Big 12 men's notebook

Published: March 13, 2008

Oklahoma State coach Sean Sutton couldn't bring himself to sit down and watch his brother, Scott, clinch a NCAA Tournament berth on Tuesday night.

Scott's Oral Roberts team defeated IUPUI 71-64 to win its third-straight Summit League title.

Sean switched back and forth, keeping up with the score but only settling in to watch in the last couple minutes, when he knew the Golden Eagles had the game in hand.

"Scott has done an unbelievable job at ORU,” Sean said. "To win three conference tournaments in a row, that says a lot about what a great coach he is and the kind of job that he has done.”

•Like son, like son: When Sutton describes the differences between a Bob Knight-coached Texas Tech team and a Pat Knight-Tech team, he sounds like he's talking about the difference between a Sean Sutton-OSU team and an Eddie Sutton team.

Sutton said Tech is playing more up-tempo and mixing in zone defense.

"I knew when he took over he would play zone,” Sutton said of Pat. "He felt like there were times in the past, where if they had played zone in the past, it might have helped them win games.

"But Coach Knight was so stubborn, he was going to play zone, much like my own dad.”

Pat Knight agreed, and said: "These are things my father and I have discussed, and he agrees with what we're doing, he just chose not to do it because what he was doing was working for him.”

•Homeward bound? Oklahoma State assistant James Dickey declined to comment about the coaching vacancy at Arkansas State on Wednesday, saying that he is focusing on OSU and today's game against Texas Tech.

•Barnes wins coaching honor: Texas' Rick Barnes was named The Associated Press Big 12 coach of the year for the second year in a row and third time overall. In balloting of media members who cover the Big 12 on a regular basis, Barnes garnered 14 votes and Baylor's Scott Drew received five.

By Andrea Cohen and The Associated Press

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