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By BRIAN LANDMAN
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 3, 2001
Like so many teams in the geographically expansive Big 12 Conference, the Colorado Buffaloes have traveled by commercial jets and smaller charter airplanes. ... Not anymore.
"We're going to go back to doing commercial to put our guys minds just a little more at ease," coach Ricardo Patton said.
That's just another aftershock felt around the league after last weekend's plane crash that took the lives of 10 members of the Oklahoma State basketball family.
Coaches have been talking to their players about air travel, citing statistics that planes, even the 10-seat turbo props like OSU used, are safer than cars and buses.
"We've got several kids who don't particularly like to fly anyway," Texas A&M coach Melvin Watkins said. "Even when we fly commercially they're a little leery. But any time a tragedy like this happens, across the board people begin to get concerned about flying. So, we will address that."
"We talked to our players (Sunday night) and said a prayer for the people at Oklahoma State. We'll do some more of that when we get on a plane again," Kansas coach Roy Williams said. "I'll make sure our kids feel extremely comfortable."
Missouri coach Quin Snyder, whose scheduled game today at OSU has been postponed until Monday, and his players are no strangers to the potential dangers of flying. Last season, on a trip from Columbia to Waco, Texas, the plane experienced problems, including a depressurized cabin, that forced an emergency landing in Springfield, Miss.
And that was a jet.
"It was scary," Snyder said solemnly. "Obviously, (the OSU tragedy) can easily be us."
It's given everyone everywhere a reason to pause and reflect.
"The timing for us, we really felt sorry for ourselves after the Duke game," said Maryland coach Gary Williams, referring to Saturday night's stunning loss to the Blue Devils. "And then we heard about the Oklahoma State tragedy and it kind of put things in perspective, about how quick things can end, how you should appreciate each game you do have the opportunity to play as a team and how important your teammates are to you.
"This is a pretty good jolt for all college basketball players to look at and understand, what you have is really precious -- the idea that you are on a basketball scholarship, that you're playing in a great league and you have the opportunity to do what millions of kids your age would like to do and keep that in perspective."
TIP-INS: No. 20-ranked Boston College is a surprising 6-1 in the Big East and a big reason is the play of sophomore guard Troy Bell, who leads the team in scoring (21.1) and assists (5.2). In his past two games he had 14 assists and no turnovers in 74 minutes. ... Memphis has won seven straight C-USA road games dating to last season. The Tigers next league road trip? Wednesday at USF. ... St. Bonaventure senior forward/center Peter Van Paassen, a native of Holland, got a rare treat during last weekend's trip to George Washington. Peter Bootsma, the Counselor of Health, Welfare and Sport for the Royal Netherlands Embassy, honored him with a plaque for his athletic and academic accomplishments.
- Brian Landman covers men's college basketball. He can be reached at (813) 226-3347 or by e-mail at landman@sptimes.com.
1 -- Unbeaten team in Division I, top-ranked Stanford.
14 -- Point differential in UF's last SEC game, an 81-67 win against Tennessee.
21 -- Point differential in UF's first six SEC games.
70.96 -- Average points per team at the midpoint of last season.
72.17 -- Average points per team at the midpoint of this season.
After Duke's stunning comeback last weekend at Maryland, the Terrapin fans pelted the Duke bench with bottles and injured the mother of Carlos Boozer. Maryland president C.D. Mote said the "brutish" behavior crossed the line from "boosterism to hooliganism that we cannot condone or tolerate." But it's not a new problem for Maryland, especially when Duke comes to Cole Field House. It's the one venue to which Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski doesn't bring his family. Ever. "We should always be concerned about crowd control," Krzyzewski said. "However, the worst thing you can do is to throw objects. That's absolutely the worst thing. For the most part, we haven't been concerned in other arenas as we are there because we basically have had things thrown at us every year. There's a tradition there of throwing newspapers at the bench after you're introduced, which I don't think is a good tradition because then you condone throwing something and something can take the place of paper. Over the years, something has and something did." Maryland is looking at halting that pregame tradition.
"We just hit a wall for the first time this year. We had no energy, no enthusiasm. Fatigue makes cowards of us all, but don't ever underestimate Kentucky. They're coming. They've got great size, great quickness, great athletic ability and when (Tayshaun) Prince and (Keith) Bogans get it rolling, they're a terrific club." -- JIM HARRICK, Georgia coach after Kentucky rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit to beat his team 85-70.
Iowa coach Steve Alford had hoped Reggie Evans, a former standout at Pensacola Woodham High who was a junior-college All-American last season, would live up to his advance billing. But no amount of hype would have foretold Evans' impact. The 6-foot-8, 245-pound forward has given the Hawkeyes the low-post scorer and tenacious rebounder they had lacked. He averages 15.4 points and 12 rebounds and leads the Big Ten with 15 double doubles. That's out of 21 games. "He has been phenomenal for us all year long and he gives us an inside presence that people have to take notice of," Alford said. That's why the No. 18 Hawkeyes (17-4), tied with defending national champion Michigan State and Illinois for first in the powerful Big Ten at 6-2, are off to their best start since 1989. They will need even more from Evans with leading scorer Luke Recker out for the regular season with a broken right kneecap. "But the thing I've been very impressed with Reggie is his attitude and his demeanor," Alford said. "He's a warrior and he goes to work every day. Those type of kids are hard to find."
- Compiled by BRIAN LANDMAN.