Everything you wanted to know about Big Eight basketball, but were afraid to ask:
Question: Can Oklahoma, averaging well over 100 points a game, reach the 200-point plateau?
Answer: Why not? Particularly since the Sooners’ next game a week from tonight is against a weak Oral Roberts team. ORU, as you know, is coached by Ken Trickey who has historically placed defense on the same mandatory plane as daily gall bladder surgery. Maybe the Sooners won’t score 200, but the NCAA record of 164 may well be in danger.
Question: Oklahoma’s Billy Dubbs has been blasted by more than one coach for running up the score. Does he have any friends left in the coaching business?
Answer: Certainly. Tubbs and Barry Switzer reportedly get along famously.
Question: Two days after Sports Illustrated came out with an article on Jeff Grayer calling him “The Unknown Cyclone,” Iowa State teammate Lafester Rhodes scored a school record 54 points against Iowa. What does that make Rhodes?
Answer: The Clone of the Unknown Cyclone.
Question: Seriously, who is this Rhodes anyway?
Answer: Believe it or not, he’s a 23-year-old senior who’s been sitting on the ISU bench for the last three seasons while Sam Hill has started at center. Another surpise: WIth a first name like Lafester, it’s a wonder he doesn’t have a nickname…like Dusty, or something.
Question: How do you pronounce the last name of Jeff Reckeweg, the second-year juco transfer who has been one of Nebraska’s top performers so far?
Answer: It’s pronounced Reck-uh-way which is interesting because several years ago Nebraska had a guard named Kent Reckaway whose name was also pronounced Reck-uh-way. Or was it Reck-e-weg?
Question: How is Tyrone Jones, that 6-5 forward who Originally signed with Kansas, doing at Oklahoma this season after transferring there from Hutchinson CC?
Answer: Jones, who signed with KU out of high school – he’s from Washington, D.C. – came off the bench to score 20 points in the Sooners’ 124-81 victory over Georgia State last Saturday. Incidentally, the OU media guide lists Jones as a “recreational criminal justice” major. Sounds like a contradiction in terms, doesn’t it?
Question: Clint Normore has now played both football and basketball at KU. He also participated in both sports at Wichita State. Has anybody ever played both sports at two schools before?
Answer: Not that I know of. It’s certainly possible, though, that someone did in the 40s when many athletes enrolled at a school, then went into the service during World War II and transferred to anotehr school after being discharged.
Question: Is it true that Danny Manning has started all but one game during his career at Kansas?
Answer: Yep, Manning opened on the bench in the sixth game of his freshman season when coach Larry Brown decided to experiment with Mark Turgeon and Cedric Hunter in the starting lineup at the same time. THe opponent was Abilene Christian. Curiosity: Manning had eight assists in that game, still his career high.
Question: Are there any Big Eight players other than KU’s Scooter Barry with famous relatives?
Answer: Well, Nebraska freshman guard Eric Johnson is a younger brother of the Detroit Pistons’ Vinnie Johnson. But the Huskers’ Pete Manning isn’t related to you-know-who.
Question: Who’s been the most impressive freshman in the Big Eight so far?
Answer: Probably Oklahoma State’s Richard Dumas, although Nebraska’s Beau Reid has been impressive, too. They’re the only two league frosh who are scoring in double figures. On the other side, Colorado coach Tom Miller has used five yearlings this season and, combined, they were shooting about 25 percent through the first six games.
Quwstion: Why did Alan Bannister, the Englishman who at 7-4 is the tallest player in the Big Eight, announce he was transferring from Oklahoma State to Arkansas State?
Answer: I don’t know. Maybe it was because he wanted to play closer to home.