|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Inside College Basketball
Posted: Wednesday February 16, 2000 11:50 AM Cowboys dance to a big week By Seth Davis
Each time Oklahoma State senior guard Glendon Alexander sinks a three-pointer, he fires imaginary bullets at the floor. Senior forward Desmond Mason celebrates his threes by raising his arms and making the OK sign with both hands. During the Cowboys' 74-71 win last Saturday at then No. 16 Oklahoma, senior guard Joe Adkins punctuated each of his four trifectas by shimmying his arms and shoulders in funky-chicken fashion as he retreated downcourt. "That was the first time I'd seen that one," Mason said. Adkins, whose 21 points were his second straight career high, doesn't have a name for his new dance, but it appears he'll have more opportunities to show it off. "I'm a rhythm shooter," he says. "When I get in a rhythm, watch out." The beat was definitely on at Oklahoma State last week. The Cowboys led off the week by handing Kansas its worst loss in more than 11 years with an 86-53 drubbing on Feb. 7 in Stillwater. That prompted Jayhawks coach Roy Williams to say, "I was totally outcoached in every way, and we were totally manhandled on the court." On Saturday Oklahoma State blew a 20-point first-half lead and had its two top scorers, Mason and 6'10" senior forward Brian Montonati, in foul trouble for most of the second half but held on for its first road victory over a ranked team in four years to maintain a share of first place in the Big 12, with Iowa State. The Cowboys ran their record to 20-2 and their league mark to 9-1. "We're a complete team that can beat you in a lot of ways," Mason says. "Now we have some momentum going." A big reason for that momentum is that the 6'5" Mason has evolved into a complete player. When he arrived at Oklahoma State three years ago he was good at swooping to the basket for powerful dunks, but his outside shooting was lackluster. He made only 31.9% of his three-pointers as a freshman but he has improved every year since. Through Sunday he was making 47.5% this season and was third in the Big 12 in scoring, with a 19.0-point average. He's getting plenty of help from the rest of a Cowboys' roster that includes six seniors among its top eight players. Oklahoma State's three leading scorers—Mason, Montonati and Alexander—were shooting a combined 51.9% from the floor. Most important, after several years of a generosity on defense uncharacteristic of Eddie Sutton-coached teams, the Cowboys again were leading the conference in field-goal-percentage defense (37.5%) and three-point-percentage defense (29.2%). One player who hasn't had much practice celebrating his three-point shooting is senior point guard Doug Gottlieb, who was leading the nation in assists with a 9.4 average but had made just six treys all season. During Oklahoma State's first possession on Saturday, Sooners fans taunted him by screaming "Shoot!" as soon as he touched the ball. Gottlieb responded by swishing an 18-foot two-pointer and then gleefully holding his finger to his lips to hush the crowd as he ran back on defense. He didn't make any of the five other field goals he attempted in the game, but the Cowboys still made their point. As Adkins might put it, Oklahoma State is in a rhythm now, and the rest of the league better watch out. After 19 straight wins, Syracuse's streak ended with a double thud For 19 games Syracuse rolled along. Senior point guard Jason Hart, whom Orange fans have sometimes treated like "a deranged villain," as Hart puts it, had heard nary a boo in the Carrier Dome as he directed a balanced offense in which six players averaged between 14.8 and 9.1 points. Senior center Etan Thomas had recovered from an early season staph infection and right-ankle sprain, and he was playing like one of the best big men in the country. Steady power forward Ryan Blackwell -- the third member of Syracuse's troika of senior leaders -- was shooting well, pounding the boards and finding a way to get the ball to Thomas in the right places. Reserves were taking turns making significant contributions. (Swingman Preston Shumpert had 26 points off the bench in a defeat of Notre Dame, and in the next game, a victory over Pitt, shooting guard DeShaun Williams had 23.) Best of all, "we never exhibited the least degree of selfishness," said Thomas, the smooth-tongued high school debate champion. The result? After a 74-58 rout of Providence on Feb. 5, the nine-deep, No. 4-ranked Orangemen found themselves as the only undefeated team in the nation. And then? "And then reality set in," says coach Jim Boeheim. Syracuse ended a reality-filled seven-day stretch on Sunday with a 71-67 victory over UCLA at the dome. That win followed a 69-67 homecourt loss to Seton Hall on Feb. 7 -- forcing the Syracuse bookstore to cancel its shipment of 20-0 sweatshirts -- and another defeat, 82-69, against Louisville at Freedom Hall last Thursday. The Orangemen are now the nation's No. 9-ranked team, and, truth be told, that's closer to where they belong. The balance that made Syracuse (20-2) so effective early in the season was delicate. Williams and Tony Bland were playing well at shooting guard, for example, but Bland, the sophomore starter, may have begun to look over his shoulder at Williams, the freshman flash. Bland has gone 3 for 20 from three-point range in his last seven games. Thomas is a splendid defensive player who was third in the nation in blocked shots through Sunday, but on offense he posted up like a statue against Louisville, clogging up the middle and getting to the foul line only once. Blackwell -- 0 for 7 from the field against Seton Hall and 2 for 8 from the line against Louisville -- has been in a slump since a superb 18-point, 12-rebound performance in an 88-74 win over Connecticut on Jan. 24, the apex of Syracuse's season. "No matter what contributions we get from everybody else," says Boeheim, "how far we go depends on our three seniors." Then, too, the Orangemen's schedule laid out a smorgasbord of desserts before the main course. Syracuse dispatched its first nine opponents, which included the likes of Florida Atlantic, Colgate, Albany and Hartford, by an average margin of 23.2 points, suggesting a powerhouse was on the loose. It wasn't. And isn't. Syracuse is among a group of teams that are very capable but a notch below Cincinnati, the clear No. 1, and Duke. "Teams were shooting for us because of the streak, and maybe we were a little tired and sluggish," said Blackwell. "All we needed was this one [the win over UCLA] to get us back." He was probably right. Just don't think back means all the way to the top of the pack. -- Jack McCallum Issue date: February 21, 2000
For more Inside College Basketball see this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, on newsstands Wednesday, February 16. Click here to subscribe to SI.
| ||||||||||||||||||
