OSB 2013: No. 5 – Marcus Smart’s decision to stay at OSU

Back in April, Marcus Smart, Le’Bryan Nash and Markel Brown held a joint press conference in the Student Union and each announced that he would be back to play for the Pokes in 2013-2014.

Photo courtesy The Undersized Basketball Podcast and Blog.

Among many things that Smart addressed, he said that he had talked about it with his mother and that he had been “praying and praying” about the situation and decided to follow his heart stay in Stillwater.

He also addressed the issue of the draft class of ’13 compared to the class that looks to go to the NBA Draft in ’14.  Smart said that people had criticized him for not going forward with a class that was weak in comparison.  And he told those on campus how thankful he was that they believe in his ability and game to be able to compete with the next group to enter the League.

And although he said he was aware of how much money he was giving up, Smart said that he was a Cowboy at heart.

Nash and Brown made similar commitments to play for coach Travis Ford in the coming season.

No action took place on a court or field on this day, but the landscape of Big 12 basketball and possibly that of the NCAA Tournament was changed (or maybe just solidified) to account for the makings of a powerful Oklahoma State team that will potentially be playing deep into March – and conceivably April.

OSB 2013: No. 6 – Thriller in Muskogee for the CSFL title
OSB 2013: No. 7 – All four Oklahoma D-I schools dance in the Big Dance
OSB 2013: No. 8 – SNU women’s basketball wins its eighth national title
OSB 2013: No. 9 – Three unbelievable March days for Millwood
OSB 2013: No. 10 – Southwestern women win in the NCAA Tournament