OSU wheelchair basketball fundraiser is worth more than the cost of admission
The annual fundraising game that the OSU wheelchair basketball team plays against the men’s and women’s teams isn’t very well advertised or well promoted. It is, however, well worth more than the $5 admission.
I’ve been living in Stillwater and covering OSU basketball for almost three years, and I attended the event for the first time this year. I may have been out of town or something in the past, but honestly I just don’t remember hearing much about it. And I’m not alone — attendance at this year’s even couldn’t have been more than a couple hundred people. Which is an absolute shame, because it’s far and away one of the coolest events I’ve been to inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
The Spokes are incredibly impressive — I was particularly blown away by Millwood High graduate Jason Walley, who I wrote a story about after the event. These guys fly, and it’s only more impressive when you see how much star athletes like James Anderson and Andrea Riley struggle to even move their chairs.
For OSU fans this is not only an opportunity to support the Spokes, but also to see the Cowboys and Cowgirls up close and personal. You can sit in the lower bowl for $5 –which is what, only about a thousand percent less than what you pay for regular games?
And during the season, you just see players with their game faces on. At this event you get a candid look at who these guys and girls really are — teasing each other for shooting airballs, admiring the Spokes for how good they are, sticking around to sign autographs afterward. Heck, you could have even stopped by and said hello to Travis Ford, who watched with his youngest son.
I’m not generally in the business of telling people what to do, but this is a great event. Next year we’ll try to promote it more in the paper, and OSU fans should get themselves there.
musings from dayton
Greetings from Dayton, where we’re about 17 hours from OSU tipping off with Pitt. I’m sitting in my hotel room half watching Gonzaga-Western Kentucky and wishing I could watch the Texas-Duke game as well. Why is it that all the good games have been on so late?
Anyway, the only action from Dayton today was press conference action, and there wasn’t much terribly interesting or exciting said, to be honest. This is what happens when guys are meeting with the media for the third time in about 48 hours. I was actually working on a story for Sunday about Travis Ford’s family, so I was glad not to be relying on what was said in the interview rooms.
OSU’s press conference was a lot of questions from visiting/national media about Ford and how his players have adapted to him and vice versa. Basically, the stories all of us in the local media have been writing since last April. It’s always strange when you know exactly how a guy is going to answer a question because you’ve already asked it before. And of course Pitt big man DeJuan Blair was a hot topic, and the Blake Griffin comparisons were flying around. Ford’s general message was that OSU is going to have to play a near-perfect game to beat the No. 1 seeded Panthers.
On the Pitt side, it was interesting to see Levance Fields a little irritated by questions about his injured groin. The point guard declared that “I told you yesterday I’m 100 percent, so I’m 100 percent today.” His performances in the Big East Tournament and Pitt’s first round game tell different stories as the senior pg had more turnovers than usual in those games.
OK, gotta catch the last three minutes of this Texas game.
by andrea cohen
Mixing metaphors and weather terms with Byron Eaton
Remember a couple weeks ago when Byron Eaton accidentally voiced concern over the “humidity” in Boulder rather than the altitude? Apparently Oklahoma’s Willie Warren saw that and let Eaton know about it.
“I hadn’t talked to Willie Warren in a while, since we played them,” Eaton said. “And when I said the humidity thing he text me and we was going back and forth. Before our Colorado game we was texting back and forth, making jokes about it.”
Eaton, who clearly likes Warren a lot, was a good sport about the teasing. On a more serious note, he said Thursday afternoon that he thinks his Cowboys are in a good position to upset OU, following the Sooners loss at Missouri. When asked about the “humidity” in Norman, Eaton said “it’s not that good right now.”
“The temperature’s dropping,” Eaton said. “Things are definitely heating up up there. But those guys are good. I definitely think they’re practicing today and practicing tomorrow and they’ll be regrouped by the time we come in there Saturday. But I’m going to continue to tell my guys, as long as we continue to do what we’ve been doing the last month, I think we can beat those guys at their house.”
Right now it doesn’t look like OSU is in dire need of a win in Norman — with 20 wins overall and nine in league play, they appear to be in good shape for an NCAA Tournament berth, and since a TON of bubble teams lost in the last couple days one would think they’re just fine so long as they don’t suffer an embarrassing loss in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament. But winning in Norman would be a nice security blanket, Eaton said.
“I definitely think if we win this game Saturday we’ll be getting called next Sunday,” Eaton said. “(If OSU loses) I don’t think we’re that comfortable. We definitely have to go to the Big 12 (Tournament) and do some work. Plus if we win (Bedlam) I definitely think we’ll get the No. 4 seed. So we gotta take care of our business and things’ll take care of itself.”
by andrea cohen
Did OSU dodge a bullet by not getting the top recruit in the country?
Yeah, seems like a crazy question, right? But check out ESPN’s upcoming Outside the Lines (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/index) which is all about “package deals” and features point guard John Wall.
Dwon Clifton, the brother of Wall’s AAU coach joined Baylor’s staff over the summer, and the hiring has created waves with the NCAA. Wall still hasn’t committed to a college yet — apparently Memphis, Kansas and Duke are all still in the running in addition to Baylor — but if Wall ends up at Baylor one has to think the NCAA’s already-raised eyebrows are going to go way, way up.
You have to think Travis Ford is glad this isn’t his mess to deal with while he’s trying to win basketball games in late February.
by andrea cohen
Quite a Wednesday for OSU in the state of Texas
Wednesday night was a HUGE night for Oklahoma State basketball in the state of Texas. Not only did the men keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive by beating Tech, but the women appeared to come back from the dead — or at least back from a coma of sorts.
The OSU women’s 58-52 win over No. 12 Texas improves the Cowgirls’ record to 15-9, 4-7. I realize that doesn’t sound great, but in the Big 12 and with the schedule that the Cowgirls have remaining (highly winnable games include Tech, Kansas and Nebraska at home), it means OSU still has a shot to get to the magic number of seven wins in conference.
This is big, big news for a lot of reasons. The biggest might be that Andrea Riley needs to get her suspension over with this March. The junior will be suspended for OSU’s next NCAA Tournament game for slapping an LSU player during last year’s Sweet 16. If the Cowgirls don’t make the Tournament, she will have to sit out the first game of the NCAA Tournament her senior year (the NIT doesn’t count, so if OSU makes the NIT this year she will be able to play but still have to sit out next year). It would be awfully unfortunate for the best women’s player in school history to have to sit out of that game her senior year.
In Lubbock the men’s team did something kind of similar by beating Tech — gave seniors Terrel Harris and Byron Eaton hope that they will play in an NCAA Tournament game their senior years.
Many prognostications (including Joe Lunardi on ESPN) have the Big 12 getting just four teams in the Tournament. Right now the Cowboys are sitting in seventh place, but the three teams above them all have just one more conference win. If OSU can win its remaining games at home (Baylor, K-State and Texas) and win at bottom-dwelling Colorado, their chances look pretty decent at this point.
by andrea cohen
Terrel Harris wasn’t kidding …
about being back from a vacation. The senior has scored 6 of OSU’s first 8 points here in Lubbock. He’s also guarding my favorite Red Raider, John Roberson, and the point guard hasn’t scored yet and has a turnover.
OSU leads 8-5 with 15:39 to play and a timeout. So for the first time in a while, OSU hasn’t gotten off to a terrible start.
Muonelo, who didn’t start, is in the game for OSU now in place of Page. OK, back in action.
Starting rotation rotates.
Greetings from an eeeempty United Spirit Arena where we have yet another new Oklahoma State starting lineup. This time junior Obi Muonelo, who played just 12 minutes in Saturday’s win over Iowa State, is the odd man out as Keiton Page gets his second straight start.
Other quick info:
-Not kidding about the attendance. 4,000 max.
-OSU in black unis for just the third time this season.
by andrea cohen
Sparse crowd in Austin
We’ve under 2 minutes from tip and I’m telling you, the Erwin Events Center is EMPTY. This makes the recent Gallagher-Iba Arena crowds look great. I conferred with my press row neighbors and nobody thinks it’s even 1/3 full in here.
by andrea cohen
Ford apologizes, again
The issue was the first thing Ford addressed on the pre-recorded show, which was broadcast on The Cowboy Radio Network, KSPI-93.7. Ford also went on the Sports Animal in
On the pregame show with John Holcomb and Dave Hunziker Ford said he’s spoken to the team about it at length, and said “it’s something I’m not going to tolerate out of myself.”
by andrea cohen
Boone in the building
I have it on good authority that Boone Pickens will be in Gallagher-Iba Arena tonight. It will be the first time Oklahoma State’s mega-booster will see OSU basketball coach Travis Ford in action live.
by andrea cohen
