Big 12 coaches already fans of OU basketball coach Lon Kruger

“By the end of the week he knew every kid by name,” Martin said. “That left quite an impression on me. Here's the head coach at the University of Florida, and he takes the time to be at the camp all day, every day.

“He created a personal relationship with those kids and 98 percent of them will probably never play for Florida, yet that was important to him. That left a lifelong mark with me.”

During Thursday's Big 12 basketball summer teleconference, nearly every coach had a story about Kruger, hired in April to replace Jeff Capel at Oklahoma.

Kansas coach Bill Self coached at Oral Roberts, Tulsa, Illinois and Kansas. He followed Kruger at Illinois.

“Of all the coaches I've followed Lon was without question the easiest one to follow,” Self said. “I'm not saying the other ones weren't great. But Lon is about as egoless as a coach can be in our business. He was helping me to help the kids he coached at Illinois get better.”