Section B·Page 4
NCAA BASKETBALL
Tuesday, March 13, 2001
Oklahoma coaches proud of teams
The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY — Every coach in the NCAA basketball tournament is happy to be there. Two of the proudest may be Eddie Sutton of Oklahoma State and Kelvin Sampson of Oklahoma.
Both have endured difficult seasons that have tested each man, but they have found ways to lead their teams to major accomplishments.
Oklahoma State lost two players and eight members of its traveling party in a plane crash Jan. 27 in Colorado. The Cowboys lost three of their five games after the crash, then regrouped and went 5-2 the rest of the way. At 20:9, they were made the No.1 seed in the East regional.
"I think a team with less character and less courage certainly wouldn't have made it," Sutton said yesterday.
Oklahoma started conference play 1-3, then wine nine out of 10 to make a run at first place in the Big 12. But then the player who led that surge, guard J.R. Raymond, was kicked off the team by Sampson for violating an undisclosed
team policy.
band together, to bond together as a team," Sampson said.
The Sooners did that. They lost their first game without Raymond, on the road against Maryland, but since then have won five in a row including a three-game sweep in Kansas City, Mo., that gave them their first Big 12 tournament title.
Now 26-8. Oklahoma is the No. 4 seed in the South regional.
chemistry, our cohesiveness, how we rely on each other," Sampson said.
The same call.
The losses of
reserve player
Dan Lawson
and walk-on
Nate Fleming
left Oklahoma
State with less
depth. The high-
light
of
O k l a h o m a
State's season was a 72-44 victory against
Oklahoma on
Feb. 14. But
three days later.
Sutton happy to have team in the NCAA tournament
the cowboys lost at home to Texas to drop to 15-7.
Oklahoma State responded by winning four straight games to get to 19-7. The Cowboys lost at Oklahoma in the
final game of the regular season, then won their first-round game in the conference tournament for their 20th victory.
"I don't think we've played an outstanding game since we beat Oklahoma, and that's been over a month ago." Sutton said. "We've been able to win, but they haven't been pretty."
Nothing has been very pretty in Norman or Stillwater this year, but neither coach is complaining now.
"We're conference champions," Sampson said after his team's victory in Kansas City. "T'll always remember cutting down those nets, regardless of what happens next."
Said Sutton; "I don't think anybody can fully comprehend how difficult it has been for these guys. I'm just so proud of them that we got into the NCAA tournament."
Indiana coach sheds Knight's shadow
The Associated Press
It's never quite his time, his team, his job.
It doesn't matter what Mike Davis accomplishes. It never seems to be enough. Following a legend is tough under the best of circumstances. Following Bob Knight as coach of Indiana has made cleaning up after Puffy Combs look easy.
Sunday should have been Davis' day. He didn't just pick up the pieces of a shattered basketball program, he made them fit. Davis took a team with no seniors, two returning starters and five first-year players to a 21-12 record, the final game of the Big Ten Tournament and a No. 4 seed in the NCAA bracket.
Davis' future at Indiana — or anywhere else for that matter — is hardly assured. Knight,
who hired Davis as an assistant in 1997, won three national championships and lasted 29 seasons. He can pick up the messages on his answering machine and have his pick of a half-dozen jobs.
Davis can take the team he inherited deep into the NCAA Tournament during the next three weeks and won't likely know for some time after that whether he will keep the first and only college head coaching job he has ever had.
When the university's trustees slapped the label "interim" on Davis' office door, the only promise made was not to change a thing until the season was finished.
"I respect that," Davis said. "I think I should be the head coach here next year, but I haven't asked them anything. Because they could
have came in when we were 2-3 and said, "OK,
we're going to go in a different direction."
A bleak December stretch gave way to a bright stretch in January, when the Hoosiers upset then-No. 1 Michigan State and beat upstate rival Purdue. After blowing three sizable second-half leads in conference road games at Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, Indiana closed by winning nine of the last 12.
The Hoosiers haven't advanced past the second round of the NCAA tournament in six years. But opening in the West against Kent State, with the Cincinnati-BYU winner lurking as a second-round opponent, gives Davis a chance to put even more distance between himself and the red-sweatered ghost. That would let the board of trustees see what Davis has become — his own man.
Fogler won't return as Gamecocks coach
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Eddie Fogler will not return as South Carolina's basketball coach following a 15-14 season, ending his stay of eight years at the school and possibly his career as a college coach.
Athletic director Mike McGee said yesterday that he would not extend Fogler's contract, and the coach agreed to leave. Fogler will be paid $750,000 to buy out the remaining three years of his contract.
"He was not fired," McGee said.
The move came a day after South Carolina settled for an NIT bid. McGee said Fogler would finish the season.
Fogler wanted the school to make a "stronger commitment" to him regarding his contract.
"Without this commitment, it would become increasingly more difficult to recruit, coach and maintain the present level of the program at best," he said.
"Never say never," he said when asked about another coach job, but then added, "I have no plans to be a college coach again."
The 52 year-old coach said he had no immediate plans.
Mississippi coach Rod Barnes was surprised by the developments.
"It was something that no one in our conference was anticipating," he said. "I'm hoping Eddie's happy. That's the most important thing."
McGee said Fogler was given a set of expectations this season. Those included a finish in the top half of the Southeastern Conference and progress in the SEC tournament.
"Those expectations and standards were not met," McGee said.
The Gamecocks were knocked out in the tournament quarterfinals by Kentucky, which won the tournament.
Fogler is 123-116 with two NCAA and two NIT appearances in his eight years. South Carolina was knocked out in the first round of the NCAs both times in upsets by Coppin State in 1997 and Richmond in 1998.
He took over the Gamecocks after being named coach of the year at Vanderbilt.
Last month, with talk that Fogler's job was in jeopardy, the coach said he had "great faith," and that through university president John Palms, "the right decision will be made, and I'll live with it." Fogler then said he wanted to stay in Columbia even if he lost his job.
Palms said yesterday that not extending Fogler's contract would have hurt the school's recruiting. As a result, he, Fogler and McGee "concluded this circumstance would not be the best for Carolina" or the basketball program.
McGee said he had not started the search for a new coach and would not discuss possible candidates.
Fogler's contract has a base salary of $155,000, but he will receive a total of $250,000 a year for each of the remaining three years, McGee said. The money will come from the athletic department and not from state money used to support the school, he said.
Fogler will not get all the money if he takes another coaching job before the end of the three years, McGee added.
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