Big 12 Schedule & Results
The Big 12 has come up with additional tickets for next week's men's tournament at Sprint Center, undoubtedly from schools that didn't sell their allotment.
Here's the release from the Big 12:
"The purchasing opportunity begins at 9 am CT...while supplies last.
"Fans may visit sprintcenter.com for the opportunity to purchase up to four all-session tickets. Each ticket includes all sessions for the four-day championship and are $225 each.
KC Star
The best part of being inside Allen Fieldhouse on that Saturday evening for that superlative-worthy, spellbound game between rivals as old as the Civil War was knowing that the history pages were better for it.
The worst part was knowing the book closed.
…By Saturday morning, clear and sunny and cool and perfect, 273 groups were said to be scattered about. Multiple lines filed into multiple entrances like ants into their hill.
A red car that looked like a Jeep whizzed down Naismith Drive. A woman, appearing only as a gold spot from a distance, emerged out of the passenger side window.
“WHOOOO! MIZZOU! YEAH!” she shouted across the empty field toward the statue of Forrest Clare “Phog” Allen and his front entrance.
The blue and red lines that wielded signs — and propaganda, like the centerspread artwork inside the morning’s student paper depicting a triumphant Jayhawk standing over a dead tiger and the words “MISSOURI (SEC)EDES” — released snorts of disapproval.
They were glad she was driving away. Why, oh why was she driving away?
…If you were on James Naismith Court just a couple hours before the doors were opened to chaos, you would have felt something calming. It would have just been you and the astonishing quiet, just you and the bright lights shining on five national championship banners hanging from the north.
No suite-style box seating was in sight, no electronic advertisement was floating around. Just old bleachers and old hardwood. Just basketball.
And it’s great, really, to know that such a simple place has survived through the years. But it’s sad, really, to know that it would no longer host its classic intruder.
…At tipoff, the sound decibel readings ranged from 119.3 and 120.2. It might as well have been a concert featuring buzz saws as instrumentals.
…And then Missouri had the lead by three with 30 seconds to go. The mighty Thomas Robinson converted an and-one. At the south corner pocket of the fieldhouse, the setting sun outside let in streamers of light, which bounced around the flailing, excited arms of fans up there.
On the next play, game tied, Pressey free-lanced to the basket, only to hoist the ball up into the swat of Robinson, who tumbled into him, only to create a ferocious, viral plea from Missouri fans for a foul. The sound decibel was at 127, a bit higher than the barrier for when pain begins.
And it’s great, really, because the game went into overtime, so that the rivalry could last just a little longer. But it’s sad, really, because it could not last forever.
UM Maneater
I want to see great college hoops regular-season games played here in sold-out buildings and I want people to know that Arch Madness in St. Louis should mean that the MVC, the Southeastern Conference and the NCAA will be here on a regular basis in March.
And I have a plan to make it happen.
So let's begin with the obvious.
It's time for Missouri and St. Louis University to play each other regularly in basketball again.
No excuses. No delays. No nonsense about scheduling issues or any other silliness that always gets in the way of facilitating potentially solid rivalry games that make all the sense in the world to everyone but self-serving coaches and administrators.
Besides, with Kansas out of the picture now, Mizzou suddenly has a vacancy in the heated rivalry department. So why not foster that with the Billikens as potential fill-ins?
Rick Majerus brought it up, and I couldn't agree with him more.
"Missouri should play us," he said. "You should get Missouri to play us. They should want to play us because I hear they need the money, and God knows we need it, too."
…Or, if they're truly ambitious and really thinking big, how about a four-team, round-robin tournament in December at the Edward Jones Dome, in front of 45,000 spectators?
The tournament would guarantee every year that SLU and Mizzou meet in the first round, then ...
Wait for it ... wait for it ...
Have Kansas in the other bracket against ...
"Oh we can figure that out later," said SLU director of athletics Chris May, with a sly wink.
Wouldn't that be something? It might even be the perfect compromise for the Kansas folks who are still holding a grudge with Mizzou for leaving the Big 12. It's a tournament that offers the potential for a Border War conclusion, but not a guarantee. But the intrigue of a potential MU-KU renewal — particularly one that would have an NCAA Tournament feel to it with half the building guaranteed to the Tigers and the other half to the Jayhawks — would by itself be a fantastic drawing card that surely would fill all those seats in the Dome, provide everyone with a financial bonanza and allow the possibility of keeping the best rivalry in college basketball alive.
St Louis PD Burwell
ESPN 2 selects KState's Intro Video as Web video of the day. Yes that one. Wow. LOL.
ESPN King feature on Baylor's PJIII
The current edition of Sports Illustrated — which features a story on Baylor’s wildly successful athletic department — maintains Kansas University coach Bill Self has a problem with Bears’ coach Scott Drew.
The magazine says: “It’s no coincidence that Self’s loathing of Drew and Texas coach Rick Barnes’ jibes at him (Drew) increased with Baylor’s wins.”
Self’s response to the Journal-World: “I don’t read all the articles, but my wife showed me this one — something that was written that was inaccurate. I’ve never spoken to the writer, but obviously he got his information somewhere else that I think was definitely not accurate of the feelings of any coach in our league.”
LJW
Reeves reacted swiftly and hired a lawyer who sent a letter to SI demanding a retraction. He continued the damage control with an interview on NBC Los Angeles Thursday night.
In the interview, Nelson says Sports Illustrated writer George Dohrmann took his remorseful apology out of context.
He also says almost all the stories in the article are false.
“My attitude towards the team and the program as a whole just was very immature,” Nelson said of the behavior that led to his dismissal. “I was defiant, I walked out of a team practice without coach’s permission, I missed a team flight to Maui — which obviously doesn’t look good — you never want to do. And then, I think the final straw was when I was just showing disrespect by laughing on the bench at the end of a loss against Texas.
“That’s why I was really dismissed, and those were the mistakes I was speaking about when I gave my original statement,” Nelson said.
Sports Illustrated responded to the demand for a retraction and stood by Dohrmann, saying “Time Inc. and Sports Illustrated unequivocally stand behind George Dohrmann’s story, Not the UCLA Way. Dohrmann has multiple sources on the facts uncovered during his reporting. This includes a detailed conversation with Mr. Nelson in which he was given an opportunity to respond to the facts and, to his credit, he did.”
Nelson contradicts SI’s statement and described his conversation with Dohrmann as brief, and one where he did little protesting because he figured Dohrmann made his mind up about the article and was going to write it regardless of what some “punk kid” would say (Nelson seemed to really lose credibility when making that statement). He disputes the accuracy of the article.
“I would say that almost every single one of [the allegations] about me is false.”
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Sutton, the son of legendary coach Eddie Sutton, and younger brother of former Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton, didn't expect to get into the family business.
After graduation, Scott moved home to live with his parents and make a decision about his future.
"I didn't have a job but I was a business major and I just figured I'd get into business," Sutton said. "My father had been urging me to get into anything other than coaching."
However, coaching was in his blood. Bill Self, then the new coach at Oral Roberts, called Sutton's father to get some recommendations for an administrative assistant - a low-paying, entry-level job in college basketball.
"I was listening to my dad talk to coach Self and they were talking about all of these possibilities," Sutton said. "I started thinking to myself that I was interested in that job.
"I figured I'd give coaching a shot and then get on with my life in business."
Instead, Sutton loved it. He did every possible job as the lowest paid assistant, including color commentary on the radio broadcasts of ORU basketball.
"I had a lot of fun doing the radio with Al (Jerkens)," Sutton said. "I think with everything included I made about $9,000 that first year."
He was elevated to full-time assistant when Barry Hinson, Self's top assistant at ORU and now the director of basketball operations at Kansas, was promoted to head coach at Oral Roberts.
When Hinson took off for Missouri State, Sutton became head coach.
"I can't believe I've been here 17 years," Sutton said. "When Bill moved to Tulsa, I considered going across town with him. I couldn't have gone wrong either direction I went. Bill has gone on to such incredible things.
"But, I stayed at ORU with Barry and this opportunity came open for me a few years later. I don't think about what-ifs because I've been so happy. It has worked out fantastic for me and my family."
Tulsa World
Mike Krzyzewski seldom misses a well-timed lobbying moment.
Duke's recent grind — three games in six days — ended with a 79-71 win against Wake Forest late Tuesday night. The scheduling overload prompted Krzyzewski to renew his campaign against those Sunday made-for-TV games on ESPNU.
Duke traveled to Boston College for a Sunday night game right before the Thursday-Saturday-Tuesday rat-tat-tat that also netted crucial wins against Florida State and Virginia Tech.
"Sunday night games take a toll on your team because you lose a weekend," Krzyzewski said. "We've had three, so when you think of seven or eight weekends and three of them you lose, it builds up. I'd rather not play them. Anyone who wants to play on Sunday, they can have all of our games next year.
"I think it's the worst time to play. It hurts a student-athlete, not having a weekend. Sunday, early afternoon is different. At least you can get Sunday night in. . . . You need to get away from the game a little bit, especially at this time of the year, because you can get mentally tired."
ESPN prefers Duke or North Carolina games for obvious ratings reasons, which businessman Krzyzewski acknowledges. "Those are bigger obstacles than other people sometimes have, and when our team overcomes them, I get a lot of joy," he said. "I get a lot of pride for my team when they handle those situations. These are not excuses, all right? We don't need to make any excuses. I'm just saying . . . it's different. It's just different."
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