No, it wasn’t much of an endorsement for Oklahoma State basketball coach Sean Sutton. Athletic Director Mike Holder came out and said that Sutton is the Cowboys coach. Of course we all know that.

     The problem was he he didn’t say what would happen after this season. I don’t like that.

     First of all it’s not fair to Sutton. You can’t just give the guy two years to get the job done. I realize that Sutton is part of the problem because he recruited some of the players that are no longer on campus.

     But as I watched his team play in Norman I saw a team that was playing with heart. They played with emotion. The obvious problem is they don’t have any type of inside game. You’re not going to beat too many good teams if you can’t score and rebound inside.

     Since Holder didn’t endorse Sutton for the future, that could hurt current Cowboy recruiting. You can bet that rival coaches will use that when talking to some of the top prospects the Pokes are looking at.

    The Oklahoma State team isn’t far off. If they can get a couple of talented big men in the upcoming recruiting class it will be back in the NCAA tournament.

     There are many in Stillwater who would like to cut ties with Sutton because they think Bonne Pickens’ money can land Bill Self. That’s not going to happen. Even though Self is an OSU grad, he’s not leaving one of the premier basketball jobs that is located in Lawrence. He’s quite happy there.

     Sean Sutton has to be given at least one more year to get the program back on track.

     AND OKLAHOMA will get a chance to “steal” another road win this weekend at Texas A&M. The Aggies are a good team, but they have bneen overrated all year long. They had played only one nonconference road game.

     If Baylor can go into College State and win, the Sooners certainly can. The key for OU is to get consistent guard play. That hasn’t been the case thus far this year.

    I think OU gets into the NCAA tournament if it wins the remainder of its home games and wins at least one more road game. The contest later in the season at Colorado is the best bet.