Colorado Is Still Fighting at the Dance : Big Eight: Buffaloes beat Oklahoma State for the right to face Oklahoma, a winner over Kansas, in today’s final.

Somehow it seemed unjust that Oklahoma and Kansas, the No. 1 and No. 2 college basketball teams in the whole country, should have to mix it up for the right to meet Colorado, the No. 8 team of an eight-team conference. But, that’s the basketball biz for you. Stuff happens.

Oklahoma prevailed, 95-77, in Saturday’s main event of the Big Eight tournament at Kemper Arena, meaning that when the NCAA’s 64-team pairings are announced today, the top-ranked Sooners almost certainly will be entitled to be seeded first at the Midwest Regional, close to home.

A more compelling story, however, is the continued survival of 17-time loser Colorado, which can automatically qualify for the NCAA tournament by defeating Oklahoma in today’s conference title game. Colorado scored its second upset in two days for lame-duck Coach Tom Miller, handling Oklahoma State, 82-72, in a game scarred by a fistfight between players just as time expired.

Oklahoma (25-4) plays Colorado (12-17) at 1:10 p.m. PST. NCAA bids will be extended immediately afterward.

The Sooners figure to be home free, no matter what happens today. Win or lose, they probably will be assigned a Midwest first-round date at Austin, Tex., then proceed, if successful, to subsequent Midwest rounds in Dallas, a couple of relatively short hops from Norman, Okla. That’s their anticipated reward for keeping Kansas at bay in the national rankings.

Colorado, by contrast, must win again or disappear for the season. It also holds in its hands the possible fates of Kansas State or Oklahoma State, since, considering the competitive level of the Big Eight this season, the conference is likely to merit four NCAA bids, and maybe five. A Colorado victory would surely knock somebody out.

Not going out without a fight, the Buffaloes got into a near free-for-all at game’s end Saturday when reserve guard Johnny Terrell from Inglewood took exception to what appeared to be a vicious elbow smash by Oklahoma State’s leading scorer, forward John Potter, just as the clock ran out. Players, coaches and officials ganged up to pull the two apart.

“What happened?” Oklahoma State Coach Leonard Hamilton demanded of Terrell later. Terrell told him by raising his elbow neck-high, demonstrating how Potter hit him.

Hamilton, trying not to take sides, decided to put it this way: “It’s my understanding that Potter, uh, set a very physical pick. And obviously it irritated the young man.”

Obviously, since the young man tried to separate Potter from his teeth. Terrell later brushed it off as no big deal, just part of the game, but teammate Stevie Wise said: “Johnny Potter threw a ‘bow at Johnny Terrell’s throat, so our Johnny retaliated.”

Anyway, back to basketball: Unlike Friday’s game, when Colorado led Missouri from start to finish, a comeback was required. The Buffaloes were behind by as many as seven points in the first half before rallying behind center Shaun Vandiver’s 26 points and 16 rebounds, possibly sending Oklahoma State (16-13) to the NIT.

Oklahoma’s comeback was even more impressive. After spotting Kansas a 15-5 lead, the Sooners kept the Jayhawks 40 points below their tournament-record, 117-point onslaught of the night before. Oklahoma also made 20 of 30 shots in the second half.

“It was sorta like a horror show,” Kansas Coach Roy Williams said.

All five Sooner starters scored in double figures, led by guard Skeeter Henry with 24 points and forward Jackie Jones with 23. The game was close, 60-57, with 15:30 minutes remaining, but Coach Billy Tubbs was able to substitute freely after a 21-6 run gave Oklahoma plenty of breathing room.

Said Oklahoma guard Smokey McCovery, who passed expertly all day: “We just kept pushing the ball and didn’t allow them to set up. We could see them getting tired, even in the first half. We’re one of the deepest teams in the nation and we didn’t give them a chance to breathe.”

In separate but equal ways, principals from both Oklahoma and Colorado were able to poke fun at those who, in their minds, underestimated them.

Tubbs told a news conference: “I want to congratulate somebody. I read somewhere that 25 of y’all were asked to pick the winner and 24 of y’all picked Kansas. ‘Fess up, is that true? At least one of you’s smarter’n hell. Who wants to take credit?”

Whatever poll Tubbs was referring to was a mystery to those present.

Colorado guard Reggie Morton probably had better grounds to reply, when asked if he was surprised by the team’s play: “Let me ask a question of the media: Did you think we could do it?”

No one ‘fessed up or took credit.

The deciding factor in today’s game could come down to who is wearing what. Oklahoma is 19-0 this season in its white uniforms. It will wear them again. Colorado has been unstoppable since its coach has been wearing a lucky pink shirt. Miller intends to wear it again, and said: “If nobody’s standing next to me in the huddle, you’ll know I didn’t get to wash it.”

Said Morton: “The way we’re playing, we could come out naked and win.”

Tied 53-53, Colorado scored seven consecutive points on a fast-break by Wise, a three-pointer from the left side by Brent Vaughan and a follow-up lay-in by Vandiver, who repeatedly took advantage of opposing center Byron Houston’s four fouls. Vandiver and Houston this season were the Big Eight’s leading rebounders.

The closest Oklahoma State came thereafter was 74-70 in the final minute. Colorado promptly hit eight consecutive free throws for an insurmountable lead, and that was all the action until the fight.

Vandiver, who has been outspoken on the ouster of his coach, who was fired before the end of the season, said with typically colorful language: “We put our egos and our self-pities and our views to the side and just played ball. We didn’t want to go home. We wanted to stay at the dance.”

Can Colorado beat Oklahoma?

Oklahoma’s coach doesn’t know, but he is taking nothing for granted. “I think Colorado forgot they were the eighth-place team,” Tubbs said. “Colorado isn’t playing like an eighth-place team. I guarantee y’all, we won’t look down our noses at Colorado.”