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Unhappy anniversary (blame Christian Laettner) for Travis Ford?
Published: 3/28/2012 8:19 PM
Last Modified: 3/28/2012 8:19 PM

Oklahoma State basketball coach Travis Ford picked Wednesday to have a state-of-the-union press gathering. I gave him my condolences on an unhappy anniversary.

Exactly 20 years earlier to the day, Ford was wearing a Kentucky uniform when Duke’s Christian Laettner hit “the shot” in a legendary NCAA Tournament game. Laettner’s buzzer beater sent the Blue Devils to a Final Four and broke the hearts of Wildcat players and fans.

I asked Ford if he was avoiding ESPN on Wednesday so he wouldn’t have to be subjected to replays. He indicated the anniversary will be harder for former teammates John Pelphrey, Deron Feldhaus, Richie Farmer and Sean Woods

Why? Ford was only a sophomore in ‘92. The teammates he mentioned were seniors and “the shot” ended their careers one game shy of a Final Four.

“John was my roommate,” Ford said. “I just felt so bad for him. But for me, I look at it almost as a positive. I learned so much from that game to get us to the Final Four the next year. But I had another two years... so it wasn’t like the end of the world.”

Ford said people can joke around with him about “the shot.” But he wouldn’t suggest doing it around his former teammates.

“It’s a very serious, serious subject,” he said.

“I look back and I hate it that we lost and I hated it for (the seniors) but it was a positive experience for the team that returned the following year.”


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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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