|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Big 12, big controversy
Posted: Friday February 11, 2000 05:52 PM
By Adam Thompson, Special to CNNSI.com One of college basketball's hottest controversies is playing itself out in the heart of the Big 12. The situation in Kansas City is bad enough that the U.S. Attorney's office is investigating. Three players -- including two Big 12 freshmen -- have been suspended for their involvement in alleged improper payments or benefits from Amateur Athletic Union coaches. Oklahoma State's Andre Williams and Missouri's Kareem Rush, along with Rush's older brother JaRon from UCLA, are all involved and currently sitting. Meanwhile, conference coaches continue to squabble over an issue that has divided them since the early days of the league. A few years back, Oklahoma's Kelvin Sampson and then-Iowa State coach Tim Floyd had the modest proposal of eliminating summer recruiting and the fall signing period in order to steer influence away from the sometimes shady AAU coaches who guide and advise kids when school is out. But Sampson and Floyd couldn't even build a consensus within their own conference, so any hopes of taking their idea nationally were put to rest. Listening to all the different opinions that exist on that question now, it's no surprise why. Sampson stands by his plan, calling the end of summer recruiting the only way to fix the problem, and Kansas State's Tom Asbury agrees with him. "Does it make it harder for [coaches] if they can't sign all their guys in the fall? Yes, but you've got to give something to get something," Asbury said. Among those voicing equally strong opinions on the other side of the debate are Baylor's Dave Bliss, Texas A&M's Melvin Watkins and Ricardo Patton of Colorado. They argue that summer recruiting allows Division I's poorer programs to streamline their recruiting by watching more talented players at once, in summer events like the Adidas Big Time or the Nike Hoop Summit. Some also take cynical view -- or the pragmatic one, depending whom you ask -- that crooked influences will find their way into the game with or without summer ball. "To think you can legislate against immorality and a lack of integrity, I know we're trying to do something about it, but it just doesn't seem to work," said Bliss. Interestingly, not one of the 12 coaches asked about the situation remembered one of the main reasons why the November signing period was instituted in the first place -- to let kids who knew what they wanted to have a relaxed senior year without a million and one recruiters constantly breathing down their necks. On the other hand, Sampson and Floyd had a point when they argued that basketball coaches take more time evaluating the three to six scholarship players they need each year than their football colleagues do in search of 25 newcomers. This one might not get settled until the NBA announces its newest expansion team on Mars. And it would have taken even longer if three teenagers hadn't gotten caught up in an embarrassing scandal.
Not so Bliss-ful returnBliss, the man who helped spark Oklahoma's still-dominant run over two decades ago, returned to the building he helped open -- the Lloyd Noble Center. But the Sooners were ungracious hosts, holding Baylor to a Big 12-record-low 13 first half points on the way to a 76-43 pounding of the Bears. "This is a wonderful place," Bliss told the Daily Oklahoman. "Oklahoma is a great school. I married a Boomer Sooner and my son was born in Norman, so there are a lot of great memories. If I didn't have to play the basketball game, it would have been terrific."
Who needs sleep?Following a 77-67 loss to Connecticut in Hartford Monday night, Texas' chartered plane arrived in Austin at 5 a.m. the next morning, or 38 hours before their next tip-off, in College Station. Didn't seem to bother the Longhorns much, as they trampled Texas A&M anyway, 78-51. Imagine how No. 15 Texas might do on Jan. 15, when it plays No. 16 Oklahoma in the marquee game of the week, after a few days of rest and preparation.
Worth notingIowa State's 66-65 win over Nebraska in Lincoln Jan. 12 did a lot more than put the Cyclones at 2-0 in conference play. It was their second conference road win in two-plus years. It put them at 14-2, their best start since the run and gun days of Johnny Orr, whose 1987-88 squad opened 16-2. And it gave Larry Eustachy's Cyclones the longest winning streak in school history, 11. ISU also managed a notable individual milestone this week. Jamaal Tinsley notched the second triple-double in Big 12 history with 12 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds in the Cyclones' 86-81 win over Mizzou Jan. 8. Speaking of milestones, Kansas reached its 1,700th victory by defeating Colorado Jan. 8 in Boulder. The Jayhawks join Kentucky and North Carolina as the only schools to win so many. Coach Roy Williams has also overseen wins No. 1,400, 1,500 and 1,600. Entering the weekend, KU is 1,701-726 in 102 mostly successful seasons of hoops. Kansas center Eric Chenowith is off to a pedestrian start, averaging 9.9 points and 6.4 rebounds before the Jayhawks' Jan. 12 date with Kansas State. That's down from 13.5 points and 9.1 boards a yaer ago, which were both team bests. But he may have gotten off the schneid against the Wildcats, as he put up season high totals of 22 points and 17 rebounds in KU's 87-79 win. The Big 12's most unheralded newcomer so far has been Kansas State guard Galen Morrison. After his team's loss in Lawrence, the junior transfer from Iowa Western Community College in Clarinda, Iowa, is averaging 12.0 points per game and shooting 48.6 percent from 3-point range. Adam Thompson covers the Big 12 for the Denver Post. Check back each Friday for his latest CNN/SI Big 12 Insider.
| ||||||||||||||||
