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BASKETBALL PREVIEW
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY. OCTOBER 13, 2008
Point guard Byron Eaton will be the center of the Cowboy offense this season after averaging 11.5 points in 2007-2008.
OKLAHOMA STATE (17-16,7-9BIG12)
Kev losses — guard-forward Marcus Dove
Key newcomers — forward-center Teeng Akol, forward-
Holdem Kirkland, coach Travis Ford
Breakdown — Oklahoma State will miss guard/forward Marcus Dove more than the statistics reveal. Though his 9.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game weren't going to have him competing for any postseason accolades, the 6-foot-9 Dove was without question the best defender the Cowboys had, and his lockdown abilities will be hard to replicate.
They will not, on the other hand, miss former coach Sean Sutton, who resigned under pressure with a 39-29 record in two years after replacing his legendary father as coach. New coach Travis Ford should prove to be a good one, but it may take time. Ford, a former University of Kentucky standout and All-SEC guard, is coming off a runner-up finish at the NIT with the University of
Massachusetts. His career record is 190-146, and he went 62-35 in three years at UMass.
This year the Cowboys will revolve around bulldog point guard Byron Eaton. Measuring in at 5-foot-11 and 215 pounds, Eaton has time and again proved his mettle as a primetime point guard for the Pokes, leading the team in assists and averaging 11.5 points per game. Also returning is leading scoring James Anderson, who started 31 of the teams' 33 games as a freshman in 2008, more than any player besides Dove.
Anderson will be forced to shoulder a little more of the load, as Oklahoma State will likely run a four-guard system unless they can find someone to fill Dove's shoes in the paint. The only retunee with significant playing time inside is Ibrahima Thomas, so the task falls to Sudanese freshman Teeng Akol or juco transfer Malcolm Kirkland.
The Texas Tech Red Raiders have their work cut out for them this season after losing leading scorer Martin Zeno to graduation.
After those two, the Red Raiders may be in trouble. No other returning player started more than 17 games or
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Breakdown — Coach Pat Knight has his work cut out for him with this year's Texas Tech team. Knight took over the team from his legendary father Bobby for the last 11 games of the year, going 4-7, and retained the position for the 2008-2009 season.
**Key losses** — guard Martin Zeno, guard Charlie Burgess
**Key newcomers** — forward Corbin Ray, guard Tyree Graham
After losing leading scorer Martin Zeno to graduation, Knight will be forced to pass the tiers to senior skipper Alan Voskul, who hit 50 percent of his three pointers in 2008, and sophomore John Roberson, who had an impressive freshman campaign, averaging 12.2 points per game and leading the team in assists.
TEXASTECH (16-15,7-9BIG12)
averaged more than eight points. The real struggle for Tech is rebounding. Remarkably, Zeno led the team in rebounds with only 4.5 per game. Damir Sulajic, 6-foot-9 senior, led all returning players with only four boards per game.
Knight does have one thing going for him and that is his coaching pedigree. His father has more wins than any coach in Division 1 history, and the younger Knight has shown some of that ability.
Of his four wins, two of them came against ranked foes that were leading the Big 12 at the time — No.5 Texas and No.18 Kansas State.
Knight, who was a four-year letterwinner at Indiana under his father, coached the team to its only road victory in conference play, something he'll have to continue to do if he wants the team to finish higher in the conference than its preseason position, 10th.
A. J. Abrams should be "the man" for the Longhorns this season after backcourt mate and All-American D.J. Augustin bolted for the NBA Draft.
TEXAS (31-7.13-3 BIG 12)
Key losses
guard D.J. Augustin
Key newcomers—
guard J Covan Brown
Breakdown — The Texas Long-
horns may well be the team to
beat in the Big 12 this year. After
garnering more first-place votes
(four) than any other school in the
preseason coaches poll, Texas will
have added pressure to succeed in
the Big 12 this year.
point guard and had 104 assists more than anyone else on the Texas squad in 2008, will leave a void in the Lonchmann offense that few can答应 to fill.
Attempting that Herculean feat will be 5-foot-11 senior A.J. Abrams, who up to this season has played Robin to Augustus's senior AJ.
The Longhorns' greatest struggle will be replacing All-America point guard D.J. Augustin, who was selected ninth by the Charlotte Bobcats in last June's NBA Draft, Augustin, who won the Bob Cousy Award as the nation's best
A sweet-shooting guard out of Round Rock, Texas, Abrams will shift over to the point after playing the last three years as an undersized two-guard.
The Longhorns dominating inside game should help Abrams' transition. Damion James, a 6-foot-7 junior swinger, exploded on the scene last year while averaging a double-double in points (13.2) and rebounds (10.3).
Also on the inside will be 6-foot-10 senior Connor Atchley who, along with James, led the team in three-point percentage, burying 41.3 percent of his shots from beyond the arc.
Clint Chapman and Alexis Wangmene should both see extended playing time as sophomores, along with junior Dexter Pittman. He tips the scales at 298 pounds.
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Curtis Jerrells could fill the point guard role for the much-Bears in 2008-2009
BAYLOR (21-9, 9-7 BIG 12)
Key losses — guard Aaron Bruce
Key newcomers — forward Quincy Acy, forward Anthony Jones
Breakdown — The Baylor Bears, last year's surprise of the Big 12, come into the 2008-2009 season with high aspirations. The Bears are tied with defending national champion Kansas at third in the conference preseason poll released Tuesday. Expect Baylor to live up to the hype.
After a fabulous coaching job from Scott Drew in the 2007-2008 season, the Bears add two four-star recruits in Anthony Jones and Quincy Ack — the 44th and 84th-ranked recruits in the country, according to Rivals.com — and bring back their top five scorers, including All-Big 12 guard Curtis Jerrells, Jerrells, a 6-foot-1 senior, also led the team in assists with 121. Behind Jerrells is LaceDarius Dunn, a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard out of Monroe, La, who was second on the team in points despite playing as the sixth man. After receiving a Freshman All-America honorable mention last year, Dunn should really explode onto the scene in 2008. The sweet-shooting sophomore will likely start for the Bears as a swingman and bump either Jerrells or senior Henry Dugat into the point guard role formerly filled by Aaron Bruce and Tewcey Carter.
Bruce, who graduated after starting 24 games at the point, is the only real loss for the Bears this year. The Bears will surely miss the three-year starter's veteran presence, along with his 8.4 points per game. Also gone is forward/center Mark Shepard, who started seven games, but only averaged 1.6 points and 2.4 rebounds.
While the Bears' guards should again be among the best in the Big 12, the same can't be said about their inside presence. Behind 6-foot-9 forward Kevin Rogers, the Bears have a pair of 7-footers in Josh Lomers (7-foot) and Mamadou Diene (7-foot-1). Despite their size, both averaged less than four points and four rebounds per game.
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Taylor Griffin, left, and brother Blake will power the Sooners this season. Big 12 coaches picked Oklahoma to finish first in the conference.
OKLAHOMA (23-12, 9-7 BIG 12)
Key losses — center Longar Longar, guard David Godbold
Key losses — center Longar Longar, guard David Godbold
key newcomers — guard Willie Warren, forward Ray Willis
Breakdown — For the first time in the 13 year history of the Big 12 conference,
the Oklahoma Sooners are the preseason favorites. Picked to finish No.
1 in the conference, barely edging out Texas, the Sooners look to back up
the hype.
It won't be easy for OU to do so. Their margin is slim in the coaches' poll, as only six points separate the Sooners from three other schools.
Freshman combo guard Willie Warren, the No. 10 recruit in the country according to Rivals.com, should provide a legitimate outside threat that, when coupled with returning All-Big 12 sophomore forward Blake Griffin, should help Oklahoma stake its claim to a top spot in the conference.
Add in sniper Tony Crocker, who hit about 42 percent of his threes last season, and quick-handed guard Austin Johnson, who led the Sooners in both assists (91) and steals (39) last season, and the Sooners will have a legitimate chance of unseating four-time defending champion Kansas as the regular赛季 Blo 12 champions.
The Sooners' weakness will be their bigs, even though Griffin is listed by many as a potential No. 1 pick in this summer's NBA Draft. The graduation of Longar Longar will hurt more than most people realize, as the 6-11 center went largely under the radar while he led the team in blocks and was second in both rebounds and points per game.
Expect Griffin's brother, senior Taylor Griffin, to step into the power forward role while Blake moves to center, but don't expect him to produce as well as Longar.
Coach Jeff Capel has the best team he has ever had at Oklahoma, but it remains to be seen whether he can bring it all together.
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