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Some nuggets from Stillwater
Posted: Tuesday February 29, 2000 04:05 PM
Sports Illustrated staff writer Grant Wahl will answer your questions every Tuesday during the college basketball season. Click here to send him a question. NEW YORK -- If you have to go to Stillwater, Okla., for three days, as I did last week, there are a couple of things you shouldn't miss. One of them is Oklahoma State basketball practice, which provided one of the most hilarious moments of the year last Wednesday. The Cowboys were having a bad practice, Eddie Sutton was in fine form, and then, on a 5-on-5 transition drill, Doug Gottlieb -- the worst-shooting good player in the last decade -- missed an open 12-foot jumper. "You can't take that shot!" Sutton roared. "If you do that on Saturday, your ass will be right next to me on the bench!" "But it was an open 12-footer!" responded Gottlieb (39.9% FG this year, 43.9% FT). Gottlieb and Sutton kept squawking at each other for over a minute. Then, on the very next play, Joe Adkins forced up a 22-footer in traffic, missing badly. "Not a bad shot!" Sutton yelled, more at Gottlieb than anybody else. "At least Joe's a shooter!" Gottlieb mumbled something in response, Sutton got even more annoyed, and within minutes the coach had banished Dougie to the upper reaches of Gallagher-Iba Arena to do penance for his shooting sins. I love Doug Gottlieb, mainly because he's the best quote in the business and wonderfully open about all the harebrained stuff he's done -- seeing a shrink, singing Garth Brooks songs on the free-throw line -- to try and fix his shooting. None of it has worked, of course. When Gottlieb tossed up a wild 20-footer during Saturday's loss to Iowa State, Sutton made good on his his Wednesday threat and invited his point guard over to the bench. (Oh, and the other thing you shouldn't miss in the Stillwater area? For the best barbecue and soul food in the world, drive 40 miles to Guthrie, Okla., and check out a tiny little place called the Old-Lewis Hickory House. How could you not like a joint with the slogan "Don't Need No Teeth To Eat Lewis Beef"? One bit of advice: Don't run over a giant possum at 80 mph on your way there. I doubt the Avis people were too happy to find possum guts all over the bottom of their car ...) Guess I'll shut up and give you my All-America team: Kenyon Martin, Cincinnati. Easily the Player of the Year, and while that's not a hard pick now, think back to a year ago. How many of you would have predicted that Martin would be the nation's best player this year? For that matter, how many of you even knew who Kenyon Martin was? Marcus Fizer, Iowa State. I'll pump up the Cyclones more below, but I saw Fizer in person for the first time last weekend, and he was unstoppable. Made an ironclad argument for inclusion on this team with 94 points in the last three games. Jason Gardner, Arizona. Fine, he's only shooting around 37%, but name a point guard on any other top team who has done more than Gardner has to save his team's colletive butt. The Wildcats had every reason to fall apart after injuries to Richard Jefferson and Loren Woods, but Gardner (averaging 36.4 minutes a game!) simply hasn't let them. A.J. Guyton, Indiana. It's not that I don't like Scoonie Penn or Morris Peterson, but Guyton should be the Big Ten Player of the Year. Whatever happens in the postseason, the Hoosiers have already overachieved this year, and Guyton is the reason why. Troy Murphy, Notre Dame. I still can't figure out a team that beats UConn and Ohio State on the road, then loses to Providence at home. But I have no such confusion about Murphy, who knows so many ways to score. Sorry for dissing you, Troy, way back in the first Mailbag of the regular season. I'm a believer now. On to the 'Bag... What is your opinion of Ohio State's frontline? Is it deep enough to get the
Buckeyes back to the Final
Four?
Well, Chris, it was deep enough to get them there last year, and I'd argue that the Buckeyes front line, while not their strong suit, is even better this time around. The only real difference is that Jason Singleton graduated, but the consistently solid George Reese (12.1 ppg) has more than made up for his departure, scoring more than Singleton did last year (8.9 ppg). And the fact is, while Ken Johnson will never score more than seven or eight points a game, he doesn't really need to for Ohio State to win. (His 5.5 blocks a game don't hurt, either.) If I were an Ohio State fan, I'd actually be more concerned about whether Scoonie Penn (38.2% FG) and Michael Redd (43.2%) can shoot well enough for the Buckeyes to advance in the tournament. I just went through your archives. No mention of Iowa State, Marcus Fizer,
Jamaal Tinsley or Larry Eustachy. The Cyclones have the ability to take it all
the way in the Big Dance.
John, while your close read of the 'Bag is flattering (and deeply disturbing), I'll give you what you want. I was in Ames on Saturday to see the Cyclones in effect clinch the Big 12 by beating Oklahoma State, and many things impressed me. Fizer, for one, is the second-best player in the country. He can hit from anywhere on the court, and I never saw him take a bad shot. He's clearly on the same wavelength with Tinsley, a scary-quick penetrator who was always under control. The supporting cast isn't deep, but it's strong -- if Michael Nurse keeps shooting so well (he had five threes on Saturday) and if the Cyclones keep playing great team defense, I wouldn't be surprised at all if they reached the Final Four. Another interesting note: In this week's Big 12 conference call, Eustachy talked about how important it is for his team to limit fouls (a sensible plan, considering the lack of depth). In fact, if an Iowa State player fouls another one while scrimmaging in practice, the whole team stops and runs gassers. I love that. The NCAA's actions re: Michigan's Jamal Crawford have almost guaranteed that
he will turn pro after this season. (Not to mention the double standard of what
college vs. high school players can/cannot do.) It seems to me that this is
counterproductive, and that the NCAA needs to concern itself more with whether
student-athletes get an education and less with what they may or may not get
elsewhere. What's your take on
this?
The NCAA's arbitrary suspensions have made a joke of the system. The only positive to come out of this mess (I hope) will be that the NCAA finally gets enough public pressure to radically alter its rules. Last weekend's meeting of players from around the country (led by Duke's Shane Battier) was a good start on the road to giving the players a voice in how their sport is run. (Imagine that.) Here's hoping they continue to stay organized so that real changes can actually take place. What is going on with UConn? The Huskies seem to have all the talent in the
world and are losing. Is it a letdown from last year, or are all these highly
touted players we heard about (but didn't see last year) just not that
good?
I'll take part of the credit for overhyping some of the new Huskies. I wrote a blowout feature on Ajou Deng in SI's preview issue, and he quite clearly hasn't panned out yet. Deng is a wonderful young man with a gripping story of his family's flight from Sudan, but Jim Calhoun just hasn't found the right position for him on the court yet, and Deng's confidence is understandably shot. Give him some more time, though; Deng still has three more years in Storrs. (And don't blame him for the media placing ridiculously high expectations on a guy who had never played a college game.) I've written before about why UConn has underachieved. Sure, losing Ricky Moore's defense and moxie hurt, but nobody realized how good Richard Hamilton really was last year. I also think success got to the Huskies' heads, starting when Khalid El-Amin got arrested the week after the tournament. Edmund Saunders' suspension in recent days for violating a team rule is just the latest example of a team that isn't focused closely enough on basketball. What are your favorite teams to watch this year? Mine is definitely
Arizona.
I'll second the vote on Arizona (when the Wildcats' transition game is on, they're breathtaking to watch), and I'd add: Those four teams rarely fail to bring a smile to my face, which is why we we're all nuts about this game anyway, right? See you next week.
Click here to send your college basketball
question to Grant Wahl.
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