Unranked Missouri not going to worry about it

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- As leader of the only team in the Big 12's upper division that isn't ranked, Quin Snyder has an attitude. Missouri's rookie head coach insists that it's no big

Monday, February 7th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -- As leader of the only team in the Big 12's upper division that isn't ranked, Quin Snyder has an attitude. Missouri's rookie head coach insists that it's no big deal. "I don't think we're a team that can make a strong claim to being ranked," said a modest Snyder, whose Tigers won two road games last week and raised their record to 14-6 overall and a irst-place 7-1 tie in league games. "But we're working on it. It's fun to get ranked, and it can provide motivation for teams," Snyder said Monday during the Big12 coaches' briefing.

The Tigers are one of six Big 12 teams that are either 7-1 or6-2 in league games. The other five are all ranked. Oklahoma State checks in at No. 14, followed by Oklahoma (16),Iowa State (17), Texas (18) and Kansas (20). Isn't this bound to bother the Missouri players who have worked so hard and done so well in exceeding everyone's expectations, and who beat Kansas by 22 points? "I won't let it bother them," said Snyder. "It's OK to be playing for respect. But really good players don't get concerned about that. Ultimately, if you're doing a good job that should be enough, to know you're good. I don't think it will bother them."

Missouri plays host Wednesday to the Big 12's other surprise team. Iowa State (19-3, 7-1), which beat Missouri at home last month while freshman Kareem Rush was sitting out an NCAA suspension. It promises to be one of the biggest Big 12 games of the year. "We've put ourselves in position to play a big game," Snyder said. "Down 14 in the second half at Nebraska was a gut check. Ou rpoint guard fouling out after playing 14 minutes at Colorado, not having won there since 1994, that was a gut check."

Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy admits he didn't expect quite this much production so soon in just his second year in the league. "I guess if you'd say did you think you'd be doing this well at this time of year, I couldn't answer that 2-3 months ago because there were uncertainties about our guard play. But Jamaal Tinsley came in and made the adjustment," Eustachy said.

Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson, in the meantime, is still apologizing for the mean-spirited personal attacks Sooner fans yelled at Texas' Gabe Muoneke when the Longhorns visited on Jan.31. "Buying a ticket to a basketball game doesn't give you the right to be cruel," said Sampson. Sampson's wife even looked up Muoneke after the game to apologize. "I think it's OK to support your team," said Sampson. "WhereI disagreed with our crowd was where they made it personal." Does he think such crude behavior will go away? "Probably not," Sampson said. "My message will be heeded by the good people. The people who want to do this again will."

Put Oklahoma State's Eddie Sutton in the camp of coaches who are strongly against a proposed NCAA plan to change the rules of amateurism and even let young people play in the NBA for a while and then come back and play in college. "I think it would just encourage young people to go do that," Sutton said. "I'd be very opposed to it. For every guy who's ready to go into the NBA coming out of high school, there are 100 or mor ewho should not do it. "The biggest thing when you go to the pros is not physical. The biggest adjustment is ... mental and emotional. He has no support system whatsoever. You get into the NBA, you're pretty much on your own."

At the bottom of the standings are Texas Tech and Kansas State. Both have been crippled by injury and they have just one conference win between them. "The one thing we've tried to do through this is make sure we don't let our players just lay down," said Texas Tech coach James Dickey. "You've got to compete. You've got to have pride in yourself and do the best you possibly can. That's what we're going to continue to do. But it's not a lot of fun."

Kansas State has lost eight in a row and must go to Oklahoma on Tuesday before hosting Kansas on Saturday. Is this the most challenging chapter in Tom Asbury's coaching career? "I don't think a lot about that," he said. "I don't have time to sit back and reflect, quite frankly. That would be easier to evaluate at the end of the year. We're not allowed the luxury of looking back that much."