Creativity in Coaching

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From the second row of section 323 in Gallagher-Iba (which is actually a pretty good vantage point thanks to the engineers building the arena straight up, I was still close enough to see everything in great detail) Brittany and I watched Saturday as OSU held off a late charge by Baylor. Not exactly a signature win, but the game wasn't as close as the score looked. Baylor hit several late threes and OSU helped them out by not converting all their free throws during that span. OSU led most of the game by 10-12 points. The crowd was fairly quiet, not having the students in town probably had something to do with that. But it was great to see some Cowboy basketball on the famous 69 year old floor - now called Eddie Sutton Court.

The article linked above details a move that Sean Sutton is making in an effort to address his paper-thin bench situation as the team prepares for a trip to 9th ranked Kansas this week. With multiple injuries forcing Sutton to play only 7 with a former walk-on being the 8th (and in my opinion not a great option), the first-year coach has recruited Adarius Bowman from the Cowboy football team to join his squad. Bowman was all Big 12 this season as a wide receiver and was an outstanding basketball player in high school. I don't look for him to start or lead the team in scoring, but he may provide some critical minutes playing the 3 spot (at 6-4 they're not likely to send him inside too much, then again there was Byron Houston) or even the 2 when JamesOn Curry is forced to move to the point.

I like this move by Sutton. I don't care if Bowman doesn't do anything spectacular all season. Rather than just ride out the season, Sean is being proactive. Some coaches would try to circle the remaining healthy wagons and get it done with what's available - unwilling to add someone to the squad mid-season. No doubt that's worked for some. But I think in this situation, adding a guy like Bowman can be a lift for the team. Bowman is probably fairly well acquainted with the basketball team already - my observation was that the major sports teams seemed to know one another. And there's no real danger that the team is going to treat Bowman as an outsider - he's a Cowboy too, he just wears pads most of the time.

Thinking of that. I've been saying all season that OSU doesn't rebound very well and needs to be tougher inside. Reality is that they're mostly tall, lanky guys, so they're not going to bull too many people around (then again I've never seen a point guard that could be the second team fullback for the football squad, but I think Eaton could pull it off). However, I've been disappointed to watch Tennessee and now Baylor get all together too many rebounds against OSU. Eddie's decision a couple of years ago after a frustrating loss to Texas Tech to have the guys put on helmets and shoulder pads during practice was well documented (he stole the idea from another coach). Whether you like it or not, it worked. That team didn't get outrebounded again until (and I didn't check my facts on this, but I'm about 90% sure) they lost to Georgia Tech in the Final Four.

Sean, have Adarius bring his helmet and pads, in fact, have him bring enough for everyone. Mario is a stud, but Cooper and Monds aren't tough inside and Dove is too soft as well. By the way, tell Dove to quit doing that thing with his hands when he scores. It makes him look stupid. Maybe it would be all right if he only did it when he got a break-away jam. Wait, that's the only way ever scores anyway. Tell him to save it until he hits a game winner and then make sure the ball isn't in his hands with a game on the line. Tell Hatch he's not going in the game again until he cuts that stupid hair. One more thing, and you may want to pass this on to someone else. Tell that one crazy cheerleader to tone it down. My wife was ready to go down to the court and smack her by the time the game was over. It's like they gave a hyper girl speed or something.

Go Pokes!