Recruiting never stops, even on a Saturday in July. Especially on a Saturday in July when you’re hosting a mini camp.

Mike Gundy and staff were busy this weekend, getting their eyes on a slew of potential future Pokes at Saturday’s mini camp. The day ended with OSU extending a pair of offers and facilitating depth with a couple preferred walk-on offerings for crucial roles.

Calvin Clements | Offensive Tackle | 2023

The Lawrence, Kansas native now has four offers, all of which are from Big 12 schools. He earned No. 4 after his showing in Stillwater Saturday.

Oklahoma State joins Iowa State, Kansas State and hometown school Kansas in offering the 6-foot-7, 260-pound tackle. The 2023 prospect has yet to earn a star rating, but it’s still early and Cowboy coaches saw enough in-person to convince them that the big fella could help OSU up front.

Clements’ size and strength lend to his playing on either side of the trenches for his high school, Lawrence Free State. He’s lined up at left tackle, defensive tackle and even tight end.

Here’s a look at his sophomore highlights.

Warren Roberson | Cornerback | 2023

The Cowboys are looking to get in early on this under-the-radar playmaker.

OSU became the first offer for the sophomore DB from Duncanville High School (Texas).

Roberson was on-hand for an OSU camp in June and then again on Saturday. OSU wasn’t going to let him leave without an offer twice.

Jace Gilbert | Kicker/Punter |2022

The Marlow, Okla. native received a preferred walk-on offer. He also has a PWO offer from Iowa State and scholarship offers from Army and East Central University.

Osker Ehrlich | Long Snapper | 2022

OSU is offering another PWO opportunity to in-town specialist Osker Ehrlich.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound long snapper didn’t have to travel far to stop by campus, hailing from Stillwater High School. He has also plays tight end.

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Mike Boynton’s new staff has a lot of ties to the East Coast, something that can be seen with the Cowboys’ recent offers.

The latest example came Saturday afternoon when Oklahoma State extended an offer to Virginia standout Justyn Fernandez.

Who Is He?

This kid can fly. A 6-foot-5 combo guard, Fernandez floats when attacking the rim, making for some highlight reel dunks.

He plays his preps ball at Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, Virginia and with DC Premier on the AAU scene.

To go with his rim-rattling athleticism, Fernandez has a comfortable jumper, forcing teams to guard him at all three levels.

Others Involved

Fernandez’s stock started soaring the past two months, picking up offers from Florida, Ole Miss, Georgia, Texas A&M, Illinois, Wake Forest, Georgetown, Arizona State, Oregon State, Clemson, Boston College and others.

He had just one offer entering this spring, LaSalle.

He took visits to George Mason (on June 24, before his blow up) and Oregon State (on June 30, just as he started to go national).

In the Rankings

The 2022 rankings are imperfect with prospects not getting an AAU season last summer, and Fernandez flying under the radar is an example of that. He doesn’t have a composite score, but 247Sports and Rivals list him as a three-star prospect.

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Mike Boynton has to be close at batting 1.000 on top lists this past week.

Boynton and Oklahoma State made another Saturday when Bryce Lindsay released his Top 6: Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech, Marquette, Xavier and Georgetown.

The Cowboys just offered Lindsay last week after he dropped 32 points in a game at the Nike EYBL’s Peach Jam. He’s a 6-foot-3, 160-pound combo guard who plays for Bishop Walsh in Maryland and played for Team Melo this summer on the AAU circuit.

A late-riser, Lindsay is a three-star prospect, ranked 35th among combo guards in the 2022 class, according to 247Sports.

Oklahoma State is on a spree of top lists in the 2022 class. In the past week, the Cowboys have made the Top 9 for Quion Williams, the Top 10 for Shaedon Sharpe, the Top 8 for Quadir Copeland and the Top 6 for Aidan Shaw.

It’s uncertain at this time how many players Boynton and Co. will take in the 2022 class. Isaac Likekele is the only counting senior on Boynton’s roster this season, but there are a handful of players with the potential to take an NBA leap after the 2021-22 season.

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What’s in a number? For athletes, who tend to be a tad superstitious, it’s a lot.

Cade Cunningham, the No. 1 pick in this year’s NBA Draft, will get to wear his preferred No. 2 jersey, the same designation he used at Oklahoma State.

The Pistons organization retired the No. 2 jersey not for a former player, but for Hall of Fame coach Chuck Daly, signifying the two championships he brought to Detroit.

At his Pistons introductory press conference, Cade took the time to thank Daly’s daughter who signed off on the new face of the franchise donning dos.

“A special thank you to Cydney Daly for her giving the organization her blessing to allow me to wear my traditional number, No. 2,” Cunningham said. “That means so much to me. I know how much these numbers mean up there.” 

Cydney responded via Twitter, urging Cunningham to embrace the city of Detroit at its fanbase.

When Cunningham arrived at Oklahoma State, he apparently was able to talk Chris Harris out of the No. 2 jersey.

Cade hasn’t always worn 2. He wore No. 1 on his Montverde Academy high school squad and No. 10 in the USA U19 team. He did wear 2 with his AAU team, the Texas Titans, and at Arlington-Bowie before transferring to Montverde.

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The Daily Bullets are brought to you by Hoboken Coffee: Get 20% off your first order. 

Three Thoughts

• Texas and OU are officially leaving – OU president wants to play OSU in everything, citing Iowa/Iowa State, Clemson/South Caorlina, and Georgia/Georgia Tech as examples

President Harroz’s comments were gracious and tasteful, full stop. And witty. But here’s what it boils down to, Mr. President:

You could have gone somewhere with the Pokes and not the Horns. That was important before.

• NCAA is looking at overhauling how they manage college sports – can’t help but wonder if OSU would be in a different place if they had stepped in as a “college football commissioner” of sorts

• Pretty cool – while the New York Yankees were gathering stars, they went ahead and grabbed former Cowboy ace Andrew Heaney for minor leaguers

Two Quotes

• ESPN’s Marty Smith raved about his trip to Stillwater – he was brought in for Cade’s draft party. Pretty wild considering all the hubbub with his employer this week:

• This is the take of the OU fans I admire – bummed it didn’t work out and respect for what OSU has become.

One Question

• How incredibly fortuitous are the Pokes have their best football coach of all-time is here to posture them for the biggest conference leap the Pokes need to make since getting into the Big Eight?

Most Viewed of the Week

• No. 1 Big Ten not interested in non-AAU schools

• No. 2 What four-16 team leagues would look like

• No. 3 Could the PAC-12 pull together a super league?

• No. 4 What would merging the AAC and Big 12 look like?

• No. 5 Bob Stoops explains the move, takes shot at OSU

Non-OSU Bullets

• Solid business model: mowing with goats
• This draft guide turned into a ranking after that was helpful for processing

“You can usually accomplish more by giving something your full effort for a few years rather than giving it a lukewarm effort for fifty years.

Pick a priority for this season of your life and do it to the best of your ability.”

James Clear

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After a year playing professionally in Belgium, Cameron McGriff is going to get a shot to play Summer League ball in the NBA.

McGriff, who played at Oklahoma State from 2016 to 2020, will play in the Summer League with the Charlotte Hornets, according to basketball insider Adam Zagoria.

McGriff played with Okapi Aalst in Belgium this past season where he averaged 13.5 points and five rebounds a game.

A career 1,000-point scorer for the Cowboys, McGriff averaged 12.3 points and 6.6 rebounds a game during his senior season. He tied a career-high with 28 points in a Bedlam win in Stillwater.

The Hornets’ Summer League schedule starts Aug. 8 at MGM Resorts in Las Vegas.

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STILLWATER — The Cowboys enter 2021-22 as deep as they’ve been in the Mike Boynton era, particularly in the frontcourt.

Oklahoma State didn’t lose a forward from last season’s roster while adding Tyreek Smith, Woody Newton and Moussa Cisse. That trio pairs with Kalib Boone, Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe and Bernard Kouma who were with the Pokes last season.

Cisse, the Cowboys’ latest addition, brings a lot of hype to Stillwater with him. Measuring 6-foot-11 with a 7-foot-4.5 wing span, Cisse was the No. 10 prospect in the 2020 class, initially choosing Memphis over offers from Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA and others.

His game is still raw in some areas, but Cisse projected to be a first round NBA Draft pick coming out of high school. He also proved to be a defensive menace, leading the American Athletic Conference in blocks as a freshman with 46.

“It helps my game out a lot, man,” Boone said of Cisse at Thursday’s Eskimo Joes watch party. “I know Moussa led his conference last year in blocks, I led the conference in blocks, so you got two guys that can block shots. That helps us in the paint, so that helps our guards because when they want to try to come in the paint, they second guessing, so they go back out. That helps me out, so now I can expand my game, hopefully. But also, I got another big that can help me out. I got MA, I got Bern, I got Tyreek, I got Woody. So, we added some new pieces. That helps a lot.”

Boone has played center for most of his career as a Cowboy, but when he and Cisse share the floor this season, Boone will likely serve as the power forward.

Listed at 6-9, 210 pounds, Boone might project more as a power forward in the pro game, so having Cisse around allows for him to blossom into that.

“I would say it’s something I’m growing into a little bit,” Boone said. “In high school I was supposed to play the four at one point, but I never did. It’s a challenge, but I’m ready for that challenge. It’s a learning experience for me.”

It’s not often a team becomes deeper after losing the No. 1 NBA Draft pick, but with the additions the Cowboys made this offseason and the Pokes’ young core becoming a year wiser, that could be the case in Stillwater this season.

“[Cisse is] very athletic, I would say,” Avery Anderson said. “We had played a pick up game with him. He’s very athletic. He runs the floor very well. It’s gonna be exciting.”

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The Detroit Pistons have gone 157-227 since Cade Cunningham started high school, making the playoffs just once.

It hasn’t always been that way in the Motor City, though. The franchise won an NBA Championship when Cunningham was 3 and made the Finals again when he was 4. Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton, those were the stars of Detroit when Cade was a toddler.

Further back then that, there were the Bad Boy Pistons that won championships in 1989 and 1990, Isiah Thomas, Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer.

It’s proven possible to win in Detroit. Cunningham didn’t say he wanted to start a legacy in Detroit, but rather restore it.

“I don’t want to take a step back from the mentality that the team has,” Cunningham said after being drafted. “The Detroit Pistons has always been about grit and and working for everything they had. You look back on the Bad Boys teams, that’s what made those teams great. I want to try to bring that mentality to the team. I know that they already have young guys that have that mentality, and I feel like me just adding on will only take us to the next step.”

Cunningham said he was excited to join a young core that includes Killian Hayes, Saddiq Baye and Jerami Grant. Cunningham said he likes the mentality those guys bring and looks forward to growing together.

In his post-draft presser, Cunningham was asked if people will remember this as the day he was drafted or the day Russell Westbrook became a Laker. He bet on himself.

“That’ll be the start of whenever the Pistons restored their franchise and brought greatness back to the city,” Cunningham said. “And that’s my whole goal of stepping into Detroit is to restore that city as far as they’ve already witnessed greatness, and I want to be able to bring that back to the city.”

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Cade Cunningham and his family are already celebrating his being taken first overall in the 2021 NBA Draft. But a group of former teammates and lifelong fans got a head start 1,400 miles away.

At a draft watch party held at Stillwater staple Eskimo Joe’s all eyes were glued to the screen as Adam Silver announced Cade as the newest Detroit Piston.

But Cade’s head coach was on-hand in his own hometown of Brooklyn to celebrate in person.

Elsewhere, Cade was cheered on by those with OSU connections, including former Cowboys assistant Erik Pastrana.

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For the first time in program history, Cowboy basketball has a No. 1 pick.

The Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham with the No. 1 pick in Thursday night’s NBA Draft in Brooklyn. Cunningham becomes the 37th player in Oklahoma State’s history taken in the draft, the first since Jawun Evans in 2017.

Cunningham spent one season at Oklahoma State where he was an All-American and conference player of the year. He averaged 20.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists a game.

Under Cunningham’s stardom, the Pokes finished the 2020-21 season 21-9, making it to the Big 12 Tournament’s championship game and winning a game in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009.

A 6-foot-8 point guard, Cunningham had myriad memorable outings as a Cowboy, but perhaps his most impressive came in Norman against Bedlam rival Oklahoma. In that game, Cunningham scored 40 points while also tallying 11 rebounds, three steals and two blocks.

Cunningham scored 20 or more points in 14 of his 27 games as a Cowboy. He had outings of 29 points against Oral Roberts and Texas and put up a 21-point, 10-rebound double-double in his first college game.

Cunningham came to Oklahoma State as the program’s highest-ranked recruit ever. A five-star prospect, he was the top player in the 2020 recruiting class, picking Oklahoma State over offers from Kentucky, North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Florida, Texas and others. His 0.9999 247Sports composite ranking makes him the highest ranked point guard in the formula’s history.

From Arlington, Texas, Cunningham initially attended Bowie High School before transferring to national power Montverde. He won the 2020 Naismith High School Player of the Year trophy, becoming the first OSU signee to ever do so. He was also a McDonald’s All-American.

Cunningham joins a young Pistons squad that includes former Oklahoma City Thunder player Jerami Grant, who averaged 22.3 points a game last season. Despite a bad record, the Pistons also had solid rookie performances from Killian Hayes (6.8 points, 2.7 rebounds, 5.3 assists a game) and Saddiq Bey (12.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.4 assists a game).

Cunningham becomes the third OSU player drafted to the Pistons’ organization. The Fort Wayne Pistons took Bob Harris third overall in 1949, and the Detroit Pistons drafted James King 32nd overall in 1965.

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