Sutton reflects on Cowboys' season

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The disappointment of coming up one victory short of the Final Four shouldn't outweigh what was a very good season, Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton says. <br><br>"In a week,

Tuesday, March 28th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The disappointment of coming up one victory short of the Final Four shouldn't outweigh what was a very good season, Oklahoma State coach Eddie Sutton says.

"In a week, when the pain has eased, they'll reflect on the season and realize they had an overall successful year," Sutton said Monday.

The Cowboys finished 27-7, losing 77-65 to Florida on Sunday in the championship of the NCAA East Regional. That denied Sutton his third trip to the Final Four and his second in 10 seasons with Oklahoma State.

"The University of Florida is a good basketball team," he said. "It's no disgrace to get beat by them."

Sutton said his team didn't play as well Sunday as it had in its three other NCAA tournament games. The Cowboys shot 42.4 percent from the field, were out rebounded 35 to 28 and committed 18turnovers.

After the game, Sutton said he told his team it's hard to accept defeat anytime.

"It's especially hard when you know you haven't played your best," he said.

Despite the loss, Sutton said he was happy that his seven seniors made it that far into the NCAAs.

Along with their showing in the tournament, Sutton said beating Kansas twice and winning during the non conference schedule were highlights of this season.

Oklahoma State tied for third in the Big 12 and received a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament.

The basketball program at Oklahoma State will miss the seven seniors for more than just their basketball skills, Sutton said.

"They certainly were very good basketball players," he said. "But the also represented OSU in a class manner and were great ambassadors for the state of Oklahoma.

"I'll miss the fellowship we had," Sutton said. "We had some good times."

Sutton said having so many seniors is unusual. Three of them --Brian Montonati, Glendon Alexander and Doug Gottlieb -- had transferred to OSU from other schools. And none was talented enough to be tempted to leave early for the NBA.

"It's a little different than if you have a bunch of McDonald's All-Americans," he said.

Finding players to fill the spots of the departing seniors will be difficult, he said, although the Cowboys had what is considered to be an outstanding recruiting class.

"We've got to find some quality players to replace the players we're losing," he said.