ORU Notebook - Tulsa World (3-20-2008)

[ORUTerry]

ORU Notebook

(excerpt)

By MIKE BROWN World Sports Writer

3/20/2008

Standing up for big brother:  ORU coach Scott Sutton said he thought "ridiculous" any suggestion that older brother Sean Sutton, Oklahoma State head coach, might be in danger of losing his job.

Sutton was asked during Wednesday's press conference if he had talked with his brother in the wake of the Cowboys' season-ending, NIT first-round loss at Southern Illinois on Tuesday night.

"He shouldn't be under pressure. That's ridiculous in my opinion. I didn't talk to him last night. I talked to him before he left for Carbondale (Ill.). We talked about Pitt, since they had played them the last couple of years," Scott Sutton said.

"Sean has done, in my opinion, a heck of a job. That team easily could have folded (after losing six straight games). They lost some heartbreaking games during that period. He got them back to winning five or six games in a row and I thought they were playing awfully good basketball down the stretch.

"They didn't play well last night, but a lot of times you never know how a team is going to respond playing in the NIT. Disappointed about not making the NCAA Tournament, some teams are fired up about playing (in the NIT) and some teams aren't.

"But if there's still any speculation about his job, that's in my opinion ridiculous," Sutton said.......

Link to Tulsa World Sports Extra

[ORUTerry]

Still ailing: Sutton said junior forward Marchello Vealy probably won't play Thursday, even though he is making progress on his injured left foot.

"He's nowhere 100 percent. I would be surprised if he played," Sutton said Wednesday as the Eagles went through their shoot-around at the Pepsi Center.

The 6-foot-7 Vealy injured his foot in the last regular-season game and sat out the conference tournament.

Interest news..... if Vealy doesn't play, Andre Hardy will need to step up and provide backup minutes. I think his style fits well against a team like Pitt.