Any downside to a Bedlam All-College?

I wrote for today’s paper about a Bedlam All-College (http://www.newsok.com/berry-tramel-all-college-needs-bedlam/article/3395657?custom_click=lead_story_title) — Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma in late December at the Ford Center.

I’ve brought it up in the past but got nowhere with the coaches. Kelvin Sampson and Eddie Sutton weren’t interested.

Sutton would always talk about 1986, when he had a great Kentucky team that played LSU twice in the regular season and again in the SEC Tournament, winning all three times. But then they played in an NCAA regional final, and LSU won to go to the Final Four. Why that had to nix a third Bedlam regular-season matchup, I don’t know.

I think Sampson just didn’t want to deal with the prospect of losing Bedlam and then hearing about it for a month, until the first conference OU-OSU game. That’s negative thinking. Why not dwell on the positive? Win in December and ride a month of glory? And win or lose, it’s not like we still wouldn’t have football to take our minds off the basketball result.

I trotted out the theory to OSU coach Ford that the losing coach might be in for a long month and he dismissed it quickly. “I don’t care about that.”

That’s an encouraging attitude.

I wanted to ask OU coach Jeff Capel his thoughts on the idea, but he deferred to athletic director Joe Castiglione, which is disappointing. I wasn’t presenting a contract ready to be signed. I was trying to get the flow of ideas going.

Capel’s perspective would be interesting, because of his North Carolina roots. Grew up on Tobacco Road, played at Duke, his brother played at UNC.

“Would Carolina play Duke in Charlotte just for the heck of it?” Ford asked. “I don’t know.”