Rush The Court

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

Current Records and my standings (Last Week):

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

A light week for the Big 12 as most teams only played once and it was their game in the Big 12/Pac 10 Hardwood Series where the Big 12 dominated.

TEAM OF THE WEEK

Kansas (3-0 this week)—The Big 12  as a conference has done quite well, but I am putting Kansas as the team of the week this week since they played the most this week and won 3 games.   Though they struggled against Jackson St. on Saturday, they still did well enough to do what they needed to do.  Tyshawn Taylor is getting mixed reviews  from coach Self.  Also, for the Jayhawks to keep up these performances they have to be tougher.

TEAMS DOING WELL

Oklahoma (2-0 this week)—Teams have been able to start keying in on Blake Griffin and containing him a little more so he has not been as dominant as he has to start the season.  Of course every team has their slump during the season.  They survived the fight by USC and handled Tulsa just fine.

Baylor (1-0 this week)—The Bears won their Big 12/Pac 10 Hardwood Series game against a tough Washington St. team on the road and got their revenge  from last season’s loss at home against Washington St.

Texas (1-0 this week)—Texas had one of the games of the week again as they defeated UCLA in Austin.  It was the Josh Shipp vs. AJ Abrams show as they got started, but Abrams pulled away for 31 points and hit a free throw at the end to ice it for the Longhorns.  Texas got really lucky as UCLA had plenty of chances to score to take the lead and win the game in the final minutes.  They play another tough game this week against Villanova as part of the Jimmy V. Classic.  Let’s hope Damion James will be a part of the game. He has been a vital part of Texas’ success.

Texas Tech (1-0 this week)—The Red Raiders said they weren’t going to be shocked by the Shockers, however Texas Tech jumped out to a 17 point lead on Wichita St. in the first half but had to hit a shot with 4 seconds remaining to pull out the win.

Missouri (2-0 this week)—The Tigers had a warm-up game against Arkansas-Pine Bluff before hosting the California Bears and destroying them for their part of the Big 12/Pac 10 Hardwood Series.   They are starting to play the type of basketball that the coach wants and could make more of an impact as the season goes.  Murray St. visits the Tigers this week.

Iowa St. (2-0 this week)—Iowa St. has responded well by beating in-state foe Northern Iowa and a bad Oregon St. team both at home.   The Cyclones have been fighting the flu bug for weeks.  Lucca Staiger hit a nice half-court shot before half time to spark Iowa St. to their win against Oregon St.  They continue the Iowa tour as they take on Drake this week.

Texas A&M (1-0 this week)—Texas A&M finally impressed me this week by coming from behind to beat Arizona.  The environment for this game was like it was March and the unlikely hero Nathan Walkup became a hero for the Aggies as they knocked off a somewhat struggling Arizona team.

TEAMS THAT ARE STRUGGLING

Nebraska (1-1 this week)—Nebraska had the chance to prove they belonged with the Texases, Baylors and Kansases of this season, but the lack of a big man and settling for jump shots finally caught up to them and they could not hold off Arizona St.  Or as the Lincoln Journal Star says, the Huskers shut down against Arizona St.  This was their one shot in the non-conference to get a quality road win and they were not able to do it.  They do hit the road this week to play the mentioned above bad Oregon St. team, but hopefully the Huskers don’t have a hangover from this game.

Kansas St. (0-1 this week)—The Wildcats once again had some fight in them and for the third game in a row came up short losing to Oregon in their only game of the week.   However, Coach Frank Martin doesn’t believe in learning from losses. 

Oklahoma St. (0-1 this week)—The Cowboys have hit the wall and have lost their third game out of the last four against a Washington team that is finally getting comfortable.  But all the people at Oklahoma State care about at this point is that the football team is going to the Holiday Bowl. 

Colorado (0-1 this week)—Like I said last week, this team will not be a factor as they were just manhandled by TCU at home.  It is going to be a long season for Colorado.

GAME OF THE WEEK

Texas A&M-67, Arizona 66—To be honest, I shut this game off with about 8 minutes to go and I shouldn’t have.  Arizona was just playing more aggressively and held a nice lead against the Aggies.  However, Texas A&M came storming back and Nathan Walkup hit a 3 point basket with 20 seconds remaining to give  them the win. A&M was outrebounded 33-18 which still makes them a little suspect, but nonetheless gives them a nice win .

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

AJ Abrams, Texas—Abrams was a one man wrecking crew against UCLA this week scoring 31 points on  9-18 shooting and hitting 5 three-pointers including the icing free throw in the final seconds.

WEEK AHEAD AND GAMES TO WATCH

A light week for the Big 12 with big matchups.  Here are the best available to watch.

• 12/9, Iowa St. vs. Drake (ESPNU)—A nice in-state matchup for bragging rights.
• 12/9, Texas vs. Villanova (ESPN)—A part of the Jimmy V Classic.
• 12/13, Texas A&M at Alabama (ESPN Full Court)—Will the SEC again display it’s inferiority this season?