The doth more joy than none will Pin ?
Cowboys to rely on center to meet high expectations
By Mark Button
Kansan sportswriter
At the onset of the 1993-94 basketball season, things look bright for the Oklahoma State Cowboys.
Not only do they return four senior starters, one of them happens to be the best player in the conference.
Junior center Bryant Reeves, 7-foot-0, was last year's Big Eight Conference player of the year. After his summer of playing on Team USA with North Carolina's mighty center Eric Montross, he might only get better. He said battling with the stronger Montross every day in practice improved his game.
"We would both be sore after practice," he said.
In the 1992-93 campaign, Reeves averaged 19.5 points and 10 rebounds each game.
Reeves' complements include a talented backcourt of senior Brooks Thompson, who averaged 14.6 points a game, and junior Randy Rutherford, who added 13.3 points each contest. Though both are suited for the off-guard position, Thompson will control the offense. Rutherford, after transferring to Oklahoma State from Bacone Junior College in Oklahoma, led the conference in three point field goal percentage, hitting on 55 of 126 attempts, or 44 percent.
Depth in the backcourt will be supplied by seniors Bryndon Manzer and Scott Sutton, Coach Eddie Sutton's son, as well as highly acclaimed freshman Chianti Roberts.
The fourth senior starter, forward Fred Burley, will need to be more consistent this season if Sutton's hopes of a conference title are to materialize.
The Cowboys were picked as the top team in the conference, but Sutton said the Big Eight was so good this year that anyone has a shot at the crown.
Oklahoma State
Last Year: 20-9,
Big Eight Finish: 8-6, tied for second place
Coach: Eddie Sutton
Record at Oklahoma State: 72-25 (3 years)
Weakness: Ball handling, Senior guard Brooks Thompson, a natural shooting guard, will handle the point guard position again this year, and if he hasn't improved, it could prove costly for the Cowboys. The Cowboys committed 95 more turnovers than their opponents last season.
Strength: Junior center Bryant Reeves. As last year's conference player of the year, Reeves led the conference in scoring with 19.5 points a game, rebounding with 10 rebounds a game and field goal percentage at 62 percent. He was the first to do this since Kansas' Wilt Chamberlain in 1958-57. If he continues to improve as he did between his freshman and sophomore years, the Cowboys will be difficult to stop. Sutton also will return three other starters this season.
KANSAN
"On paper, we probably should be picked No. 1," he said.
Thompson, on the other hand, said the preseason rankings would make the Cowboys work hard to give legitimacy to expectations.
"You can't help but look at the polls, and we're happy with them," Thompson said. "But you can't put all your emphasis on that, you have to concentrate on getting it done. If everyone is expecting you to do it, you have to work that much harder."
Renee Knoeber/KANSAN
Kansas senior foward Richard Scott and Oklahoma State's Von Bennet battle for a rebound. Kansas won the game 84-72 in Allen Field House last year.Many pick the Cowboys to be No.1 in the Big Eight conference.
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COLLEGE BASKETBALL PREVIEW • University Daily Kansan • November 17, 1993