Kalib Boone said it was ok to use the word reckless.

Smiles abounded at the first OSU men’s basketball press conference of the season. New life seems to bubble from players and coaches no longer under the shadow of a postseason ban.

The team has a fresh look. This summer, former Cowboy Keylan Boone transferred to Pacific College. The twin brothers parted ways after “one last dap.” It will be the first time they have played basketball on different teams for an extended period of time.

Kalib is a steady presence and provided a watchful role over his more free-spirited twin. Kalib described his twin’s free-spirited nature as reckless.

This season, Kalib can focus all his time and energy on himself.

“I’ve been big brother for 21 years, I’ve never truly had a moment to be like, ‘Okay, I don’t got to worry about Keylan and this, this, that’” Kalib said. “I don’t have to wake up at 5 a.m. to make sure he’s up at 5:30 (a.m.) to come to workout or to do a lift or anything like that. So it’s great honestly.”

Chris Harris Jr. will be doing any of the same things for his team he did last season. Just, with the ball this time.

“I just want to keep my head high and be the energy guy,” Harris said. “Be the encourager. Try to help everyone.”

For the past two years, Harris has been relegated to the bench. Two torn ACL’s cost Harris most of the 2021-22 season and a sizeable chunk of the season prior.

Harris recently got his knee brace off, and The Cowboys now expect to get his highenergy motor and playing style back in the lineup.

“I feel great, 100% cleared,” Harris said. “I’m just ready to get out there and show y’all the stuff I’ve been working on, show y’all I’m the same Chris, or even better. ... Last year I just wanted to get in the best shape I could to potentially play or come back, but me and my doctor and [Kevin Blaske] had a great plan to see how I felt come Jan. 8 against Texas, we just decided that I wasn’t ready, so they redshirted me and now I’m back.”

Harris will help to bolter OSU’s 3-point shooting, something the Cowboys have struggled with in his absence.

“I told him if he doesn’t pull like eight threes a game, me and him might have to fight after the game,” senior Kalib Boone said.

Senior guard Avery Anderson said Harris has remained dedicated through the long recovery period.

“I’m just proud of him, for real,” Anderson said. “Because that is my roommate. I talk with him every day. He had some highs, he had some lows, but he always just stuck with it every day. He came to work out with me in the mornings and all that, so I applaud him for staying the course.”

Cisse settling into junior season Coach Mike Boynton does not anticipate Moussa Cisse having many more years at OSU, but he said he believes Cisse has gotten to the point of drawing comfort from Stillwater.

“I think there’s a sense of peace that (Cisse) has now,” Boynton said. “He probably left Stillwater three times thinking he would be gone from Stillwater for weeks, and he wound up coming back within days. And I think he feels at home now.”

Cisse, OSU’s 7-foot-1 center who was a former five-star recruit for Memphis, will be a key player for the Cowboys. Cisse’s emerged as one of the top shot blockers in the Big 12 last year. His defensive prowess is one of the reasons Boynton anticipates Cisse potentially leaving OSU after the year. He is the type of prospect NBA teams covet.

Boynton said he has noticed Cisse’s grow in maturity ahead of his junior year.

“I think in many ways, (Cisse) came in here and felt a lot of pressure,” Boynton said. “Guys a five-star coming in, that kind of creates a certain expectation from the outside about what you should do, what you should like. He just turned 20 years old a couple of weeks ago. He’s been in college three years. So, when he gets to college at 17 over two years ago, he’s not ready to do anything that people said he was gonna do. But he didn’t understand that.”

Now, Boynton said Cisse is in a position where he can narrow his focus.

“I think that’s a very positive thing that he’s comfortable, he likes where he is, he feels like he’s getting better,” Boynton said. “And I don’t think he’s focused on what’s next anymore. I think he’s really centered on trying to be the best he can today.”

When a head basketball coach at a Big 12 school uses a clown emoji in a tweet, it will draw attention.

That’s precisely the emoji Cowboy basketball coach Mike Boynton used when reacting to a reminder his program was hit with a postseason ban, scholarship reductions and recruiting restrictions for a former assistant coach accepting bribery money.

The reason the NCAA’s decision returned in the news cycle is a verdict in the Memphis men’s basketball program case stemming from the 2019-20 season where multiple level I and level II violations occurred.

The NCAA punished Memphis with a $5,000 fine, three years of probation and three wins being vacated. It is a much softer penalty than the one the Cowboys received.

“Listen first and foremost, I’m a (Memphis coach) Penny Hardaway fan,” Boynton said Tuesday. “I’m a basketball fan, so I’ve always admired Penny. We’ve actually become good friends. So, in no way — and I hope it wasn’t taken this way in some sort of sleight at them — I’m actually happy for their kids that they don’t have to endure the agony of going through what we went through. Doesn’t make it any less frustrating. Glad it’s behind us though and looking forward to just kind of moving forward.”