Tulsa World: Great debate rages on

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Great debate rages on

Former OSU guard Doug Gottlieb (left), meeting with then-coach EddieSutton during a 2000 NCAA Tournament win over Pepperdine, says Tulsa andOSU were among the four best teams that season and would have been a greatmatchup in the Final Four. MICHAEL WYKE/Tulsa World file

By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer
Published: 11/20/2008 4:34 AM
Last Modified: 11/20/2008 11:12 AM

Gottlieb, Self, others still wonder if TU or OSU was best in 2000.

Tulsa and Oklahoma State have played 104 basketball games, but fans never saw the best game in series history.

Why? It was never played.

TU and OSU roared to the Elite Eight in 2000. They were one win away from colliding in a national semifinal.

The party got spoiled when North Carolina beat TU in a regional final and Florida eliminated OSU.

Goodbye, dream matchup. Hello, endless debate.

OSU’s Doug Gottlieb and Joe Adkins bounced around the USBL with TU’s Eric Coley. They fussed about which of their teams would have won the game that wasn’t.

Adkins and TU point guard Tony Heard were teammates at Oklahoma City’s John Marshall High School.

When they are old men, they’ll still be arguing about which of their college teams was better.

TU (21 RPI) won a school-record 32 games with a lineup of Heard, Coley, Greg Harrington, Marcus Hill and Brandon Kurtz. Leading scorer David Shelton and Dante Swanson were key reserves.

OSU (19 RPI) won 27 games with a lineup of Gottlieb, Adkins, Desmond Mason, Brian Montonati and Fredrik Jonzen. Glendon Alexander and Alex Webber were the top bench contributors.

Former Tulsa coach Bill Self said TU was not the country’s second most talented team in 2000. But, by the time the Sweet Sixteen arrived, there was only one team that caused him to wonder “How can we beat them?” That was Michigan State, which won the national championship.

Self said Monday he believes TU was capable of beating every other possible opponent, OSU included.

“Oklahoma State was a fabulous team, but the teams were really different in that we could really score from all five spots probably better than they could,” Self said.

“They wouldn’t have got a lot of open looks. They would have to put the ball on the floor to go make plays and I think they had the personnel to do that, but I don’t think their personnel offensively was better than our personnel defensively.”

Self acknowledges OSU had the best player, hands down, in Mason.

“But we had the one player that could guard Desmond or at least slow him down in Eric Coley.”

Gottlieb, now an ESPN broadcaster, and Self share an opinion that TU and OSU were among the nation’s four best teams in 2000. They also agree that a matchup would have been phenomenal.

But, said Gottlieb, “I think Oklahoma State wins, no question.”

Gottlieb said the senior-laden Cowboys had been through three seasons and three NCAA Tournaments, so players knew each other like hand and glove. He said no one could run with OSU. He said Montonati and Alexander would have stretched Tulsa’s defense. And he said TU had an offensive liability.

“As good as Coley was, he couldn’t shoot or handle, so we would have left him alone defensively, much like people would leave me defensively,” Gottlieb said.

Self counters that Coley could “steal points.” Gottlieb and Self could counterpoint themselves silly, but it wouldn’t settle anything.

Gottlieb wishes the argument could have been decided on a court.

He loves rivalry games and wishes OSU had scheduled a regular season game against TU that year.

TU and OSU will meet Thursday for the first time since 1996. Anyone interested in arranging a pickup game of players who could have met in the 2000 Final Four."

Jimmie Tramel 581-8389
jimmie.tramel@tulsaworld.com By JIMMIE TRAMEL World Sports Writer

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Homer Jones, (11/20/2008 11:31:48 AM)

Coley had 16 points, 16 rebounds, four steals, four assists and four blocks against No. 1 seed Cincinnati while he was being guarded. Gottleib's plan to not guard him is brilliant. Tulsa 89, OSU 72.

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