expectations when we recruit him.

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Andrija Vukovic

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