First-year Oklahoma State basketball coach Brad Underwood walked into the Big 12 media day jamboree at the Sprint Center, and all of a sudden it felt like Throwback Tuesday.
As if out of central casting, Underwood exudes a square-jawed, rugged, good-humored embodiment of the old Big Eight.
It’s affirmed by pedigree: For starters, he’s a descendant of the Henry Iba tree via Jack Hartman coaching him at Kansas State — an identity Underwood’s three Oklahoma State players here Tuesday confirmed, noting his obsession with defense.
Growing up in McPherson, Kan., Underwood regularly watched the Big Eight game of the week and traveled to Kansas City for conference holiday tournaments and NAIA tourneys held in a place, he says, that “engulfs basketball.