SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW: OKWU men's basketball team recruits for talent, depth

Thirty-seven times last winter Donnie Bostwick sent his Oklahoma Wesleyan University men’s basketball team out to battle.

Thirty-four times they walked off the floor with a victory.

At 34-3 — the second-most wins by a Bostwick-coached Eagle team — the 2021-22 OKWU Eagle team soared high in the nation.

Only a three-point loss in mid-March to Thomas More stopped the Eagles trajectory to the NAIA Final Four and a shot at the national crown.

After powering to far to its ultimate goal, OKWU would seem to be primed for another title run next winter.

But, going into the offseason, Bostwick had to replace five departing warriors — including three that made major contributions pretty much every game night — as well as try to upgrade the mix.

With so many contributing veterans returning — including the slate of leading scorers, rebounders and playmakers — Bostwick has chosen to emphasize a quality influx of freshmen to create long-term stability to keep the program soaring and climbing.

“Recruiting, recruiting, recruiting,” Bostwick said about the activities the past few months by he and his coaches. “We’ve also had a good offseason with our returners. They’ve worked really hard. I felt the buys came out of the season hungry to get back where they were last year.”

Among his personnel losses due mostly to playing eligibility are starter Kaz Ammons, main rotation dynamos Valentin Van Putten and Lense Ramey, and prized reserves Thomas Jones and Tichic Fikipo.

“You can’t say enough about their leadership,”

Bostwick said about the latter two. “They came out and practiced hard every day, they were like coaches on the bench.”

Ammons earned a spot in the first starting unit, Van Putten provided a sharply-honed multi-skilled weapon capable of leading the team in scoring or rebounding and Rame “was a tremendous shooter,” Bostwick said. “Kaz and Val were two of the best defensive players in the country.”

In summing up the five departing players he said, “They are great young men, great people.”

But, they’ve reached the end of their college hoops journey and left some vacancies for Bostwick — who is revving up for his 10th season as the Eagles head coach — to fill.

He’s looking internally at a couple of players already in the program to play bigger roles — Aaron Paulukaitis and Blake Hamblin.

Paulukaitis played in 18 varsity games and averaged 3.3 minutes last season, while Hamblin made one varsity appearance and scored four points.

Paulukaitis “is about 6-foot-8 and has a lot of muscle,” Bostwick said. “Blake Hamblin practiced every day with us. He’s a 6-foot-5 kind of hybrid player who can do a lot of different things. He’ll push for playing time.”

Some other players already on board could help as well, Bostwick said.

He's signed a large slate of freshmen, mostly from Texas, who he said could make a notable impact next season.

They include Nic Bene (Forney High School), Grady McQuain (Tovar, Texas), Daniel Ooluwasuya (Arlington High School), Dante Wilson (Lake Ridge High), and the lone Oklahoman in this list, Gunnar Gordon (Pawnee High).

Bene (6-5) won his district MVP award and fill four positions; McQuaid (6-4 or 6-5) also is a versatile talent and was the offensive MVP of his district; Ooluwasuya (6-6) was named the district defensive MVP and was a prep teammate of Eagle sophomore-to-be starter Derrick Talton; and Wilson(6-4) is the coach’s son, skilled, possessing a high basketball I.Q., earned an All-District spot and attended the same school as former Eagle great Issak Rowe.

Gordon is coming off a knee injury and could redshirt for the season, although Bostwick said he won’t know until he arrives at the school.

Bostwick also has pretty much landed a 6-foot-9 international player that is still waiting for some paperwork to clear.

“We’re also working on another big,” Bostwick said. “Our staff has done an amazing job.”

Bostwick has surpassed 250 wins (257-51) and 120 conference victories (129-33) during his nine seasons at OKWU.

Overall, he has amassed a 409-107 overall mark and a 215-64 conference record — and one national title (OKWU, NAIA-II, 2009) — in 15 seasons as a college head coach.

This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: Focus on OKWU's men's hoops recruiting successes