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Mississippi State made the announcement Wednesday that the inaugural Maroon Madness event would take place for the school's men's and women's basketball teams, featuring scrimmages, 3-point contests and a chance to get excited about the Bulldogs.

Fans getting to attend the free showcase have senior guard Dee Bost's Twitter campaign to thank for helping to spur the school to set up the event for the first time.

On Sept. 19, Bost tweeted: "Some of y'all convince COACH STANSBURY to let us have a midnight madness, bc it's gone b live!!!"

Nine days later, athletic director Scott Stricklin announced the Midnight Madness event had become official and gave credit where it was due, tweeting, "@De_Bost3 you make things happen."

Officially, Mississippi State was in the planning stages for a Madness shindig before Bost waged a more public campaign.

But it had to have been a welcome sight for the Bulldogs to see Twitter put to good use after coach Rick Stansbury banned his players from using it last year. Inflammatory tweets led to leading scorer Ravern Johnson being suspended last season and the dismissal last month of top-100 recruit D.J. Gardner, who has since landed at a junior college.

Now, following one tweet controversy after another, at long last, Stansbury himself has joined Twitter after being convinced of its merits (or monitoring capabilities).

Twitter has brought one momentous occasion with the formation of a Midnight Madness, and Stansbury's first tweet will be another.

Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury banned the team's use of Twitter last season after Ravern Johnson complained about his role on the team. That earned the Bulldogs' leading scorer a two-game suspension. In a statement, Stansbury explained that "some young men just don’t understand once they put something out there for everyone to see, there is no taking it back."

Now Twitter has cost freshman D.J. Gardner, an ESPNU Top 100 recruit, his Mississippi State career. Stansbury dismissed the 6-foot-7 guard the day after he announced Gardner would be redshirted. Gardner responded by tweeting profanity-laced remarks.

But while Gardner's tweets might have crossed the line, they also showed his deep frustrations with the Mississippi State program before he even played a single game.

His mother told The Clarion-Ledger that it was Gardner's idea to redshirt the season, but that he didn't believe it was decided upon until Stansbury announced it to the media Thursday.

"I was told no decision would be made until November about D.J. being redshirted," Angela Gardner told The Clarion-Ledger. "Imagine my surprise when I saw it come across Channel 9 news."

Angela Gardner said her son was lied to during the recruiting process earlier this year, when he was told by coaches he would see significant playing time this season. Upon learning he would be part of a three-man rotation at shooting guard, D.J. Gardner approached the coaching staff and asked for a redshirt year, she said.

"It's like they sold him a dream," she said.

So while Gardner might have made a poor decision in using a public forum to air his grievances, it appears Mississippi State might need to improve the way it communicates as well.

Johnson's critical tweet last February appeared to question why his coaches couldn't put him in a better position to show off his talents on offense. Then teammate Renardo Sidney retweeted it, causing many to wonder about the respect level the two players had for Stansbury.

On Thursday, Stansbury's interview featured a couple of cases of miscommunication. The coach insisted to reporters that it was his decision to have Sidney work out in Houston rather than it be the player deciding not to accompany the team to Europe. Sidney had received criticism for what appeared to be his own decision, and that storyline was allowed to go on for weeks before Stansbury corrected reporters and then was vague about why he decided Sidney shouldn't travel with the team.

Now the Gardner issue appears to be getting messy as well because the player didn't think a decision had yet been made on redshirting at the moment Stansbury announced it.

So while Mississippi State players are using Twitter to get their points across harshly, there remains the question as to why they are unhappy in the first place.

An over-the-top tweet, after all, isn't the only questionable mode of communication that has led to problems at Mississippi State.

Mississippi State sophomore Renardo Sidney, who had not been made available to the media since his nationally televised fight in the stands with a teammate in Hawaii, again became the subject of controversy as he broke his media silence in a brief postgame interview with the SEC Network after a big game on Saturday in a win against Ole Miss.

The issue wasn't what was said, but that the team refused to make Sidney available to the rest of the media, because according to a spokesman quoted by the NEMS Daily Journal, "You're all going to try to get it back to Hawaii. We have to protect him."

MSU head coach Rick Stansbury stood firm on the access issue during his time with reporters, and appeared to concede that allowing the interview with Dean was a mistake.

"He doesn't want to talk with you," Stansbury told reporters, but later said "at some point, in this season, we'll let you talk to him."

Honestly, we want him to be able to talk. There ain't no problem from that standpoint. It's just, because of his situation, what he's been through and what's happened to him this year, there's so many things that you guys can trip him with and he doesn’t understand how to respond. Most people wouldn't. The more experience he can get doing some things, before putting him in front of you guys. Again, it’s not hiding anything. It's just how to respond.

...

See, he gets a black eye from everybody because he got a year and nine months (NCAA) suspension. Well, he had nothing to do with that. You guys never wrote about that. Not one soul has ever wrote about that. He had zero to do with that -- something over his ninth grade year in high school. But he comes in with a black eye with that year and nine months. Is it right or wrong? I don’t know. It's what it is. Now, basically for me, he got suspended one time before that fight (an outburst at practice on Dec. 21). Did I have to suspend him for that? I didn’t have to but I did. If I hadn't, he would have had but one suspension.

Rick Cleveland of The Clarion-Ledger broke down the SEC Network interview with Sidney and believes that shielding him from reporters is a mistake by a team that has given him preferential treatment.

He mentioned conditioning at least three times in a 30-second interview. He did say that teammate Dee Bost did a good job of getting the ball to him. He handled the interview OK, but there were no really probing questions asked.

The SEC Network wasn't going to ask about the fight with the former team captain in Hawaii or the re-tweeting of teammate Ravern Johnson's critical tweets more recently.

Those are questions Mississippi reporters have wanted to ask for weeks. Obviously, State doesn't trust Sidney to answer in a way that won't embarrass either him or the school. Too bad. The reason Sidney has the problems he has now is because he has always been treated as someone special. He has been coddled and not held accountable.

Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury is going to ban his players from using Twitter. Gee, I wonder why.

Actually, no. Check that. It's pretty easy to figure out. It's because Mississippi State remains an utter train wreck, and some late-night tweets are merely the latest example therein.

Of what do I speak? I speak of Mississippi State guard Ravern Johnson's rather unwise decision to criticize his team and coach on Twitter Wednesday night, chronicled in detail by the Clarion-Ledger's Brandon Marcello. Mere minutes after Johnson finished speaking to the media following the Bulldogs' 75-61 loss to Alabama, Johnson wrote the following on his Twitter account:

“Starting to see why people Transfer you can play the minutes but not getting your talents shown because u watching someone else wit the ball the whole game shooters need to move not watch why other coaches get that do not make sense to me”

That would seem to be a criticism of Stansbury, the kind you might send your friends and family in a particularly frustrated moment, but certainly not the kind you want to publish to the entire world. Nor do you want your teammate to retweet it, though that's exactly what sophomore forward Renardo Sidney did. Fans soon unleashed the collective outrage on the two players, causing them to leave a pair of final messages before eventually deleting their accounts:

From Johnson: Funny to see what all our so called #Fan Really think good to know

From Sidney: It’s a Shame how our fans turn they back on us when we need them the most…. #sad

Then, like dust in the wind, both players' Twitter accounts vanished. Cue Kansas' "Dust In the Wind." (Sniffle. "You're my boy Blue! You're my boy ...")

Of course, you're reading about these tweets now, so the deletion efforts didn't do the trick. But a school spokesman told Marcello that the deletion wasn't the result of a mandate from the program; both players apparently decided it was a good idea to delete their accounts themselves. Probably about right. So what does Stansbury think of all this? Per a statement released by the school this afternoon, he thinks those darned Twittertubes are up to no good again:

“It’s a new world we live in with Twitter and all the things you can do on the Internet," Stansbury said in a statement. "After the game last night, we had a frustrated player that gets on Twitter and says things that aren’t appropriate. In the heat of the moment, some young men just don’t understand once they put something out there for everyone to see, there is no taking it back. That’s why I’m banning the use of Twitter at this point.”

Well, yeah, that's probably a good idea. A little late, but a good idea. And Stansbury actually does seem to have a point. Johnson no doubt knew his tweet was going out into the world, but he probably a) didn't think all that much about the public nature of his account and b) didn't think what he said would be that big of a deal anyway. You have to feel a little bad for him. The dude was just frustrated, is all.

But this is why it's a good idea to ban Twitter. No matter how many times you try to hammer it home -- and you'd think Mississippi State has made this point to its student-athletes before -- you shouldn't say anything on Twitter you wouldn't be willing to say to a reporter's (or your friend's, or your boss's) face. It's all the same thing. It's all a public statement.

In any case, this isn't a big deal because of Twitter. It's a big deal because Mississippi State, a team that seemed to have a shot at an NCAA tournament berth early this season, continues to be a don't-want-to-watch-but-can't-look-away train wreck. This is a season that saw Sidney return from his suspension out of shape (though he's played better lately), saw forward Elgin Bailey suspended for a televised fistfight with Sidney on the sidelines, saw Stansbury mortgage his schedule in the hopes of getting ineligible guard Dee Bost back in time for conference play, and saw the Bulldogs go 11-10 in their first 21 games, with losses to Florida Atlantic, East Tennessee State and Hawaii mixed in for good measure.

In other words, Ravern Johnson's ill-advised tweet and Renardo Sidney's ill-advised retweet are just another chapter in the unfortunate saga that is the 2010-11 Bulldogs' season. At this point, that season can't end soon enough.

By waiting until the week practice begins to finalize his schedule, Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury has outsmarted a nine-game NCAA penalty that would have pushed junior Dee Bost’s season debut deeper into SEC play.

Bost was given a nine-game suspension for failing to withdraw from the NBA draft by the new May 8 deadline. The Bulldogs’ starting point guard is also academically ineligible for the fall semester.

But Stansbury still had a few games to schedule while he was waiting to get Bost’s decision from the NCAA. He also had the ability to move a November game to December to give Bost a chance to start the SEC season on time since the NCAA starts counting Bost’s suspension after Dec. 11.

Stansbury accomplished every goal.

The Bulldogs moved a game against Alabama State from Dec. 4 to Dec. 14, so it’ll count as one of the nine games Bost will be forced to miss post-first semester. And then Stansbury secured a game against Sweet 16 team Saint Mary’s on Dec. 29 in Las Vegas, as Mississippi State returns from playing in the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.

The moving around of the schedule means Bost will make his season debut in the Jan. 8 SEC opener against Alabama, instead of waiting until Jan. 13 at Ole Miss or possibly Jan. 16 against Auburn.

Meanwhile, Stansbury also scheduled an exhibition for Dec. 15 in either Starkville or Jackson, Miss., to give heralded sophomore Renardo Sidney, who is serving a nine-game amateurism penalty, some sort of competition before he makes his season debut Dec. 18 against Virginia Tech in the Bahamas.

So here’s the breakdown. Sidney and Bost will miss these first nine games:
Nov. 12 – Tennessee State
Nov. 19 – Appalachian State
Nov. 22 – Detroit
Nov. 26 – Troy
Nov. 30 – Florida Atlantic
Dec. 11 – East Tennessee State
Dec. 12 – North Carolina A&T
Dec. 13 – Nicholls State
Dec. 14 – Alabama State

The Bulldogs will then play an exhibition with Sidney on Dec. 15. And will play these next five games with Sidney but without Bost:
Dec. 18 – vs. Virginia Tech in Bahamas
Dec. 22 – vs. Washington State (Honolulu)
Dec. 23 – vs. Baylor or San Diego (Honolulu)
Dec. 25 – vs. Butler, Florida State, Hawaii or Utah (Honolulu)
Dec. 29 – vs. Saint Mary’s in Las Vegas

Bost might have missed 16 games had Mississippi State not added and moved around games. Instead he will miss 14 (and no conference games) for the SEC West favorite.

“We just have to survive those games at home before we get Sidney,’’ Stansbury said. “Then it all turns up. Once he’s eligible, it’s all quality games.’’

Stansbury said the Bahamas-to-Hawaii-to-Las Vegas trip is daunting, but if “we’re not going to be in Starkvegas for Christmas, this was a pretty good option. These are some good cities with all good teams.’’

The Bulldogs return guard Ravern Johnson alongside Bost, as well as Kodi Augustus inside. State will count heavily on Sidney inside, and in Bost’s absence will likely look to Brian Bryant, a JC point guard. Freshman Jalen Steele will also be in the backcourt rotation, as will sophomore Twany Beckham (possibly the starter in Bost’s absence) and redshirt freshman Shaun Smith.

At this very moment, Mississippi State guard Dee Bost is thanking his lucky stars and the almighty NCAA for a show of leniency.

The NCAA has decided to suspend Bost for nine games rather than take away his collegiate eligibility for failing to meet the NBA draft withdrawal deadline in May. That means that once the talented 6-foot-2 junior becomes academically eligible (he's ineligible in the fall), he can start serving the suspension.

The waiting game weighed on Bost, teammate Ravern Johnson told the Starkville Dispatch.

"It's a painful time for him," Johnson said Tuesday. "He's really not himself right now. He's ready to get back. He brings it up every day. He even says that if he gets cleared, he'll stay 'til his senior year."

Even getting back Bost for part of his junior year is great news for coach Rick Stansbury, who is looking to build on a 24-win season. The Bulldogs could be real contenders for the NCAA tournament once Bost returns along with forward Renardo Sidney, who has to serve a nine-game suspension this year as well.

Bost has maintained that he simply wanted to test the draft waters and made a mistake with the rules.

It cost him some games and some peace of mind this offseason, but things certainly could have ended up worse.

NCAA coaches got what they wanted: a mostly stress-free May and early June.

No one can whine anymore about an early-entrant testing the draft process and holding the program hostage for two months. The NCAA's deadline passed Saturday, and the with the official early-entry list forthcoming from the NBA this week, the uncertainty of rosters -- save a few late recruits -- is no longer an issue for 2010-11.

Some of the programs either hit or salvaged from the decisions had obvious consequences. Earlier in the blog, I discussed the impact on Kentucky and the rising programs at NC State and Richmond. Here are some quick takes on 10 other schools affected in some way by the draft process:

• Purdue is now a Big Ten co-favorite along with Michigan State and a realistic team to reach the Final Four now that JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore have decided to stay in school and join Robbie Hummel to give the Boilermakers three senior studs.
• BYU will remain a Mountain West title contender with the return of Jimmer Fredette. New Mexico will have to be in reload mode with the early departure of Darington Hobson and the graduation of Roman Martinez.
• Butler is still the clear favorite to win the Horizon, but no longer a projected Final Four repeat visitor with Gordon Hayward's decision to stay in the draft.
• Ole Miss lost Terrico White, a likely first-round pick, but the Rebels still have leading scorer and fellow guard Chris Warren, who didn't flirt with the NBA draft.
• Mississippi State lost its point guard (Dee Bost), but got back its shooter (Ravern Johnson) and will at the very least be back on the NCAA bubble again.
• Illinois hopes to get off that bubble and in the NCAA tournament with the return of Mike Davis and Demetri McCamey.
• Virginia Tech has a chance to be an ACC contender with Malcolm Delaney's sensible decision to return. The Hokies return essentially their entire roster.
• With Alex Tyus listening to reasoned minds and returning to school (his father and uncle thought he should leave Florida because he wasn't playing the 3 position), the Gators can now claim they have all five starters back for the first time since starting the season as the preseason No. 1 in 2006.
• Xavier lost its best player in Jordan Crawford and won't be the A-10 preseason favorite that it probably would've been. Meanwhile, Temple remains a contender in that conference with the return of Lavoy Allen.
• Penn State wasn't going to be an NCAA team either way, but at least it has its marquee player returning in Talor Battle.

There's no question that the NCAA's decision to cut back from two months to 10 days had a positive affect for coaches. Players who normally may have had time to work out and move up on the second- or first-round board didn't have a chance. There were barely any workouts to be had, so the players didn't get a true chance to test the draft process.

For some likely first-round players, it didn't matter as they were leaving anyway with the fear of a lockout and a lower rookie salary scale in 2011 and beyond. For many others, however, the lack of workout opportunities and inability to go to the NBA-sponsored Chicago draft camp probably forced them to return to school.

That's good for the coaches and their nerves, but is it good for the players and the overall process? That's debatable.

What's not is that it's the new reality.

The NBA retired players association reached out to the NCAA to see if there was interest in a combine for early entrants to test the draft process.

According to Charles Smith, the retired players association executive director, there was no interest in having one during the 10 days underclassmen have now been allotted to see where they stand before making a decision on whether to stay in the draft.

It's almost impossible for prospects to get a real read on where they'd go in the draft for a number of reasons: Prospects have only one weekend to work out from April 29 to May 8, teams aren't interested in conducting workouts so early in the draft process when the official list of entrants will be available in another week, and the players are unable to work out for teams until they’ve completed final exams.

Previously, agentless underclassmen had until 10 days prior to the NBA draft to decide. That rule is still intact from the NBA, but international players will be the only group using that withdrawal date this spring.

“They don’t have a chance to be evaluated,’’ Smith said Friday of the NCAA’s new rule. “It’s not fair to the players. We wanted to host a combine, but the NCAA wasn’t for it.’’

But NCAA spokesperson Bob Williams said Friday that the combine wasn’t sponsored by the NBA or a team and that the retired players association was told it could not provide expenses or have organized competition. Williams said the NBA players association could have had drills or even some pickup games, but not kept score or had officials.

Smith said he will make another attempt in 2011 to do a combine in some form to give players a chance to make a more informed decision.

The overriding reason borderline draft picks have given coaches as to why they left for the NBA early has been the fear of a lockout and a possible lower rookie-salary scale in 2011.

Regardless, a number of fence-sitters are making their coaches sweat down to the last minute. Here is the latest through sources close to the situation:

Mike Davis and Demetri McCamey, Illinois: Coach Bruce Weber was already told Davis will return to school, which boosts the Illini's chances to mount a return trip to the NCAAs. But Weber has to still speak with McCamey, which is quite amazing considering he's unlikely to be drafted if he stays in.

JaJuan Johnson and E'Twaun Moore, Purdue: Coach Matt Painter might have to wait until Saturday’s 5 p.m. deadline to see if Johnson and Moore decide to stay in the draft. Johnson would be the more likely candidate since he’s a likely second-round pick. Moore would run the risk of going undrafted.

Ravern Johnson and Dee Bost, Mississippi State: Johnson has let the Mississippi State staff know he will likely return to school, but in a stunning development, Bost actually may look to go overseas instead of return to school. Bost has been told he can make money overseas even if he’s not selected in the draft. The Bulldogs, no stranger to waiting until the final hours of the NBA early-entry deadline, will sweat out Bost’s decision. The backcourt would be much younger without him, but the emergence of Renardo Sidney in the starting lineup after serving his nine-game suspension will help offset any departures, especially of senior Jarvis Varnado.

Alex Tyus, Florida: Tyus isn’t a first-round pick. He easily could go undrafted. But that might not stop the Gators from losing yet another player early to the NBA draft. At least in the cases of Marresse Speights and Nick Calathes the past two seasons, they were first-round talents. But when I spoke to UF coach Billy Donovan late Friday afternoon, he wasn’t sure which way Tyus would go.

Malcolm Delaney, Virginia Tech: Virginia Tech’s chances to get into the 2011 NCAA tournament took a huge step forward with the decision of Malcolm Delaney to return for his senior season. Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said Friday night that Delaney will withdraw from NBA draft by Saturday’s deadline. Delaney averaged a team-high 20.2 points for the Hokies last season.

Jordan Crawford, Xavier: No word out of the Musketeers on whether Crawford will stay or go, but with Crawford considered one of the top shooting guards it’s unlikely he'll return.

Lavoy Allen, Temple: Nothing official from the Owls regarding Allen's status, but leaving would make little sense since he’s not likely to be picked in this deep draft. The Owls would be an A-10 contender again with Allen around.

Jimmer Fredette, BYU: Coach Dave Rose isn’t sure if Fredette will stay or go. The decision is expected to go down to the final hours Saturday as Fredette figures out if he’s a viable candidate in the first round. Defensive liabilities would say no shot, but it’s hard to project what he will be told in the final hours.

Darington Hobson, New Mexico: Hobson is regarded as a possible late-first round pick and for that reason Lobos coach Steve Alford expects Hobson to keep his name in the draft. He'll also be 23 years old by the time the new season rolls around. There could be a last-minute decision to return, but it doesn’t appear likely.

A few quick hitters on Saturday’s slate:

• UCLA is officially toast. The Bruins have no shot to get in the NCAA tournament unless they win the Pac-10 tournament. Seriously, even if the Bruins were to win the Pac-10, the question will be what have they done? It’s early but it’s not too soon to announce this after the Bruins were rocked once again in the city of Anaheim, this time in a different venue (Honda Center) and by another team (Mississippi State) by double figures (72-54). The Bruins are now 0-4 in Anaheim.
• Mississippi State’s Ravern Johnson scored 29 in the convincing win for the Bulldogs. John Riek gets eligible for the Bulldogs next week to add depth to the frontcourt. No one knows if Renardo Sidney will ever play for Mississippi State. Even without him the Bulldogs should be 1-2 in some order with Ole Miss for the SEC West title.
• Saint Mary’s had a major road win, beating Oregon by five in Eugene, a day after learning guard Wayne Hunter was done for the season with a torn ACL. Hunter had started the first seven games and averaged 11.6 points a game. Omar Samhan scored 22 and, despite a love affair here with Portland and San Diego early, the Gaels look like they may be the real challenger to Gonzaga in the WCC.
• The Pac-10 continues to be dreadful out of conference as Washington lost to Georgetown in Anaheim, and the aforementioned UCLA and Oregon losses, make the league look even worse. Seriously, there is a power five this season and then the sixth-best conference will either be the A-10 or the MWC. Deal with it. The Pac-10 may be looking at a best-case scenario of two NCAA bids. And the committee may discuss expanding the tournament? To get more mediocrity in the field? No thanks.
• Georgetown’s Greg Monroe had a super week with 25 points and 15 boards in a win over Butler and then followed that up with 15 points, eight boards and six assists in the win over the Bruins. Monroe’s mate Julian Vaughn showed he can score too with a career-high 18. The Hoyas will be a contender for the Big East title.
• Kansas blew out La Salle and freshman Xavier Henry scored 31 points with four rebounds and two assists. Can you imagine what Memphis would have been like with Henry, John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Roburt Sallie, Willie Kemp and possibly Duke transfer Elliot Williams? It would have happened had John Calipari stayed put instead of going to Kentucky.
• Butler got a desperately needed win by holding off Ohio State by eight at home. Matt Howard fouled out again though and the Bulldogs have to find a way to stop the insanity of him getting into foul trouble.
• Ohio State played its first game without Evan Turner and was expectedly erratic. William Buford proved to be the scorer, though, with 20 points.
• George Mason beat Creighton, easily one of the more disappointing teams in the country now at 3-5. Creighton coach Dana Altman got a technical in the final 18 seconds, which didn’t help. It was Altman’s first technical since 2007.
• Portland and Pitt got much-needed wins after rough weeks of late.
• Chris Warren of Ole Miss is showing no signs of his ACL bothering him as he scored 20 against McNeese State and is averaging 17.5 on the season.
• Western Carolina, picked to win the Southern Conference with the College of Charleston, shocked Louisville 91-83 at Freedom Hall. The Cardinals can’t use the excuse of not having Preston Knowles, Jerry Smith and Peyton Siva when they didn’t have them for the loss to Charlotte. Louisville goes through early-season funks every year under Rick Pitino, but this one seems deeper and their road game on Jan. 2 in Kentucky seems awfully daunting.
• Kentucky ran away from Indiana in Bloomington, 90-73, behind Eric Bledsoe’s 23. John Wall had "only" 11 points, but had eight assists and only one turnover. Kentucky coach John Calipari said he couldn’t be more thrilled for how his players handled their first true road game. Meanwhile, Indiana may have found a big-time scorer as freshman Maurice Creek went for 31.
• Wisconsin needed a win after losing at UW Green Bay and the 72-63 victory against rival Marquette will do well for this team’s ego and confidence going forward.
• Columbia’s Noruwa Agho continues to be one of the best-kept secrets in the country as he made a pair of threes and scored 23 points in a win at Bryant. Agho is shooting over 64 percent on 3s (27 of 42) so far this season.
• The box score of the day came out of Seton Hall-VMI. The Keydets make teams play uptempo and the Pirates obliged with a 134-107 win. Jeremy Hazell scored 33 while Jamel Jackson scored 40, making 12 of 15 3-pointers. The 134 is the most points scored by the Hall in its 105-year history as was the 241-points combined. Jackson broke the Hall single-game record with 12 3s. By the way, he comes off the bench and was averaging seven points a game entering the day.
• Oklahoma finally awoke in a game against a significant opponent as Willie Warren went for 27 points in an overtime win at Utah, which had just beaten Michigan at the Huntsman Center earlier in the week.