OSU vs. Kansas: Pre-game topics
Published: 2/26/2010 9:02 AM
Last Modified: 2/26/2010 9:02 AM
OSU will play host to a No. 1-ranked college basketball team for only the fourth time in school history when Kansas launches a Saturday invasion of Gallagher-Iba Arena.
Let's tie up a few loose ends before the game arrives:
1, Cowboy forward Matt Pilgrim, who missed a Wednesday game at Texas for an unspecified violation of team rules, practiced Thursday and is expected to be back in the lineup for the KU game.
Though coach Travis Ford doesn't want to disclose how Pilgrim wound up in the doghouse for a game, word trickled out that Pilgrim broke curfew while in Austin and was busted when he -- oops! --was seen out of his room by a member of the coaching staff.
I had a long face-to-face interview with Pilgrim last week. He's got an interesting back story -- to be revealed at a later date, of course.
2, The game is sold out, but how many seats will be occupied by fans wearing blue?
KU fans love their Jayhawks and all those empty chairs at previous games might be filled with folks who made a southward trek.
3, If James Anderson has a decent game, go ahead and declare him the probable Big 12 player of the year.
If Kansas goes unbeaten in league play, some will argue that the Jayhawks deserve to have the player of the year.
But the problem is it's hard to figure out who KU's best player is. Sherron Collins? Cole Aldrich? Marcus Morris? Xavier Henry?
Ford said KU has "a lot of best players." Those who cast ballots for a KU player may split their votes among several Jayhawks, clearing the way for Anderson, the Big 12's leading scorer, to swoop in and collect the trophy.
--Jimmie Tramel.
Written by
Jimmie Tramel
Sports Writer
