Oklahoma State basketball coach Travis Ford is well on his way to fully recovering from a hip replacement.
Last month, Ford visited a specialist in New York, where he underwent an advanced hip-replacement surgery on his left side.
"It’s something that had been bothering me for a couple of years now and I continued to run on it and do some things," Ford said during last week's Big 12 summer teleconference. "In the past six months, starting in about December, it started affecting my lifestyle throughout the whole season. Couldn’t sleep, couldn’t run, couldn’t do anything."
Ford was on crutches for several weeks but said his recovery is going well.
"It does feel a lot better," he said. "I’m going through rehab and things like that right now, but I’m expecting by July I’ll be walking around without crutches and hopefully no limp by then."
I met with Ford on Thursday and got some updates on other situations involving the basketball team:
-- Former Cowboy Keiton Page will definitely join the staff next season, but Ford doesn't know yet what his position will be.
--
As previously reported, Ford's nephew Ford Stuen will be on the team next season as a walk-on. Alex Budke, the son of former Cowgirls coach Kurt Budke, also will try to walk on. Because of the shortage of players at the end of last season, Ford said he will welcome more walk-on players than in years past.
-- OSU is still waiting to hear back from the NCAA
on the appeal of Jean-Paul Olukemi, who as of now has only one semester of eligibility remaining. Olukemi also is progressing in his rehab from a season-ending knee injury.
Other news from the summer:
-- Incoming freshman Marcus Smart is off to a good start with the USA U18 team, starting the first three games of the FIBA Americas U18 Championships. On Monday, he had nine points, six assists, five rebounds and four steals.
That versatility is expected to be a big asset for the Cowboys next year.
"When we meet as a staff ... we put Marcus at pretty much every position except maybe center at this point" Ford said during the Big 12 call. "He can do it. He could be a great point guard. That might be his best position because he sees the court, he passes the ball, he handles the ball and he is a natural leader."
-- Darrell Williams'
sexual-assault trial is set to resume July 9.
-- In case you missed it, the basketball team
will wear new uniforms next season. The biggest change is the embossed images of Pistol Pete and the student union on the back of the jersey.
-- In other news, a California junior-college guard
signed a financial-aid agreement with OSU last week. The agreement binds the school to holding a scholarship for him, but he could still sign elsewhere.
