Men’s basketball: Texas at Oklahoma State
Texas at Oklahoma State: 8 p.m., Monday
* TV: ESPN (Cox 29)
* Radio: KXXY-FM 96.1
Quick Notes
• Oklahoma State will play the next four and five of the next six games on ESPN. The Cowboys will be shown on Big Monday in back-to-back weeks, traveling to Norman to play Oklahoma next Monday.
• Oklahoma State is 19-15 all-time on ESPN’s Big Monday, including a 12-3 mark inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
• Monday night will mark the seventh of 13 games this season televised by either ESPN, espn2 or ABC.
• OSU has won 18 of its last 21 games against Big 12 South Division foes inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
• OSU is 9-0 at home this season, allowing just 55.4 points per game. Opponents are shooting just 23.3 percent from beyond the three-point arc.
• The Cowboys have a +6.33 turnover margin in Gallagher-Iba Arena. The opponents are averaging more than 22 turnovers per game on Eddie Sutton Court.
• With 160 steals, junior guard Byron Eaton is just 11 away from becoming the all-time career steals leader in school history. Ivan McFarlin is the current record holder with 170 steals from 2001-05.
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OSU podcast for Monday, Jan. 21
Check out today’s Orange Crush podcast with Oklahoma State beat writers Mike Baldwin, Andrea Cohen and Darnell Mayberry. Hear our OSU coverage crew discuss their recruiting road trip, Kye Staley and the Cowboys basketball team.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Cowboy Clicks for Monday, Jan. 21
Good Monday afternoon Oklahoma State fans. Here’s what the world has to say about your Cowboys today.
* Seems ex-Cowboy Prentiss Elliott has found a home in arena football.
* Sounds like Eddie Sutton hasn’t changed his coaching style much with the Dons.
* OU beat writer Jake Trotter tuned us on to a great site for college football rumors. Interesting note on former OSU asst. coach Doug Mallory. Check out the Football Rumor Mill.
* Looks like Kurt Budke’s staff is already being eyed. Check out the last note in this Wichita reporter’s blog.
* Waco’s Victor Johnson has narrowed his choices to OSU and OU.
* Future Cowboy got his juco championship ring Saturday.
* Several future Cowboys made the Lubbock paper’s Fab-44 list.
* Madisonville, Texas recruit picks Nebraska.
Got a link your fellow Cowboys fans need to see? Send it along to rsharp@oklahoman.com
-Asst. Sports Editor, Ryan Sharp
Riley, Cowgirls on a roll
Don’t let OSU women’s basketball coach Kurt Budke get you on a golf course. Budke is turning into the ultimate sandbagger. Despite a 4-0 start, highlighted by wins over Texas A&M and Oklahoma, last year’s top two teams in the conference, Budke maintains most teams in the Big 12 have more talent than the Cowgirls. He warns the conference is so tough any team could compile a lot of losses in a hurry.
I agree the Big 12 is extremely tough, without question the most competitive conference in America. Last week 10 of the 12 teams were either ranked in the top 25 or were receiving votes. But Budke’s claim that his team isn’t nearly as talented as most conference rivals smells of a golf sandbagger.
Budke claims Texas has more Parade All-Americans and several other teams have players who were listed higher in recruiting rankings. Former OSU men’s coach Eddie Sutton proved time and time again you don’t need McDonald’s All-Americans and four-star recruits to win basketball games.
It’s early in the conference race. Baylor, with a strong, balanced lineup, probably is the team to beat following the Bears win Sunday in Norman. But the Cowgirls, off to a 4-0 league start, should make some noise. Their roster has everything you need to be in most every game the remainder of the season.
Sophomore point guard Andrea Riley currently is one of the top players in America. She leads the conference in scoring, averaging close to 23 points. She’s hitting big shots. She’s so quick she gives opposing coaches headaches trying to figure out how to guard her. Danielle Green is a slash-to-the-goal, create her own shot complement to Riley. Senior Maria Cordero is capable of some big games. Taylor Hardeman is a defensive minded glue player similar to Daniel Bobik on the men’s Final Four team a few years ago. Sophomore transfer Meagan Byford is developing into a rugged inside post player. Kristin Hernandez is a true freshman capable of providing help off the bench. Shanute Smith is a veteran who averages 7.0 points and 7.0 rebounds.
OSU probably isn’t as talented as some teams. But everyone is playing their roles well, which is invaluable. Put all the parts together and the Cowgirls are playing some good basketball. With a star like Riley, the Cowgirls are playing with confidence. They play hard defensively and are hungry which is why they get to a lot of loose balls and rebound well.
Despite Budke’s one-game-at-a-time mantra, OSU realistically could finish 11-5 or 12-4 in league play and earn a relative high NCAA Tournament seed. The Cowgirls might not have highly recruited players like some conference rivals but they’re the real deal.
– Mike Baldwin
Tales from the recruiting trip
In an effort to give readers an expanded look at recruiting, OSU video coordinator Darnell Mayberry and I spent a couple of days in Dallas video taping and interviewing five high school players who have committed to OSU in the 2008 class. An intriguing revelation among a small sample of five players is OSU’s coaching staff, and their goal of helping every recruit earn a degree, arguably are as important of factors as the $284 million improvements on Boone Pickens’ Stadium.
Don’t get me wrong. OSU’s state-of-the-art changes at Boone Pickens Stadium will assist recruiting. But feeling comfortable with a coaching staff, convincing players OSU is a program on the rise, and a concentrated effort on graduating players, is music to parents’ ears. All five recruits mentioned getting a degree was extremely important. Four of the five said the reason they committed early last summer was “feeling comfortable” with the coaches.
Coach Mike Gundy and his staff have a shot at signing their third consecutive top 25 class in two weeks. Gundy has said he looks forward to the day the entire stadium, with new locker rooms and meeting rooms, will be completed in 2009. Recruits, though, already are buying into Gundy’s message. The big question is whether this is the season higher ranked recruiting classes start to pay dividends on the win-loss record?
Mike Baldwin
Men’s basketball: Oklahoma State at Iowa State
Oklahoma State at Iowa State: 12:45 p.m. Saturday
* TV: ESPN Plus (Cox 34)
* Radio: KXXY-FM 96.1
Quick notes
• Oklahoma State has won five of its last 15 trips to Big 12 North Division venues. The Cowboys have won five of their last eight trips to Ames.
• This will be the first of just three games this season for OSU on ESPN Plus. The regional network will also televise back-to-back games in Stillwater against Nebraska and Oklahoma in March.
• Iowa State and Colorado are the only two former Big Eight schools against which Oklahoma State holds a winning all-time record against.
• The Cowboys will play their first six conference games within 20 minutes of Interstate 35. Three of those games are in Stillwater, while the other three are in Waco, Ames and Norman. I-35 goes through all three cities.
• OSU has lost 15-consecutive road games, including 12-straight league road contests.
Cowboy Clicks for Friday, Jan. 17
Good Friday morning Oklahoma State fans. Here’s what the world has to say about your Cowboys today:
* Good thing the Sutton’s got out of Kentucky when they did…
* What do the Cowboys and the Backstreet Boys have in common? This HuskerH8er says more than you think…
* Texas A&M women’s coach Gary Blair had all kinds of good things to say about Andrea Riley…
* Looks like former Cowboy Bill Young is going to be the defensive coordinator at Miami…
* DeSoto, Texas cornerback Adrian Bushell is apparently headed to Florida
Got a good link your fellow Cowboys fans need to see? Send it along to rsharp@oklahoman.com.
- Ryan Sharp, Asst. Sports Editor
