Checking in and checking up on the Big Eight midway through the regular season basketball chase…
Based on it’s remaining schedule, Oklahoma has to be the favorite. If the Sooners stop Kansas State on Saturday in Norman – and they should – they’re looking at a 12-2 conference record, at the worst, because they have just two more road outings – Okie State and Missouri. If OU wins at Mizzou, make that 13-1…
Who are you going to put on your All-Big Eight team? Danny Manning, Derrick Chievous, Mitch Richmond and Jeff Grayer are locks, leaving only one opening. Oklahoma’s Harvey Grant and Stacey King are likely to split the vote for the remaining berth.
Either Grant or King will wind up on the second team along with, in all probability, Colorado’s Scott Wilke, Oklahoma’s Ricky Grace, Okie State’s Richard Dumas and Iowa State’s Lafester Rhodes. Personally, I’d dump Rhodes or Dumas and insert Mookie Blaylock, OU’s perpetual-motion guard…
Rhodes, the guy who looked like the reincarnation of the Phoenix after scoring 54 points against Iowa early in the season, has suddenly become as much of a factor as George Bush was in the Iowa Republican caucus.
And how about the Cyclones? December’s Darlings have faded in February like a cheap T-shirt. Coach Johnny Orr has already blamed the Antlers and the zebras during his team’s current six-game losing streak, leaving us to wonder who’s next on Orr’s excuse list. Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega, perhaps?…
After half its league schedule, Oklahoma State is 1-3 at home and 2-1 on the road. Isn’t that supposed to be the other way around?…
Kansas avoided the fork by winning in Stillwater on Wednesday night, but the Jayhawks may already be done since they still face the Big Eight’s version of the Bataan Death March. That’s the eight-day gantlet later this month when they have to go to Oklahoma, Missouri and Colorado all in a row…
Speaking of Colorado, as bad as the Buffs are, they were due to whip up on somebody and, wouldn’t you know, it would be Iowa State. Now Iowa State is due and, oops, the Cyclones are here Saturday…
What’s an intentional foul? K-State’s Mitch Richmond was called for one the other night late in the Missouri game, ostensibly because he whacked an MU player who didn’t have possession of the ball.
However, KU’s Kevin Pritchard was fouled without the ball late in the Okie State game but not one of the three officials crossed his arms to give the intentional signal. The truth, of course, is that every foul by a team that’s trailing in the last two minutes is intentional…
Almost everything about Oklahoma impresses me, but the Sooners’ turnover statistics are astonishing. After 22 games, OU had forced 580 of them. That’s an average of more than 26 a game. A distant second is Iowa State with 437 opponent errors in 23 games…
All basketball teams shoot better at home than on the road, right? Maybe so, but not Kansas when it comes to three-point shooting. The Jayhawks’ three-point accuracy in Allen Fieldhouse is 15.8 percent. You read it right. Kansas has made only six of 38 three-point shots here. Away from home, KU has made 24 of 65 trey tries for a respectable 36.9 percent…
Why has Kansas State been so strong? Because four of the Wildcats’ starters are shooting over 50 percent, and the one starter who isn’t, point guard Steve Henson, plays nearly 36 minutes a game because he’s never in foul trouble. Henson’s the only player in the Big Eight averaging over 30 minutes a game who hasn’t fouled out…
Revealing Statistic of the Week. Marvin Branch hasn’t played in the last eight Kansas games, but Branch still ranks No. 2 on the team, behind Danny Manning, in rebounds…
