Big 12 Notebook
The General
Last year Texas Tech finished a dismal 9-19 and tied
for last in the league at 3-13. However, last season
may go down as the conclusion of the BTG (Before The
General) era in Lubbock. Could anyone have ever
envisioned that Bobby Knight would have saved his best
coaching job for AFTER leaving the Hoosier state?
Upon beating Oklahoma State 94-70 on January 19th, the Red
Raiders completed an improbable sweep of the Oklahoma
schools after dispatching Oklahoma 92-79 eight days
later, to give them two wins over two Top Ten teams. Led
by senior center Andy Ellis and sophomore guard Andre
Emmett, holdovers from the James Dickey regime, the
motion offense has taken root deep in the heart of
Texas. They’ve already surpassed their win totals
overall and in-conference and now the sky’s the limit.
And the Cowboys
It’s been a year since the fatal night that claimed
10 members of the Oklahoma State basketball family. Add to that the
events of September 11th, there was no way of telling how this
season would unfold. And yet despite the fact that the
entire world has changed, Eddie Sutton has his team in
the middle of not only the conference picture but the
national one as well.
“There isn’t a day that goes by
that I’m not reminded of those 10 people,” Sutton
said. “They were all quality human beings. I don’t
dwell on it. I can’t dwell on it. We’ll miss them and
think of all the good times we had.”
Life in the Big 12 these days is often compelling on
the court, but even more so off of it.
