TSN All-America team

Sporting News, The, March 21, 1994

Player of the year

GLENN ROBINSON

Glenn Robinson always had the drive. As a high school freshman, he was put through suicide sprint drills. "Man-makers," they are called by Ron Heflin, the coach of Roosevelt High in Gary, Ind.

"Most freshmen will complain their stomach hurts or something," Heflin says. "Glenn did it 40 times and was first all 40 times. I said to myself, |Look what I got here.'"

That kind of drive pushed Robinson. When he passed up a lottery spot in the NBA draft to return for his junior season at Purdue, he immediately was labeled the best player in the country. He has lived up to the billing, averaging 29.7 points and 10.2 rebounds. He is The Sporting News' Player of the Year, selected in a vote of our college basketball correspondents.

Robinson, a 6-foot-8 forward, has led Purdue down the stretch. His teammates aren't on a par with the best teams in he country. so it is clear Purdue's season is up to him. Yet, he has pulled the Boilermakers into first place in the Big Ten, leading the team in scoring every game since January 27.

"He likes that situation," Purdue senior Linc Darner says. "When we need a big bucket, he wants the ball. Not only does he want it, he knows what to do with it."

Opponents know Robinson will score. They can do nothing about it. He scored 36 and 37 against Michigan, 39 and 33 against Indiana, 40 against Ohio State. He has scored in double figures in 51 consecutive games.

"He's a great player," Iowa senior James Winters says. "Sit and watch him play one game, and you'll understand that he's a great player."

Robinson scores that much because it is what his team needs. "My guards have to get me the ball in order for me to score," he says. "I'm not a point guard. I can't take the ball out of bounds myself and pass it to myself and go down and shoot."

Robinson doesn't have to defend himself to his teammates. "He wants to win. He doesn't care if he scores two points or 42," Darner says.

Minnesota Coach Clem Haskins says, "Glenn Robinson has the heart of a lion. He's a fierce competitor."

Boilermakers Coach Gene Keady says, "He has a big heart. When you have someone with his talent and put it with a great heart, you've got a competitor, someone on your hands who is hard to stop."

Robinson doesn't know how to deal with a loss. "I have to deal with it, but I don't know how to do it," Robinson says. "No one likes to lose, but some people might be a sore loser, which I think I am."

"I don't want good losers," Keady says. "Good losers are consistent losers."

Coach of the year

NORM STEWART

This wasn't supposed to be Missouri's year.

The Tigers were picked to finish no better than third in the Big Eight. The Sporting News' preseason poll had Missouri No. 36. In their second game of the season, they lost at Arkansas, 120-68, the greatest margin of defeat in school history.

But Norm Stewart drove Missouri to a 24-2 record, 14-0 in the Big Eight, making them the first team to go undefeated in the league in 23 years. The Sporting News' college basketball correspondents voted Stewart, 59, coach of the year.

Says Kansas Coach Roy Williams, "What they've accomplished is mind-boggling to me because last year and two years ago we had an excellent club and didn't even come close to being undefeated." Kansas went 11-3 in the Big Eight both seasons.

Stewart has said repeatedly down the stretch, "This is a special team." Special in their results, if not their individual talent. Kansas center Greg Ostertag praised them when he said, "They're good, but not the best team we've played." But their results are better.

Stewart, coming off two years' probation, came into the season with seven seniors, including Melvin Booker, a 6-foot-2 guard, and Jevon Crudup, a 6-9 center. Stewart added Kelly Thames, a 6-6 freshman, and Julian Winfield, a 6-5 transfer.

The brutal loss to Arkansas caught the attention of Paul O'Liney, a marvelous junior-college player looking for a place to enroll in December. O'Liney decided the Tigers needed him, and the final piece was in place.

"Sometimes, it isn't just talent that wins for you," Stewart says. "Sometimes it's a combination of all the other good things that go into sports."

Larry Smith, a veteran coach hired this winter to take over the Missouri football team, says, "I tell our football players, |Go watch them play.' They play as hard as anybody I've seen. They don't have any Michael Jordans out there, but they really play as a team. They work so hard. They keep fresh; they go in and out and everybody plays their role."

Stewart said, perhaps half-jokingly, that the Big Eight was "a weak league" this year, making it easier for Missouri. Missouri lost to Notre Dame, and went into triple overtime to defeat Illinois. Their other non-league games were against teams that stand from 48th to 283rd in the computer rankings, and have a combined record of 112-124.

But Missouri did finish 24-2. "You know we've had a lot of breaks," Stewart says. "But when you play like that, you make them."