star-telegram.com: Mike Jones

Mike Jones: No 'wow' factor, but OSU's choice is solid

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:43 CDT

By MIKE JONES

Travis Ford, huh?

No doubt the news that Oklahoma State finally found a new basketball coach Wednesday in the 38-year-old Massachusetts coach was met with similar reaction in the land of Pistol Pete.

Ford is not the home run for which athletic director Mike Holder was swinging and for which OSU fans desperately yearned, despite obvious factors against that. But at least call it a clean, run-scoring single with a good chance for extra bases. On the surface, on par with Mark Turgeon to A&M or Jeff Capel to Oklahoma.

And let me again emphasize to those who doggedly somehow persisted in the Billy Clyde Gillispie fantasy: There was never, ever any interest on either end.

So less than 24 hours after Southern Illinois' Chris Lowery backed out of OSU contention, Ford surfaced and will be introduced at a 2 p.m. news conference today. This less than a week after Ford declared about UMass, "This is the right place for me," after interviewing at LSU and turning down Providence and then agreeing to a (short) long-term deal at UMass, "because of all the reasons I wanted to be here."

Some of those reasons apparently aren't that important anymore. But based on his ability to build a winner at different levels, the former Kentucky (and briefly Missouri) guard has demonstrated in 11 years in the business that he knows what he's doing courtside.

A winner in two of three NAIA seasons, Ford then led Eastern Kentucky to a 22-9 season and its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance after four losing seasons. He won 49 games the last two seasons at UMass after a 13-15 first season, and this season (25-11) reached the NIT title game.

Ford's small-town Kentucky roots should be a fit in Stillwater, according to one guy I talked to Wednesday.

He coaches the up-tempo game. And his task won't be that difficult on the court. He's not inheriting a bad team. His job will be ducking the crossfire between the Holder haters and Holder backers, the faction upset over the perceived trashing of the Sutton legacy against those who said good riddance and those still pouting over not getting prodigal son Bill Self.

He also will face a chore navigating the dusty recruiting trail in Texas, though Capel has done a good job of that. That's not being pompous. The fact is -- and look at college basketball rosters all across the country -- there are a lot of good players in the state, and you've got to get some of them to win.

"It's not going to be easy for him," one Big 12 source said. "He's going to find that in Texas, the Longhorns do pretty good. The Aggies are strong. And Oklahoma is right in there."

But so is every other major program, on some level. And Oklahoma State has a history of success here.

Texas high school coaches remain a clannish bunch, slow to take to someone who doesn't understand the state of mind. But unless Ford comes in with an I'm-Bob Knight-and-you're-not attitude, he'll probably do fine.

He should keep top assistant coach James Dickey, who has run the program since Sean Sutton's ouster, to ease the transition.

So the Big 12 has added another respectable name to its coaching roster. Not with a solid crack of the bat. But not with an aluminum "plink," either.

Travis Ford

Age: 38 College: Kentucky, 1994

Notable: 190-146 coaching record in 11 seasons.... Led UMass to NIT title game last month.... Had three-year record of 62-35.... At Eastern Kentucky, he was 60-81 in five seasons, but led Colonels to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in more than 25 years.... Mid-South Coach of the Year at NAIA Campbellsville in 1998-99 season.... Played at Missouri and Kentucky.

Oklahoma State finds cruel way to treat one of its own

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 07:43 CDT

By MIKE JONES

The "resignation" of Sean Sutton as Oklahoma State's basketball coach is the sorriest thing I've seen in 37 years of covering college athletics.

Sutton did not "resign" of his own volition. That statement about a "mutual decision" was a crock. He unquestionably was focused on reviving the program he helped give life to as a player and assistant under his dad, Eddie. Told me so three times last week.

Educated guess? He was threatened with nothing vs. a payoff for the three years left on his $750,000 yearly contract. Can't blame him for putting family first, pride second.

This came down after athletic director Mike Holder left him dangling for two weeks. Holder will say he put if off because the women's team was in the NCAA Tournament, but it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

Holder told Sutton to keep doing what he was doing, keep recruiting, we'll get together later. They finally met for about an hour Monday afternoon.

And of course Sutton was fired after two years. Two years. Until this season when Idaho coach George Pfeifer was canned, that was unheard of barring NCAA or legal transgression in a profession where job security is rare.

Recall that Sean inherited the program after his dad's alcoholic relapse. Sean's first season, the team came unraveled because of what point guard Byron Eaton openly said in an October interview was a rift between two players with the NBA on their minds -- Mario Boggan and JamesOn Curry -- and the rest of the team.

Another factor was the dismissal of one of OSU's prized recruits at Holder's insistence, after a one-strike transgression in a program that had risen to prominence in part because of its Boys Town of college basketball reputation.

Then, last summer, Curry suddenly changed his mind and left for presumed NBA riches. September brought another blow when starting center Kenny Cooper transferred home (Louisiana Tech). The grapevine offers conflicting reasons. Neither had to do with Sutton.

At that, Sutton turned around an inexperienced team that had lost close games early, beat Kansas and Texas A&M in a five-game run. Freshmen Ibrahima Thomas and Martavius Adams improved dramatically. Classmate James Anderson still had the look of a future top-line Big 12 player. Everyone but Marcus Dove was due back.

Just this weekend, Sutton hosted a prized junior college recruit and remained convinced his team would contend next season.

Argue all that against three consecutive NIT losses. I'll give you that.

But the reason this really stinks is because of the Holder-Eddie Sutton animosity. Holder denies this, but sources with firsthand knowledge paint Holder jealous and bitter of the regard for Eddie vs. perceived slight of his three NCAA golf championships.

All Holder had to do was wait a year and let Sean stand or fall on his own. The timing won't let the animosity angle die. E-mails to Oklahoma newspapers Tuesday roasted Holder, 5-1.

"I'm trying to make the best of a bad situation," Holder said during a late-afternoon news conference.

He got it half right.

A successor? I'd hope Bill Self has too much character to insult the Sutton family, T. Boone Pickens' rumored $40 million package be damned. Billy Gillispie says going to OSU "is not going to happen."

Whoever jumps into this cesspool better think long and hard about it. Do it to one of their own, they'll do it to you. Something about Daniel Webster comes to mind.

Sutton deserves time to build OSU

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:37 CDT

By Mike Jones

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- What a way to make a living.

No, I'm not talking about this job, which by a deep 3-pointer beats putting on a suit every day and driving down the same freeway to the same office and doing the same, predictable thing.

What I'm talking about is sitting in a courtside chair and watching a 19-year-old kid with your career in his hands.

That, in essence, might have been the situation in which Oklahoma State Cowboys coach Sean Sutton found himself early Thursday afternoon in the opening game of the Big 12 tournament.

The 19-year-old in question was all-Big 12 freshman guard James Anderson, who after a timeout in between, dropped the second of two free throws with 4.8 seconds left to finally put the Cowboys out of range of Texas Tech's Alan Voskuil and Trevor Cook and salvage a 76-72 victory in a game well worth a tournament ticket.

"I had called James over and said, 'Hey, this is what we recruited you for. You're a big-time player, and you're going to make both of these,'" Sutton recalled. "I called the timeout [after the first free throw] because I wanted to remind [Anderson] that [with OSU's four other players back guarding the mid-court line] in case he missed, he had to reach in and foul so they couldn't get a 3-point shot."

A wise move, considering Tech had made 8 of 15 3-point shots in the seesaw battle.

"They probably would have done it anyway," Sutton said. "But I just wanted to make sure."

A wise move, considering the job-security stakes.

Sutton's Cowboys (17-14) lived to fight another day today against top-seeded Texas. And Sutton more than likely lives to fight another season.

OSU athletic director Mike Holder -- persistently rumored to have decided to can Sutton as soon as this tournament is over -- should not and cannot fire him now.

To do so would create a firestorm of public opinion -- not that Holder needs to concern himself with that. The only opinion Holder must concern himself with is that of athletic department godfather Boone Pickens, who, shall we say, wholeheartedly endorsed Holder's promotion from golf coach.

Holder's apparent double standard in judging Sutton and football coach Mike Gundy is legendary in the state. Holder, whom a spokesman said would have no comment Thursday on Sutton's future, said "we've got a lot of games left to play" when asked the same question by the Tulsa World in late January.

Seven games into Gundy's second season, Holder told critics to ask him again in five years how Gundy was doing.

Tech coach Pat Knight on Thursday joined UT's Rick Barnes and Kansas' Bill Self in defending Sutton and the unfair scrutiny on a program with a solid upside.

Three still-improving freshmen -- Anderson and forwards Ibrahima Thomas and Martavius Adams -- had 34 points and 15 rebounds against Tech. Sophomore Obi Muonelo added eight points and three assists. Byron Eaton will be back, too.

"Look around the Big 12 and see all the guys who are thinking about leaving for the NBA," Muonelo said. "And look at us. Everyone but [senior] Marcus Dove is coming back. We could be a top-three team in the Big 12 next year."

Sutton said he isn't thinking about next year. Only the next game.

"Right now our whole focus is on winning the tournament," he said.

As it should be.

Playing .500 against Big 12 isn't about being mediocre

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 07:45 CST

By MIKE JONES

Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel was resting a little easier in his office Thursday morning after Wednesday's unexpected victory at Oklahoma State -- unexpected because star forward Blake Griffin did not play.

"We feel better," Capel said. "For a lot of reasons, [the win] was really good."

The Sooners won for the fifth time this season on the road, jumped to 8-7 in conference games and pushed their season record to 20-10 -- significant only because Oklahoma has a strength of schedule ranked No. 7 nationally this week.

Thus, if anything can be assumed in this regard, the Sooners should join Texas, Kansas and Kansas State as Big 12 schools comfortable about getting an NCAA Tournament bid. It would, of course, be nice for OU to close with a win against Missouri on Saturday.

"A great opportunity to get that fourth seed and a bye [in the Big 12 tournament]," Capel said.

A win would do that for OU because of the tiebreakers it owns. But the overall possibilities that still exist for next week are too involved and pointless to go into at the moment.

But Baylor needs to win at Texas Tech on Saturday to avoid the dreaded 8-8 bubble, where Texas A&M might find itself after Saturday's game against Kansas.

And here, let's point out in reference to the off-dredged-up fact that no 8-8 team from the Big 12 has ever received an NCAA Tournament bid. Of the four in question, none were deserving. Not for that reason, but because of either weak nonconference schedules or the lack of regard for the Big 12 in those seasons.

Which brings up the argument at hand. If conference rankings matter -- and they are part of the judging criteria -- the argument that the Big 12 deserves six bids is valid. And the fact that four of those teams deserving of consideration have struggled to win more than half of their conference games is a testament to the Big 12's No. 2 rank nationally.

"There are a lot of teams right around .500 [in conference games]," Kansas coach Bill Self said earlier this week. "Well, the reason they're around .500 is because they're good. Not because they're mediocre."

Want to compare numbers? Virginia Tech (18-11, 9-6) is the No. 4 team in the top-ranked ACC. Its RPI is No. 86. Baylor is 39th, A&M 42nd and K-State 46th. Four Big 12 teams are in the top 11 in strength of schedule -- more than any conference.

We've heard it all before about how the Big 12 is as tough from top to bottom as it's ever been. With the exception of 2003, when Kansas and Texas made the Final Four, that's been more big hat than cattle.

"But I do think our league is that this year," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "We all know, regardless of what some outside people might think, there's not a 'gimme' in this league.

"I've got great respect for Kansas. I said coming in I thought they were the best team we've played this season [including UCLA and Tennessee] and I haven't changed my mind about that. But they've had to battle throughout this conference season and I know how much we've had to battle.

"Some days some teams might not have it, and you'll see some lopsided scores. But this league this season is as competitive as any league I've ever been in [including the ACC and Big East]."

Future 'Horns

Every indication is that the oral commitment to Texas from 6-foot-8 sophomore Tristan Thompson, a Canadian who plays for Danny Hurley, brother of former Duke guard Bobby Hurley, at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark. N.J., is solid.

Thompson is an example of Texas' increasing pull on the national scene, and the fact that outstanding players thrive in Rick Barnes' system is a tremendous recruiting lure.

According to Thompson's AAU coach, Bo Russell, Thompson was first a big fan of T.J. Ford and became enamored with the Longhorns and Barnes' style of play during Kevin Durant's run last season. Russell says Thompson can handle, slash, rebound, compete, make plays around the basket and is constantly working on his jump shot to more fit the Durant model.

"He has a tremendous upside playing against the talent he's competing with at St. Benedict's and playing for Danny Hurley, who is one of the best coaches in America," Russell said. "Tristan is going to develop so much. He has a great opportunity to make a major impact his freshman year."

When Sutton talks, Cowboys listen -- and win

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:27 CST

By MIKE JONES

Undeniably, it was Oklahoma State’s lowest point of the Big 12 season.

After suffering through a string of to-the-wire losses, the Cowboys had returned the night before from an embarrassing 82-61 loss at Kansas State.

Coach Sean Sutton stood before a called meeting and, in the face of evidence to the contrary, had the audacity to attempt to convince his team it could win out.

“He was emotional,” senior forward Marcus Dove recalled. “You could feel it in his voice that he really believed it was possible. Which in turn, made us believe.”

Apparently.

OSU (15-12, 6-7 Big 12) hasn’t lost since that Feb. 10 get-together — a string of four victories, beating top-division teams Kansas, Texas A&M and Baylor, and posting a once-rare road win at Missouri.

“That’s the sign of coaching,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “Anybody can coach when things are going well. The real coaches are able to get something out of a team and get them excited to be playing when things aren’t going well.”

Sutton demurs to his team.

“They deserve the credit for this turnaround,” he said. “A lot of teams would just drop their heads and go in the tank. These guys refused to do that.”

Sutton also called out point guard Byron Eaton. In essence, Sutton told his mercurial junior he wasn’t being all he could be. Eaton went home and realized that his OSU legacy was at stake.

“When I left high school, I wanted to be remembered as someone who fought his heart out and played his best every night and did what he could do,” Eaton said Thursday. “And I want them to think the same thing when I leave here — that even though things weren’t %always up, he still fought his heart out.

“I didn’t want to be remembered as part of a group that came in and messed things up and didn’t want to play hard.”

Lately, only Texas’ D.J. Augustin has had as much influence on his team winning as Eaton.

In the past four games, Eaton has averaged 20.8 points, up from a previous season mark of 9.7. He has made 71.4 percent of his 3-point shots. He has made 33 of 38 free throws, one of which was the difference in the 61-60 victory over Kansas. His off-balance, improvised pump-fake 12-foot floater rattled in with 1.7 seconds left to make the difference in a 75-73 victory at Missouri on Tuesday.

“He’s been fantastic,” Sutton said.

“Oh, my goodness,” Dove exclaimed. “The best I’ve ever seen him play.”

The Cowboys cling to seemingly farfetched NCAA Tournament hopes with games left against similarly streaking Nebraska on Saturday, Oklahoma on Wednesday and Texas on March 9.

Wherever the rest of the season takes them, they might, however, have saved their coach’s job.

“I never thought it was gone,” Eaton said. “But we may have helped him out.”

Dove hopes so.

Augustin unstoppable in stampede

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 09:24 CST

By MIKE JONES

D.J. Augustin, on yet another big Big Monday for Texas, became the 29th Longhorn in history to score 1,000 points.

No, not last night. It only seemed that way to Texas A&M.

"He just played at a level no one else played at," Aggies guard Josh Carter said.

Augustin seemingly single-handedly engineered the Longhorns' 77-50 victory that firmly established them -- for the time being -- as February's darlings in the Big 12.

He scored a game-high 27 points and dished nine assists as now-No.7 Texas (22-4, 9-2) won for the sixth time since suffering its most lopsided defeat of the season in College Station on the next-to-last day of January.

Augustin repeatedly finished his trademark driving layups, added a few teardrops in the lane and netted easy baseline jumpers.

"He was really, really good," Aggies coach Mark Turgeon said. "We had no chance of guarding him tonight."

Perhaps the most startling statistic during the five-game winning streak that Texas carried into last night's tipoff was the fact that during that time Augustin had made only 15 of 68 shots. Teams don't usually streak when their best player's shooting percentage is doing likewise in the opposite direction. Testimony to Rick Barnes' coaching.

And those aforementioned numbers don't include Augustin's 6-for-18 struggle in last month's 80-63 blowout loss to A&M, the embarrassing wipeout that proved to be the launching pad for the Longhorns' as-yet-unbeaten February.

"I wasn't getting into my shot and following through, and tonight I just tried to shoot without thinking about it," Augustin said.

Unconscious perhaps?

"I was just aggressive like I always am," Augustin said. "It felt good and I just kept shooting. It was fun tonight."

One NBA scout watching the teams warm up Monday theorized that Augustin's stock had fallen some during February, but even at that he probably still was close to being a June lottery pick if he came out as expected.

Augustin's professional prospectus suddenly had a more bullish look by halftime. Personally, he trailed A&M 18-17. He had one more field goal (6-5) and his five assists were four more than the whole maroon team compiled.

Unfortunately for the Aggies, Augustin's teammates didn't have a bad first half either, though three of them saw limited action with two fouls each. Texas owned a 39-18 edge at the break, a contrast to the first meeting when A&M was up 46-28.

A&M never got a chance to make use of its perceived inside dominance as Texas extended its defense and forced the Aggies to play most of the game somewhere around the 3-point line. Texas also contested every inside shot and swatted eight of them away in the first half, seven more than the whole first game, and finished with 12 rejections.

Texas never recovered from that first-half slap upside the head in Reed Arena. The Aggies last night didn't, either. Texas didn't let 'em and was still pressing late into a decided game.

A week after scrambling the Big 12 championship with an impressive victory over Kansas, Texas gave Kansas State something to think about between now and Monday when the Longhorns visit Manhattan with a possible Big 12 championship on the line.

"I'd give us an 'A' [so far in Separation Month]," Barnes said. "Maybe an 'A-plus'. We've got a long way to go, but I think we know where we are right now."

Texas isn't out of its depth against a deep Kansas team

Fri, 15 Feb 2008 08:19 CST

By MIKE JONES

Under deadline pressure, you go with a storyline you can quickly develop and cherry-pick the best quotes that fit.

Sometimes, you leave out something cogent, only to see it the next day and have it smack you upside the head.

So, Tuesday as I was reading sports sections from papers that cover the Big 12, I had a V8 moment when I came across something Kansas coach Bill Self said after Monday's 72-69 loss to Texas. In the light of the next day, the quote took on more significance.

I quickly went back to check my notes from the night before, and there it was.

"I think they just outmanned us the second half," Self said.

Huh? This from the coach of one of the deepest and most-talented teams in the country talking about a team that, on some nights, struggles to find a fourth contributor?

Longhorns guard A.J. Abrams did a similar double take the next day.

"He said that?" Abrams asked. "That's a big compliment to us, I think."

So it is.

"I don't know how you translate that," Texas coach Rick Barnes said Thursday. "I just know that, as a group, we played really, really hard and that Justin Mason and Damion James made some great individual plays in the second half to give us some extra possessions."

Point guard D.J. Augustin, on a night when he shot 1-for-13, made that possible with his penetration, which forced Kansas to help inside, leaving rebounding lanes open for Mason and James.

Combined, those two grabbed 19 of Texas' 23 second-half rebounds. Kansas had only 12 in the half.

February is called "separation month." The teams that individually and collectively improve are the ones that enter March with postseason momentum.

"I've told our guys this is the time of year when as an individual you have to look at something you can do right now to get better and the same thing applies to your team," Barnes said.

Texas is 4-0 this month (7-2 in the Big 12) with a difficult finish ahead that includes Monday's visit by Texas A&M and games at Baylor (Saturday), Kansas State and Texas Tech.

The Red Raiders cranked the title chase tighter by knocking off the Wildcats on Wednesday. And check out the stretch run for 6-3 Texas A&M (at Texas, Oklahoma and Baylor, vs. Kansas), 8-2 Kansas (vs. K-State, at A&M) and 7-2 K-State (at Baylor and Kansas, vs. Texas).

"They're all tough," Barnes said. "I'm looking back at our game with Iowa State [won in overtime] Saturday, and I think [the Cyclones] played as well as they have all year.

"The coaches probably didn't say it to the players, but they're probably thinking, 'We've got to win this game.' Same thing for Baylor on Saturday after losing two in a row. Players sense urgency. So all those things factor in.

"But we've had great effort lately and our defense has gotten so much better. I like our guys."

So does Bill Self.