Big 12 Conference Offseason News Recap
by Zach Ewing
The air is starting to get cooler, the leaves are turning yellow and college basketball season is just around the corner. That doesn’t mean, however, that nothing happened in the Big 12 Conference since Oklahoma State was eliminated in last spring’s Final Four. Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty:
Big 12 Conference
Not much news coming from the league front, except the locations of upcoming Big 12 Conference Tournaments. This coming season, the tourney is headed to Kansas City for the first time in three years. That, of course, is a distinct advantage for the northern teams, with Kansas, Colorado, Iowa State and Missouri among them. In 2006, though, the tournament is headed back the American Airlines Center in Dallas, its home for the last two seasons. Obviously, advantage to the Texas schools there. The Big 12 will go halfway in between in 2007 by sending the tournament to Oklahoma City. It will be the first time the city will host the Big 12 basketball tournament, which is exciting news for the folks in Norman and Stillwater.
Now, on to the teams, where two (Baylor and Missouri) certainly have the most off-the-court news.
Baylor Bears
Unfortunately for the Baylor camp, most of the news coming out of Waco this offseason was either players leaving or the lingering aftermath of the Patrick Dennehy debacle.
First, players leaving: Post presence Harvey Thomas, perhaps BU’s best player last year, declared himself eligible for the NBA draft and signed with an agent, preventing him from coming back next year. Then, starting point guard Carl Marshall, along with reserve Cory Herring, decided to transfer. Marshall went to the junior college ranks, while Herring wanted to move closer to his Buffalo, N.Y., home. That leaves the Bears with only player with extensive game experience, and that’s Tommy Swanson, who averaged 6.4 points per game.
As if that weren’t bad enough, 7-foot freshman center Mamadou Diene, perhaps Scott Drew’s most heralded recruit, will not enroll at the school for the first semester because of personal reasons. He is due to join the team after the first semester. Also, Frank Fallon, the “Voice of the Bears” for more than 40 years, died April 30 at the age of 78 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Fallon was also the public address announcer at the Final Four from 1978 until 1998.
Most of the news from the Dennehy front centers around suspect Carlton Dotson. As you recall, in the summer of 2003, Dennehy, a player who had transferred to Baylor, was found dead. Investigators linked the apparent killing to Dotson, also a former Bear. Eventually, Dotson was found in a Maryland grocery store, complaining of the voices he heard in his head. The trial was originally set for late summer 2004, but Dotson’s lawyers have pushed an insanity or incompetence defense.
Two psychiatrists confirmed that Dotson was indeed incompetent and the trial date as pushed back until October 11, but the judge is seeking a third psychiatrist opinion. If the third opinion agrees with the first two, Dotson will spend 120 days rehabilitating in a mental hospital; if it is a dissent from the two previous opinions, then Dotson will have a competency trial. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Perhaps as a result of the fiasco, Baylor has implemented a new program in which prospective student-athletes in all sports must complete a background check and supply three character references before enrolling at the school.
Like last year, Scott Drew and Baylor probably can’t wait to get back on the court, where basketball is all they have to worry about.
Colorado Buffaloes
Don’t worry, not every team in the Big 12 had that bad of an off-season. In Boulder, there were only slight tidbits of news. The first came in late July, when a mystery was finally solved. Emmanuel Fisher, who fired shots through the front door of a house party in Boulder in December and hit Buffaloes’ player Chris Copeland in the arm, turned himself in. Fisher pleaded guilty to charges of menacing with a deadly weapon and will likely receive probation.
The only other news from the Colorado front is the hiring of a new assistant coach. Paul Sather will replace Terry Dunn as one of Ricardo Patton’s right-hand men. That means CU can get ready for the season without much distraction. The Buffaloes open the season in the preseason NIT, which also includes Wake Forest, Arizona and Michigan.
Iowa State Cyclones
Although he is no longer connected with the Iowa State program, former Cyclone assistant coach Randy Brown pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in April and was sentenced to a 2-year jail term.
Meanwhile, the Cyclones went on a Mexican playing tour, in which they were supposed to play three games against Monterrey Tech. ISU defeated the Mexican team 68-53, lost the second 81-79 and the third was cancelled.
Kansas Jayhawks
Bill Self’s team looks to be one of the top five in the country next year, but it might have been even better if it weren’t for some off-season departures. Omar Wilkes, a seldom-used guard, transferred from KU to Cal, citing lack of playing time as his reason. The big loss, though, was that of sophomore-to-be center David Padgett, who contributed key minutes and points in the middle last season. Padgett, who averaged 6.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game and led the team in blocked shots, would have challenged for a starting spot this year. Instead, he transferred to Louisville. He said he was unhappy with Self’s use of him as a player. Additionally, Self suspended back-up point guard Jeff Hawkins indefinitely in August without citing specific reasons.
It could have been a lot worse for the Jayhawks, though. Moulaye Niang, rarely used last year but a player who could become important with Padgett’s departure, was thinking of transferring to either Texas Christian or San Diego State, but decided to stay in Lawrence. Alex Galindo and Chester Giles will also be on the court for KU this season. Galindo and Giles are two highly-touted freshman who had committed to other schools that had coaching changes. Because of the coaching change, the NCAA allowed them to pick another school. Both ended up in Kansas. Additionally, last year’s freshman stud J.R. Giddens and Darnell Jackson, another player, were involved in a car accident in which Jackson’s car flipped. Neither, however, was seriously hurt.
All of this still leaves the Jayhawks with a great team for this season. KU took a four-game excursion to Canada in August and left with four wins and an average margin of victory of 36 points. Kansas opens the season in a newly-formatted Coaches vs. Cancer tournament, along with Duke and Syracuse. Longtime Jayhawk fans may have to pay more to see their team, though. New athletic director Lew Perkins implemented a plan in which fans who have contributed the most money to the athletic department have priority for the best seats in Allen Fieldhouse. Therefore, current ticket holders would have to match those contributions to hang on to their premium seats. Although this practice is used at many schools, KU fans were in an uproar over it. A Douglas County (Kan.) district court ruled, however, that this is legal.
Kansas State Wildcats
A couple of losses and a gain summarize K-State’s basketball offseason. The gain is a new playing surface. The new floor at Bramlage Coliseum will be maple with a new, huge representation of KSU’s “Powercat” logo in the middle, much like KU’s new court with the giant Jayhawk symbol at center court.
The losses in Manhattan are a little more serious. Last year’s back-up point guard Dez Willlingham will not return to the team this season. He was going to play an increased role for Jim Wooldridge, but will not be present. Also, former KSU coach Lowell “Cotton” Fitzsimmons died from lung cancer at 72. He led the Wildcats to a Big Eight Championship in 1970.
Missouri Tigers
The summer was spent finalizing and recovering from the Ricky Clemons fiasco in Columbia. On May 11, the NCAA finally sent its 19-page notification of violations to Missouri, citing recruiting and improper benefits violations. The report did not however, include any major violations, including academic fraud or lack of institutional control. Both of these things had been intimated in public accusations by Clemons after he was dismissed from the program last summer due to an assault conviction.
Two days later, on May 13, it became clear who was to take the fall for the wrongdoing. Assistant coach Lane Odom resigned and assistant Tony Harvey, who Clemons specifically alleged gave him $250, was put on paid suspension. On June 18, Harvey also resigned, although he continued to deny that he ever gave Clemons the cash. About a week later, it was unveiled that MU bought out both Harvey’s and Odom’s contracts, giving them a total of $136,000. In exchange, the newspaper report said, Harvey and Odom agreed to resign and refrain from suing the school.
The Tigers formally responded to the NCAA allegations on July 1 by saying that Quin Snyder unintentionally violated rules but that the school wouldn’t challenge the NCAA allegations. Snyder was put on 2-year probation and his team will lose one scholarship for the 2005-06 season. In all, MU got off very lucky in this ordeal. Losing one scholarship is nothing compared to a postseason or television ban, which the NCAA easily could and would have levied for a major violation.
The Tigers look as if they will be more careful in the future. They spent the rest of the summer replacing assistants with coaches with a good reputation in graduating athletes and following the rules. The first was former Charlotte and Texas A&M coach Melvin Watkins. Then it was former Liberty coach and Butler assistant Jeff Meyer. Finally, Jay Spoonhour replaced Brian Grawer, who had no connection with the Clemons incident, as graduate assistant.
Surely, this is another team that wants to put off-the-court troubles behind and start play in a brand new arena. The Paige Sports Arena has sold out all of its season tickets and will begin its history when MU hosts a Guardians Classic game in November.
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Three main points of news for the Huskers this off-season: the first is a contract extension for coach Barry Collier, who led NU to the NIT last year. He is now signed in Lincoln through 2008. The second is a basketball tour through Australia taken by Collier’s team. Nebraska went 3-3 down under. The last bit of news is surprising: guard Jason Dourisseau, who saw extensive playing time last year and was Nebraska’s second-leading scorer in Australia, announced he will redshirt this season to work on his strength and his game.
Oklahoma Sooners
A team looking to return to elite status after a one-year hiatus didn’t get good news from De’Angelo Alexander, an inside presence who gave the Sooners 10 points and five rebounds per game last season. Alexander announced after last season that he was transferring. OU will play in the Great Alaska Shootout in late November, with its first game against High Point. Alabama, Washington and Utah will also be in the tournament.
On the coaching front, assistant coach Jimmy Tubbs left to Southern Methodist and was replaced by former Houston and Ball State head coach Ray McCallum. Meanwhile, head coach Kelvin Sampson was out proving that he is one of the game’s best, leading the USA Young Men’s team to a gold medal in an international tournament in July and August. The team included Texas forward P.J. Tucker.
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Most of the off-season news for this Final Four team centers on head coach Eddie Sutton, who has said publicly he would like to coach several more seasons. OSU gave his son and assistant coach, Sean Sutton, word that he would be next-in-line to take over the program when his father retired. The choice seemed only natural, considering Sean’s involvement with the program and its players for many years. The elder Sutton, however, was questioned about the move at the trial of Norm Richardson. Sutton felt that the lawyer questioning him had hinted that the decision was based on race, since Norm Richardson also had ties with Sutton. Eddie exploded and began to yell. He was told to calm down and subsequently apologized. The decision to make Sean Sutton the next coach at Okie State stands.
That wasn’t the end of the story for Eddie Sutton, though. While in LA for the taping of the ESPYs, he fell on an escalator in the airport had a cut on his nose that required stitches. He was OK, which was good news for Cowboy fans. More good news came in the form of a recruit. JamesOn Curry, a former North Carolina recruit who ran into problems with drugs, cleaned himself up and is headed to Stillwater. OSU will need the help: it lost Tony Allen last year and opens the season in the Jimmy V Classic against Syracuse.
Texas Longhorns
Forward Jason Klotz, who single-handedly kept Texas in a game with Oklahoma State last year and showed flashes of brilliance throughout the season, made a poor decision in July. He allegedly slapped and punched his girlfriend after the two got into a fight in early July. When a warrant was issued for his arrest on July 26, Klotz turned himself in and was charged with misdemeanor assault. Although the crime is punishable by up to four years in prison and/or a $4,000 fine, it appears Klotz will get significantly less. It was reported that he is taking stress and anger management courses to avoid further punishment, and is listed on UT’s roster for the upcoming season.
On the court, point guard Edgar Moreno will transfer. He averaged 2.9 points and 2.5 assists per game last year. It was perhaps a wise choice, because Rick Barnes has one of the country’s best recruiting classes coming in this year. Perhaps its centerpiece, LaMarcus Alderidge, made it the best when he decided to withdraw his name from the NBA draft and come to Austin. The Longhorns also added former Georgia assistant coach Ken McDonald to the program and will play in the Maui Invitational in November, along with BYU, Iowa, Louisville, North Carolina, Stanford and Tennessee.
Texas A&M Aggies
A&M fired coach Melvin Watkins before the season was over last year after he led the Aggies to a winless Big 12 season. He was replaced with UTEP head coach Billy Gillispie. He has already shown a great enthusiasm for the program with a 12,000-foot parachute jump onto A&M’s football Kyle Field. He named Buzz Williams as an assistant coach right after the jump. Gillispie has also landed Steve Forbes as an assistant coach. Forbes formerly landed a top-10 recruiting class at Louisiana Tech.
Gillispie has had some problems keeping past players on the team, though. Marcus Watkins followed his father to Missouri, and neither sophomore Keith Blanks nor recruit JaMarcus Ellis reported to class in the fall.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
As always seems to be the case, the news in Lubbock followed the ever-entertaining Bobby Knight. The General was mentioned as the subject of a sitcom early in the summer. Then, he was signed to a three-year contract extension to coach the Red Raiders through 2009 for $250,000. He trails Dean Smith for the all-time lead in wins by just 48. After the extension, he promoted his son Pat to associate head coach.
Then things really got interesting. We all know contract extensions in college sports rarely mean anything and that was almost the case here. Knight, who has strong ties with the Big Ten and especially with Ohio State, was immediately mentioned as a candidate to replace Jim O’Brien and coach the Buckeyes. Rumors flew for a matter of weeks, but in the end Ohio State announced that it wouldn’t pursue the all-time great, and so he stays in the Big 12 to give us some more fun in the upcoming season.
