MILWAUKEE --- Put Oklahoma State and Georgia Tech together and you'd pretty much have the perfect team.
Oklahoma State's James Anderson and Obi Muonelo are one of the best guard combos in the country, guys who can -- and do -- score from just about anywhere on the floor. Georgia Tech counters inside with freshman phenom Derrick Favors and Gani Lawal, bruisers who can out-muscle anyone who gets in their way.
Something -- somebody -- is going to have to give today, when the seventh-seeded Cowboys (22-10) and 10th-seeded Yellow Jackets (22-12) meet in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
"We're not the biggest team in the world," Cowboys coach Travis Ford said Thursday. "But our guys have figured out how to compete. We've played against some big teams. Kansas was big, Texas was big and Baylor's big. You go down the line, there's some big teams in the Big 12.
"We just hope maybe on the other side, because we do play a little bit of an unconventional lineup, maybe it can affect the other team a little bit."
Only one of Oklahoma State's starters -- Matt Pilgrim -- is taller than 6-foot-6, and Keiton Page is just 5-9. Compare that to the Yellow Jackets, who bring Favors (6-10, 246 pounds) and Lawal (6-9, 234), and whose shortest starter is 6-5.
Don't think the Cowboys aren't aware of their shortcomings.
Pilgrim has been hearing about Favors every since the pairings were announced Sunday night. The ACC freshman of the year leads the nation with 61.2 percent shooting and has scored in double figures the past nine games, when he's averaged close to a double-double. Favors has 24 blocks in that span, too.
Just as big is what Favors hasn't done. After struggling much of the season with early foul trouble, he entered the second half with one foul or less in the past five ACC games.
"I've said it all season, if he's on the floor he's going to dominate," said Lawal, no slouch himself with 13.1 points and 8.7 rebounds a game. "As you saw in the (ACC) championship game, that's the types of things he can do night in, night out -- blocking shots, rebounding, finishing strong, putbacks, everything. It definitely makes life a lot easier having him on the floor than him sitting on the bench."
While Favors is a special player -- he's expected to be a lottery pick in this June's NBA Draft -- the Cowboys have proven they're quite capable of handling the big boys. They handed Kansas one of its two losses this year, and also beat Kansas State and Baylor.
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