Oklahoma St., Georgia Tech are set for rough contest

The Cowboys' frontcourt defenders have been compared to football linemen.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Jarrett Jack just sat there, listening to yet another tale about Oklahoma State's toughness. The Cowboys are so rugged, he was told, they once worked out in football helmets and shoulder pads.
The high-scoring Georgia Tech shooter had heard enough.
"I remember one day in practice we did similar drills," he said. "We did it without any protection."
While Duke and Connecticut shaped up as a free-flowing game between glamour programs, the first semifinal today at the Final Four looked like something entirely different.
Despite a couple of top guards on both teams -- Jack and B.J. Elder for Tech and Tony Allen and John Lucas for Oklahoma State -- this one might tilt on a stray elbow here and a little shove there.
Cowboys very physical
"They're physical and strong," Tech coach Paul Hewitt said Friday. "They're the type of team when you try to make a cut, they're going to knock you off your rattle a little bit.
"We can't take a bump and all of a sudden start staggering around," he said.
Told about his team's reputation, Allen shook his head. He even seemed a bit offended. Sort of.
"They got it wrong," he said. "We don't bang no guys around."
Well, maybe it only seems that way on tape -- and to the teams that have come back with bruises after playing the Cowboys. Before losing to them last weekend, Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli said their frontcourt defenders looked "like linemen."
Elder nearly healthy
At least Elder isn't hobbling anymore. Held scoreless and limited to a total of only 15 minutes in the St. Louis Regional by a sprained right ankle, Tech's top scorer pronounced himself ready to play.
"I think I'm about 85-90 percent. That's good enough," he said. "I'm just worried about being able to shoot over people.
"I can still feel it, but it's not near as sore as it was last week or even two days ago. It's getting a lot better every day," he said.
Elder looked fine during Friday's open practice at the Alamodome. Jack still had his touch, too, after scoring a career-high 29 points to help beat Kansas in the regional final.
Of course, they didn't have anyone smacking into them. The second-seeded Cowboys bring a presence that Tech's 7-foot-1 center Luke Schenscher saw on tape.
"They like to make contact. They seem to enjoy that kind of stuff," the big Australian said.
No worries, Allen says. The leading scorer and top defender for the Cowboys doesn't mind giving an opponent a nudge now and then.
"If we're banging guys all the time, then we'd be getting a lot of fouls. I think they call too many fouls. I mean, you do something like this," he said, pausing to give a forearm shiver to a bystander, "and they call you for a touch foul."
Fouls have been limited
At least the Cowboys know how to pick their spots. So far in the NCAA tournament, coach Eddie Sutton's team has drawn 16 fouls in each of its four games.
The third-seeded Yellow Jackets are averaging 17 1/2 fouls. They're not about to get pounded in the paint, either.
"We have a drill called war rebounding," guard Marvin Lewis said, "where it's like three or four guys in the lane.
"Coach throws the ball up. Anything goes. You can punch, you can push, you can do whatever. Just get the rebound and try to put it back in," he said.
That's kind of the idea Sutton had after Oklahoma State lost 76-71 at BYU in its fifth game of the season. The Cowboys were beaten up on the boards, outrebounded by an incredible 44-18 margin.
Toughing up drill
When Sutton got back to Stillwater, he decided his team was too soft and wanted to toughen up his players. That's when he got the idea to have them practice while wearing helmets and pads.
Jack seemed nonplussed by that story. He said the Yellow Jackets took the same approach, only they made it a bit more violent.
"We didn't have on football pads," he said. "Basically Coach was saying, 'Run everybody over.' I guess that he was kind of trying to put a tough charge in everybody."
Watching film of Oklahoma State, however, Jack noticed its physical nature.
"Oh, definitely," he said. "They come from the Big 12. That's a bruiser type conference, you know."