Indiana causes problems for Illini volleyball OSU crash puts basketball in perspective for team by Larry Hawley Senior writer Printer-friendly version Suddenly, the missed ball screens, blown defensive assignments and poor shooting ratios seemed petty to Illinois coach Bill Self. The team was headed back from Denver late Saturday night after a 81-71 loss to Colorado on Jan. 27. We're talking about how to get a good start in road games, but it's all irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Guards Nate Fleming and Dan Lawson died in the crash, along with sports information employee Will Hancock, director of basketball operations Pat Noyes, trainer Brian Luinstra, student manager Jared Weiberg, radio engineer Kendall Durfey and announcer Bill Teegins, in addition to the pilots, the Associated Press reported. Self coached under current Oklahoma State basketball coach Eddie Sutton from 1991 to 1993.
All coaches can feel an impact.
I can because I knew everyone. Nate was a relative of a close family to ours. He was a terrific young man, valedictorian in high school, a great tennis player, but he wanted to play basketball. Since leaving Oklahoma State, Self has maintained a close relationship to Sutton. Self feels that Sutton will help to ease the pain of the tragedy for Oklahoma State, and college basketball.