Oklahoma State University Athletics
Eddie Sutton Chat Wrap
November 02, 2001 | Cowboy Basketball
Nov. 2, 2001
Welcome to ESPN.com's moderated chat room. On Thursday, November 1, Oklahoma State head basketball coach Eddie Sutton dropped by to take your questions on the upcoming season.
Sutton played guard for OSU from 1956-58.
Sutton, starting his 12th year at the helm of the Cowboys program, returns a strong nucleus from last year's team that suffered a first-round loss in the NCAA Tournament to USC. Among the returnees are the top five scorers from last season including Maurice Baker who was second in scoring in the Big Twelve. With a career record of 679-269 that spans 31 years of Division I head coaching experience, Sutton could reach victory No. 700 by season's end.
In his 11 years at Stillwater, Sutton has led the Cowboys to nine NCAA Tournament appearances including a Final Four campaign in 1995 and an Elite Eight appearance in 1999-2000. When Sutton took over the OSU head coaching job in 1990, the Cowboys had made just one NCAA Tournament appearance in 25 years.
The following is a transcript of the November 1 chat:
Moderator: We apologize for confusion. Coach Sutton will chat today at 3 p.m. ET
Moderator: We should be getting started with Coach Sutton momentarily. Thank you.
Eddie Sutton: I am here and ready to take your questions!!!
Bryan (OKC): Eddie, Being a long time Poke fan (and alum) I have noticed that when you are quiet about your team seams to be when you have your best ones. I haven't heard much on you opinion about this year, can I take that to mean you are expecting a lot from this team?
Eddie Sutton: We are very optimistic about the season, returning our entire club from a year ago plus the addition of three quality people, it gives us reason to look forward to the upcoming year.
Chad (Dallas): Coach: Seeing Terrance Crawford play in high school, and last year as a freshman, physically, he reminds me of Paul Pierce. What kind of improvements has he made over the past year and how good do you think he can be?
Eddie Sutton: Last year, we had projected him as having a great chance to start. But he had a knee injury and he ended up being a backup player. This year he is challenging for a starting spot but we expect him to get a lot of quality minutes.
Phil Robins: Mo Baker's game has been compared to that of Allen Iverson. Do you see Mo playing as point guard, in a Doug Gotlieb type role, or will Mo be used mainly as a shooting/slashing type 2-guard like Iverson?
Eddie Sutton: Mo Baker surpassed everything we thought he would do last season. His stats were very impressive and will be hard to match this year because teams will be much more aware of his presence. He will see lots of double teams. He will play both positions, point guard at times but he is also an excellent scorer and we have the luxury of having guys who can play the point and set him up for shots, Victor Williams and Cheyne Gadson.
PDT816 (Edmond, OK): The Cowboy's seem to have more depth in their top 10 men than any other time I can remember. In addition to the classic Eddie Sutton defensive effort, will we see a highly transitional offense out of this year's team?
Eddie Sutton: This is the deepest team we have had since I have been here. We haven't changed our philosphy that much but we certainly are going to try to run at every opportunity.
Brad (Stillwater): You have said in interviews that you like to go out to the theater and see movies when not in the off-season. In 'Hoosiers,' Gene Hackman plays a fundamentals and defense-oriented coach, and every time I see the movie, his character reminds me of you, coach Sutton. What do you think of the movie 'Hoosiers' ?
Eddie Sutton: I am a big movie buff and Gene Hackman is one of my favorite stars. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. I am honored I would be compared to Gene Hackman.
Oklahoma City: Will the rash of injuries, recently reported by Mike Baldwin in the Daily Oklahoman, have any impact on the Cowboys success this season?
Eddie Sutton: We have had more nickel and dime injuries in our first two weeks than I have ever had before. We haven't had any seriios ones but the loss of diff. people in our practice sessions has slowed us a little bit. Hopefully by the time we get to the beginning of the season, we will be injury free.
David Harrell (Carl Junction, MO): What team do you most enjoy coaching against and why?
Eddie Sutton: Through the years I have had great rivalries with coaches and programs. In our conference, I enjoy the competition with OU, Kansas and Missouri more than anyone else.
Jeff (Denton, TX): Coach -- I've noticed that with good teams like Kansas and Mizzou in the Big 12 getting all the publicity, O State gets left out for the most part. Has the team noticed that, and if so, does it motivate them more? Good luck this year Coach!
Eddie Sutton: We feel like we get adaquete coverage in the media. Normally the teams that are picked in the preseason get the most publicity. This year the conference could be the best ever. OU, Texas and our ballclub along probably with Iowa St. and Colorado are not that far behind.
Fro: Coach Sutton, Do you like Cheyne Gadson's hair?
Eddie Sutton: I really don't ever critique our players appearance! The only thing I ever do is to make them aware they represent our program and we expect their appearance something we can all be proud of. Your personal appearance is something we always make sure our players do that.
OSU_Geno (OKC): Hi Coach: Do you plan to use a lot of 3 guard lineups this season. You seem to have a lot of guard depth this season with Baker, V. Williams, Gadsen, and Hill. I think quality guard depth wins championships.
Eddie Sutton: The best teams I have fielded have been teams when we played, most of the time with three guards. Looking back, Arkansas, Kentucky and OSU, we have always been blessed with good guard play. Last season, because of the lack of depth, we almost wore Baker and Williams out. The addition of Gadson and Hill will give us added potential this year.
Scott: Edmond OK: Coach I have heard you are sticking around for another 5 years to see this class through, is this true. We sure would love to have you stay even longer.
Eddie Sutton: In our recruiting process, there have been some assistant coaches that have tried to drive home to the young men that I will not be coaching when they get to college. I came out and made the statement that the high school seniors at the present time would be able to have me as their coach. So when you put a time table to that it means I will be here five more years. If my health got bad maybe that would be true but even though I am a man in his 60s I feel like I am in my early 30s!
Mark (Stillwater): Coach Sutton, Do you think the opening schedule, 5 games in 6 days, can effect their psyche with some early losses?
Eddie Sutton: The schedule is a very challenging one. It is a schedule that I have never asked a team to play that many games in such a short time. I would hope we are victorious in most of those games. The experience we will have in playing those games will allow us to go back and correct our shortcomings. We would not have that schedule had we not scheduled Cincinnati for national TV. As many people in our area know, it has been difficult to get first class opponents to come here. When ESPN came to us with the chance, we jumped at it knowing that with the addition of this game it would be probably very tiring on our team but we felt we like it was the right thing to do.
Aggie Al: Eddie, the students are ready for basketball season and ready to get Gallagher rocking for cincinati. what kind of game will we see from cincinati and how are we gonna go about beating the tar out of them?
Eddie Sutton: I don't think either team will beat the tar out of the other one. It will be a great game. We are looking forward to it and I know our fans are. Both teams have pretty much the same philosophy on the game so it should be a game in the style of OSU vs. Kansas or OSU vs. OU, etc. It should be a great game to open the season.
OKAggie-OKC: What kind of impact will the presence of Bobby Knight have on the Big 12 conference, and does he bring a coaching style any different from what you have experienced from other coaches in the past (Big 8/12)?
Eddie Sutton: I think coach Knight is a welcome addition to the Big 12. I've said even before Bob came to our league, that from top to bottom, no conf. has as many quality coaches as we do. His style is similar to 7 or 8 other styles in this league. It isn't anything we havnen't before. He gets his guys to play with intensity. They put a lot of emphasis on defense and know how to take care of the ball. I believe Tech, even though they lost a great coach, has one of the top coaches that we have in college basketball.
Thanks to everyone for sending in questions, I've enjoyed it!! Roundball season is almost upon us and anyone who likes college ball has to be excited .. there is so much parity in the game right now.
Thanks everyone and take care!
