MINNEAPOLIS -- As his Texas Tech players watched Chris Beard picked up the Associated Press coach of the year award at the Final Four, forward Tariq Owens decided to play journalist.
He asked if Beard were a dog, what kind of dog he would be, as teammates laughed at the inside joke. Then Beard explained the reference, both as it related to dogs and players.
He confessed that he had once bought a cute fluffy dog at a mall pet store for his three daughters. But he also had gotten dogs at the Humane Society and the pound, which seemed to touch a lot of emotional bases with Beard.