He’d Eat Shrimp Sandwiches, Shrimp Stew, Lemon Shrimp. . . .

Dan Shaughnessy in the Boston Globe on Bryant (Big Country) Reeves, Oklahoma State’s 7-foot, 292-pound center, before the Cowboys defeated Massachusetts on Sunday:

“Big Country . It might be sports’ best nickname since Oil Can Boyd. He looks like a bloated Forrest Gump, a galumphing doofus who fits the ‘hick from French Lick’ image that Larry Bird brought to this tournament 16 years ago.

“But he is not to be mocked. Reeves can play. And he could be the one who stops UMass.”

Shaughnessy was prophetic as Reeves scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in leading Oklahoma State to a 68-54 victory.

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Add Shaughnessy: “Back when he was a freshman and really ‘country,’ Reeves supposedly told a flight attendant that his ears were bothering him because of the cabin pressure.

“She suggested that some chewing gum might help, and so Big Country peeled the wrapper off a stick of gum and stuck it in his ear. That’s the story.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the NCAA Final Four record for most rebounds in a game?

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Home cooking: Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star, in comparing the 1988 Arizona team that reached the Final Four (before losing) with the present UCLA team, clearly gives the edge in personnel to the Wildcats.

His only concession: “Steve Kerr and Craig McMillan, as a backcourt, is a wash with Tyus Edney and Charles O’Bannon.”

Sorry, Greg, Charles O’Bannon is a forward. Toby Bailey teams with Edney.

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Capital comparison: Gary Shelton in the St. Petersburg Times: “There were so many empty seats at the Yanks-Reds replacement game, you would have thought it was a session of Congress.”

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Glove crisis: It could happen only in replacement baseball. Robby Robertson, an aspiring Cincinnati outfielder, was moved to first base when there was no one else available to play the position.

The problem is that he has only an outfielder’s glove and he tries to keep it out of sight when a baserunner joins him. He doesn’t want to have to explain.

Yes, he’s error prone.

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Crazy month: During a timeout of a recent Indiana Pacer home game, a fan, possibly inebriated, ran onto the court, dropped his pants and began to moon the crowd.

Said Pacer Coach Larry Brown, “March madness.”

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Let’s just run: Ma Junren, Chinese track coach, confirming that he sometimes beat up members of his world-class squad as a motivational tool: “I must admit my management style was too simple sometimes.”

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Trivia answer: Bill Russell of the University of San Francisco, with 27 in the championship game against Iowa in 1956.

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Quotebook: Bob Tewksbury, St. Louis Cardinal pitcher, on the baseball strike: “It’s like a dead animal under the porch. The stink is always there every day, even though you can’t see it.”