Johnson in sixth year as scout

Former Oklahoma Baptist University men’s basketball head coach Darrel Johnson was among 18 NBA scouts in attendance at Tuesday night’s game between Davidson and Oklahoma in Norman.
Johnson, in his sixth year with the Charlotte Bobcats, has had another court interest the last few years – his son Derek. A 6-foot-7-inch senior at Woodlands Christian in Houston, Derek Johnson is headed to the NCAA, Division I basketball ranks.
After averaging 19 points and nine rebounds last year as a junior, Derek Johnson was recruited by several schools. He took visits to Colorado, Missouri State and Middle Tennessee but finally decided on the University of Evansville Purple Aces.
Following his Tuesday scouting chore at Norman, Darrel Johnson headed to Fort Worth to take in the TCU-Nebraska game. He was back in the Sooner State Thursday night, viewing the Oklahoma State-Tulsa contest. From Stillwater, Johnson was faced with a really difficult assignment — a stint to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational.
Johnson, the 20th head coach in OBU history, guided the Bison to a 78-76 record from 1985-1990.
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Also on press row for Tuesday night’s shootout was former ABA star Mel Daniels, the Director of Player Personnel for the Indiana Pacers. Daniels said Davidson’s Stephen Curry and former NBA star Reggie Miller are two of the best pure shooters he’s ever seen.
Through three games — Guilford, James Madison and Oklahoma — Curry has connected on 46.4 percent (13 of 28) of his 3-point field goal attempts and 92 percent (23-25) of his free-throw attempts.
Last year, as Cinderella Davidson won 25 straight games before falling to Kansas (59-57) in the Elite Eight, Curry recorded five or more 3-point field goals on 19 occasions while averaging 25.9 points.
“Curry has great court intelligence,” said Daniels, who is well acquainted with former NBA stalwart Dell Curry, Stephen’s father. Dell Curry, a collegiate star at Virginia Tech, had a 16-year NBA career, including a 10-year stint with the Charlotte Hornets.
Although Dell Curry was a proficient long-rang shooter, Daniels said Stephen said tops his dad in that department.
Daniels was one of the premier players of the ABA after excelling at the University of New Mexico. In addition to being the ABA Most Valuable Player in both 1969 and 1971, he helped the Pacers to three ABA championships.
Daniels served as an assistant coach at Indiana State as Larry Bird led the Sycamores to the NCAA title game against Magic Johnson and Michigan State. Daniels joined the Pacers’ front office staff in 1986.
He is one of the few ABA Most Valuable Players not called up to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
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Through the early going of the non-conference season, the Big 12 has amassed a 28-2 record, mostly against non-power conference squads. The only blemishes against Big 12 foes came Tuesday, when Montana won an overtime decision at Colorado, and Thursday, when Xavier rallied to defeat Missouri at a tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Entering Tuesday’s action, the Big 12 was one of just three conferences nationally (ACC, Big Ten the other two) that had all of its teams unbeaten.
Oklahoma will be back in action Saturday, hosting Gardner Webb at 1 p.m. Oklahoma State will entertain Grambling State at 3 p.m. Sunday.