GLOBAL SEARCH
New Oklahoma State basketball coach Brad Underwood, pictured left, has been searching everywhere for players, even as far as Turkey.
STILLWATER — With the door-ajar buzzer beeping in the background, Brad Underwood transitioned his phone to Bluetooth, shifted the car into drive and chatted recruiting while en route to some long-overdue house hunting in Stillwater.
So it goes for Underwood, who’s maintained a furious pace since being named Oklahoma State basketball coach on March 21.
Underwood hasn’t rested amid the glory of his new gig; he’s been too busy traveling, mostly on the road recruiting, here in the state, across the country and even to Turkey.
That’s right, Turkey, trying to lure a premium prospect — 6-foot11 center Omer Yurtseven — for the upcoming season.
“One of the great challenges of taking over a job is the timing of it,” Underwood said on his neighborhood search, “from the standpoint that you always jump into a March or April hire, and you jump into a recruiting period immediately.”
With the bulk of last season’s roster returning, and four players signed to the 2016 class already, much of OSU’s recruiting has focused on the future, with several offers out for 2017, 2018 and 2019.
“That’s probably where we’ve been behind the most,” Underwood said. “We’ve worked very hard and we’ve jumped hard into two evaluation periods that are allowed by the NCAA in the spring, to see young kids.
“That has been one of the top priorities.”
Still, the Cowboys will find room, too, for the right immediate addition, say a big man rated as a five-star prospect already being projected as a sure NBA talent. Someone like Yurtseven, whose 18th birthday is in June.
“I think he’s the best European player his age,” said Oklahoma City Thunder standout Enes Kanter, who also came to the United States from Turkey. “He’s going to be a really solid player in the NBA one day.”
Kanter is serving as a bit of a mentor to Yurtseven, communicating with the young player as he considers leaving his native country and all that goes with that, namely intense pressure to stay and play at home. Kanter faced much backlash upon his decision to leave the popular Turkey club team Fenerbahce, which is Yurtseven’s team as well.
“I’m trying to make him come over here,” Kanter said. “I’ve been talking to him. I’ve been texting him. I think he will. I think he’s going to come.”
Yurtseven announced in February his intention to pursue college options in the U.S., although any visits here would have to wait until after the Turkish Basketball League playoffs, which for Fenerbahce could linger to late June.
Still, he’s a talent worth the wait, known as a skilled offensive player who averaged 9.8 points and 8.7 rebounds at the FIBA U18 European Championships last summer.
And OSU has gained ground as a possible destination, with Underwood’s visit to Istanbul buoying already existing interest on Yurtseven’s part. Perhaps the proximity of Kanter, just an hour away from Stillwater, might offer Yurtseven some added comfort in choosing his college destination.
While news on Yurtseven will have to wait, Cowboys coaches continue to map out a recruiting strategy that extends several years out — and to several countries — in order to fortify future rosters to fill in gaps in previous classes.
“We’ve been very well received,” Underwood said. “We’ve got a great staff and those guys are working extremely hard at putting us in a position for the next couple of years with some of the best players, not only in our region, but nationally as well.
“And we’re going to expand and continue to grow. Absolutely Oklahoma and this region are vital to us, but we’ve put together a staff of guys with connections in a lot of different places.”
Lamont Evans has deep connections in Florida and overseas, where he spent seven years playing internationally for teams in Slovenia, Germany, Finland, Belgium and Venezuela.
Mike Boynton Jr., who worked with Underwood at Stephen F. Austin, has ties to New York City, as well as the South. And Danny Henderson was a longtime Texas high school coach.
Unlike the previous staff, where Travis Ford leaned heavily on top assistant Butch Pierre in recruiting, Underwood is attacking on all fronts. While each assistant offers familiarity to certain areas, they won’t recruit strictly geographically, as much as they’ll work contacts, even in tandem at times.
Already their work is evident, with offers extended in many directions involving some of the nation’s top targets, including 7-footer DeAndre Ayton, the No. 1 player in the class of 2017 out of Phoenix.
“I’m not a guy that traditionally throws out a ton of offers,” Underwood said. “But the relationships that have happened with our coaches and players, and then the guys that I have seen, and the fact that we are playing catch-up — that’s a reality — we’re trying to make up ground quickly.”