Bill Self might have been one of the first coaches to hear the horrifying news Saturday night after a Beechcraft King Air 200 Catpass carrying 10 people, including two Oklahoma State basketball players, crashed on its way back from a game in Colorado.

The Illinois men's basketball coach, who played his collegiate ball and coached at Oklahoma State, said he was recruiting at a high school basketball game on Saturday as a reporter who Self was sitting with received a phone call telling him the tragic news. The reporter left the basketball game to catch the details of the accident and to begin to work on a story and Self hastily exited, calling colleagues and people close to the program, trying to get the most accurate news.

Nate Fleming and Daniel Lawson were the names of the deceased Oklahoma State players, along with six other passengers and a pilot and co-pilot. Self's ties to the Oklahoma State family are very deep, as the first-year Illinois coach was a player on the Cowboys team and was named to the All-Big Eight Freshman Team. He also coached off and on for seven years in Stillwater, Okla., and helped mold the NBA careers of Bryant Reeves and John Starks, among other Cowboy players who have contributed to the professional basketball ranks.

"It's just a terrible tragedy and it puts everything in perspective," Self said. "I couldn't even imagine making the phone calls that coach Sutton is going to have to make this week."

Self said that Oklahoma State men's basketball coach Eddie Sutton, who has been coaching college basketball for 30 years, will be the glue to keeping the Stillwater community together.

This week, Sutton has had to make the toughest phone calls of his life, calling the parents and wives of the deceased and offering his sorrows. The Oklahoma State head coach said in his first public comments since the crash that he never wants to go through an ordeal like this ever again and that God will help everyone through these troubling times. The veteran coach added that he talked to his team and advised them to dedicate everything they do on the court to the memories of their lost teammates. "Coach Sutton will be a source of strength for them," Self said. "They're a real close-knit family. Those people were like immediate family to coach Sutton."

Iowa men's basketball coach Steve Alford said there can be no second guessing the decision of the Oklahoma State authorities, and all people can do now is comfort the families of the deceased and remember the bright moments these 10 men have left on the world.

Alford added that his staff uses similar planes on recruiting trips, but there cannot be any uneasiness about using them in the future, because accidents will always happen.

"It doesn't matter if we're talking about a car, a bus, or a plane," the second-year coach said. "These are accidents no one can foresee. We just need to do an awful lot of praying."

Jerry Dunn agrees.

The sixth-year Penn State men's basketball coach, whose brother is an assistant at Colorado, which was the team Oklahoma State played the night of the crash, said coaches sometime have to make difficult decisions, especially when it comes to bad weather conditions. Whether it be heavy rains, snow or an ice storm, Dunn has been questioned before about leaving an area under not-so-perfect conditions. But Dunn said Sutton made the decision that he thought was best for his team, and he is not to blame for this accident.

"When you are in charge and responsible for 15 guys, 15 kids who are somebody else's, its a lot of responsibility," the sixth-year coach said. "The decisions you make don't always come off as being popular, but you try to make them as best you can for the safety and well-being of not only your players, but also the kids of someone else.

"I'm sure coach Sutton made the best decision he could make at the time."