Rush The Court

Patrick Marshall of Bluejay Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Missouri Valley and Big 12 Conferences.

Current Records and my standings:

1. Oklahoma (6-0)
2. Baylor (6-1)
3. Nebraska (5-0)
4. Texas (5-1)
5. Kansas (4-1)
6. Kansas St. (5-2)
7. Missouri (5-1)
8. Texas Tech (6-1)
9. Texas A&M (5-1)
10. Oklahoma St. (5-2)
11. Iowa St. (4-1)
12. Colorado (3-2)

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Oklahoma (2-0 this week)—Oklahoma won the NIT Tip Off defeating UAB and a pesky Purdue team as the Griffin brothers helped lead the team to victory.  Although  Purdue was able to somewhat contain Blake Griffin, he still came away with 18 points and 21 rebounds and averaged 25 points and 18 rebounds in the two games in New York.

TEAMS DOING WELL

Baylor (3-1 this week)—Baylor did well at the 76 Classic this week defeating Providence, USC  but then losing to Wake Forest giving up 62 rebounds and shooting a season low 32%. However, Baylor has been playing with a lot of energy and they will be a factor in each and every game.

Nebraska (2-0 this week)—Nebraska sped up a young St. Louis team for a nice win with stifling defense and then after playing a horrible first half against Creighton, had enough in the tank to finish strong and escape with a win and state bragging rights.  This week NU will head to the desert against Arizona St.

Texas (2-1 this week)—Texas had one of the games of the week against Notre Dame in the Maui Invitational before coming up short as a half court shot by AJ Abrams bounced off the front of the rim.  However, Texas rebounded to win against an up and down Oregon team.  Texas is still trying to find itself  as a team but forceful on the inside with their large bodies available.

Kansas (2-1 this week)—Kansas seemingly had a home court advantage in the CBE Classic finals in Kansas City, but Syracuse turned on another gear in the 2nd half and came out of there with the win. Mario Little hasn’t played a game yet due to a stress fracture and he is supposed to be one of the keys to the rebuilt team this season.   Kansas has a 3-game week ahead against Kent St., New Mexico St. and Jackson St.

Texas Tech (2-1 this week)—Texas Tech took part in the Legends Classic in Philadelphia this week and lost to “home team” Pittsburgh before rebounding to beat Mississippi St. in the consolation game.  Texas Tech center Esmir Rizvic has been watching from behind the Red Raiders’ bench.  Rizvic was granted an extra semester of eligibility that was lost two years ago after he suffered an eye injury in Tech’s Big 12 Conference opener. He will join the team in the Big 12 opener.  The Red Raiders welcome Wichita St. this week.

Missouri (1-0 this week)—Missouri players were able to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday by only having one game this week against Summit Conference favorite Oral Roberts, and won in front of a sparse crowd.

TEAMS THAT ARE STRUGGLING

Kansas St. (1-2 this week)—Kansas St. headed to Vegas this week looking pretty good and in fact probably had the game of the week against Kentucky in the first round Friday night.  Their high pressure defense stifled Kentucky for the early part of the first half before Kentucky went on a huge run.  Kansas St. came back in the second half to cut the lead and they were on the brink of winning but came up short.  Then they came back on Saturday and lost on a last second bucket by Iowa to be “Leavin’ Las Vegas” with no wins.

Oklahoma St. (1-2 this week)—The Cowboys headed to Orlando with the chance to get some wins in a stacked field in the Old Spice Classic, but almost left there winless as they lost to Gonzaga,  Michigan St. and nearly Siena to round out the weekend.  Obviously it was a character building weekend for Oklahoma St.

Iowa St. (1-1 this week)—The Cyclones must have been worn out from the flight out to Hawaii and back as they lost a barnburner by one point and then struggled with SWAC conference foe Mississippi Valley St.  The game was tied at halftime and it took Iowa St. a large part of the 2nd half to pull away for a win.  They head out of town with in-state rival Northern Iowa this week and then host Oregon St. at home as part of the Big 12/Pac 10 Hardwood Series.

Texas A&M (2-1 this week)—Texas A&M still is not impressing even though they are 5-1.  A loss vs. Tulsa on a neutral court looks bad and didn’t give them a chance to play Illinois.  They instead had to settle for Kent St., whom they beat.

Colorado (1-1 this week)—Colorado’s loss this week was against Stanford out in Palo Alto again for another reality check.  It’s no surprise that this team will not be a factor this season.

GAME OF THE WEEK

Oklahoma 87, Purdue 82 (OT), NIT Tip Off Championship—This game was an exciting one sandwiched in the middle of “Feast Week.”   This game showed that the Sooners are more than Blake Griffin.   Big brother Taylor Griffin and freshman Willie Warren picked up the slack as Purdue’s only real game plan was to take out Blake Griffin.   But the big thing in this game was the 46 free throws that Oklahoma got compared to 5 for Purdue.  However, it wasn’t the fact that Purdue only got five free throws, it was that towards the end of overtime, there was a scramble for a ball, an inadvertent whistle occurred during the scramble, and that gave possession to Oklahoma and Purdue had to foul.  Matt Painter spent the final seconds of the game loudly berating referee Michael Stephens, a tirade that included a number of expletives.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Blake Griffin, Oklahoma—For the second week in a row to start the season , Griffin once again gets the player of the week honors as he continues to dominate opponents.  As mentioned above in the two games this week, he still averaged 25 points and 18 rebounds  per game.  Until someone else steps up their games, it is Blake’s honor to lose.

WEEK AHEAD AND GAMES TO WATCH

The Big 12 plays their Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series games this week with several good matchups:

• 12/4, Oklahoma vs. USC (ESPN2)
• 12/4, Oklahoma St. @ Washington (Fox Sports Net)
• 12/4, Texas vs. UCLA (ESPN2)
• 12/5, Texas A&M  vs. Arizona (ESPNU)
• 12/6, Baylor @ Washington St. (Fox Sports Net)
• 12/7, Kansas St. @ Oregon (Fox Sports Net)
• 12/7 Missouri vs. California (ESPNU)
• 12/7, Nebraska @ Arizona St. (Fox Sports Net)