Steve Lutz was raised on good defense.
Throughout his coaching career, he's put a strong belief that defense wins games and has ground that into his teams over the years. Good defense leads to fast offense, which is what he was known for when he arrived in Stillwater.
In Lutz' first year as the head coach of the Oklahoma State men's basketball team, the defense struggled, which hindered the transition offense for the Cowboys.
When he and his coaching staff recruited through the transfer portal this offseason, finding guys with good defensive history was something on the checklist.
As summer workouts began earlier this week, the head coach was able to begin to see how defensive his team would be in 2025-26.
"The thing that I think right off the bat that jumps out about this team is really, other than maybe at the point guard position, we're longer and bigger across the front," Lutz told reporters earlier this month. "We don't have a 6-foot-11 or a 7-foot-1 or 7-foot-2 guy rim protector, but your 2's, 3's, and 4's are all bigger and longer, which is different. It will be much different than we had last year. When you have bigger, longer bodies, that allows you to cover more ground defensively. With this team, to me, in my mind, I'm using the summer to decide, if you can score the ball better, do you have to be quite as aggressive in extending your defense up the floor in the half court? That's yet to be determined."
You can get an annual membership for 50% off. Take advantage now and be among the first people to know everything going on regarding Oklahoma State football, men's and women's basketball, recruiting and much, much, more! Click Here!
Lutz is able to watch tape and he has nearly 50 years of his life in basketball to look back on to get inspiration and know what he wants from his players. Fortunately though, he also has the best defensive team in the NBA an hour down the road to draw inspiration from.
The Oklahoma City Thunder, who are playing in the NBA Finals looking to win their first championship since the franchise moved to Oklahoma in 2007, has been a great source of good basketball for Lutz and the Cowboys.
"Those guys play hard," Lutz said of the Western Conference champions. "They play defense. They share the ball. They play the right way. The people in Oklahoma absolutely adore them, as they should."
Paycom Arena has sold out many of the Thunder's playoff games and the atmospheres have been praised by national media members throughout the Finals run.
Lutz wants to try and recreate that atmosphere this season in Gallagher-Iba Arena.
"We need the same support here in Stillwater that is in Oklahoma City," Lutz said. "We're going to put a better product on the floor next year for the fans and for the state, but we need people to come support it. If we can support the Thunder, we can certainly support the Cowboys."
READ MORE: 10 thoughts on Oklahoma State's men's and women's basketball Big 12 matchups
READ MORE: No. 33-ranked Chase Foster talks Villanova, Maryland, Oklahoma State
One of the characteristics of the Thunder is their youth. It's been a seven-year plan to get back in the limelight of the NBA and now they're one win away from a championship.
Their oldest player is Alex Caruso at 31-years-old. Caruso's dad, Mike Caruso, played for Oklahoma State hall of fame coach Eddie Sutton at Creighton in the 70s.
Caruso coached his son in high school and instilled the fundamentals into Alex from an early age.
"He vividly remembers his practices with no basketballs," Caruso said before the NBA Finals. "Especially the beginning of the year. You know, the ball rack would be out there, and the practice would start and Coach Sutton would just roll it out and play defense for two hours."
The latest in the lineage of Oklahoma State men's basketball coaches has tried to instill those same basics of the game. Lutz, who will be coaching almost an entirely new roster from a year ago, has been able to look back on his first season with the Cowboys and has some takeaways.
"Certainly from a defensive efficiency standpoint, I thought we were much better as the year went on," Lutz said. "From an offensive efficiency standpoint, we've got to be much better. We're not going to be able to have a chance to win the Big 12 and go to the NCAA tournament at the current rate offensively that we were. You're always trying to tweak it. You're always trying to get better."
The Cowboys aren't trying to win an NBA Finals like the Thunder, clearly. But using the Thunder's blueprint, Lutz and Co. feels like they can get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in five seasons on the backs of solid defense and transition offense — the Thunder way.
"We were trying to be cognizant with addressing some of our scoring issues from last year's team and not having that this year," Lutz said. "So every player that was recruited here was told the same thing. That we're not promising you anything. That the best players will play and those that can help us achieve the goals of winning the Big 12 and going to the NCAA tournament, they're going to play."