What To Make of the Big 12’s Big Monday Schedule
Posted by dnspewak on July 27th, 2012Nine games. That’s all we know right now with regards to the 2012-13 Big 12 hoops schedule — nine games, all part of ESPN’s legendary Big Monday presentation. The four-letter network released the Big Monday schedule this week, meaning we now have five months to let the anticipation build. Want to feel a little giddy during the slow summer months? Take a look at the schedule below and imagine the possibilities: Bob Huggins returning to the one city in the world that cannot stand him, a Week One showdown between the league’s top dogs, and a prime time game at revitalized Iowa State.
Huggins Heads Back to K-State on Big Monday
Before we break down the schedule on a game-by-game basis, there are two noticeable absences from Big Monday this year. First, there’s no TCU. Not a major surprise, but it’s a sign the program clearly still has some work to do to gain relevance in the Big 12. Big Monday also won’t carry the Bedlam Series between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. It makes perfect sense, of course. Oklahoma hasn’t finished with a winning record since 2008-09, when Jeff Capel and Blake Griffin led the Sooners to the Elite Eight. And Oklahoma State lost 18 games a year ago and hasn’t danced the past two seasons. Plus, according to preseason projections — often a terrible barometer to use, by the way — there won’t be many critics or even coaches within the league willing to choose either team to finish near the top of the league. So yes, it’s understandable that ESPN would not give a Big Monday slot to a Bedlam game. Perhaps both games will get prime Saturday slots. Who knows? Still, there’s a magic to Big Monday, and a rivalry as sacred as Bedlam deserves that magic. So that’s our plea to ESPN: give Bedlam a Big Monday slot, and give it to them every year. With that rant out of the way, here’s a look at all nine games:
- January 14, Baylor at Kansas: A year ago, an undefeated Baylor team had a chance to make a statement to the Big 12 during a road trip to Lawrence. Win that game and Scott Drew’s program would have arrived. Predictably, the Bears crumbled under the wrath of Allen Fieldhouse. They fell behind immediately. Thomas Robinson wowed the crowd with one of his inhuman, highlight-reel dunks. It got ugly, and from there, Kansas never looked back. This game could represent a similar opportunity for Baylor to change the dynamics of the Big 12 race in 2013. It’s a lot of pressure to put on one game, but even in July, it’s obvious to see the importance of this first Big Monday game.
- January 21, Oklahoma State at Baylor: It’ll be odd to watch Oklahoma State play without Keiton Page, the love-him-or-hate-him shooter who graduated this past spring after playing the most minutes in school history during his four seasons in Stillwater. The attention now turns to five-star shooting guard Marcus Smart, who teams with sophomore Le’Bryan Nash to form one of the more interesting young duos in college basketball. Baylor, of course, knows a little something about young talent with stud big men Isaiah Austin and Ricardo Gathers joining the program.
- January 21, Texas at Oklahoma: No Bedlam? We’ll have to settle for this rivalry. Oklahoma hasn’t hosted a Big Monday game in four years, so with Texas coming to town, this could be one of the marquee home games on the Sooners’ schedule. It’s also an early chance for Lon Kruger’s team to prove it’s not the same team that finished with just five victories in Big 12 play a year ago.
- January 28, Kansas at West Virginia: Welcome to the Big 12, West Virginia. In your first appearance on Big Monday in the Big 12 spotlight, you’ve got to deal with the team that’s shared or won eight Big 12 titles in a row. Of course, it’s not as though the Mountaineers have played Division II ball lately. They come from the Big East, so they’re no stranger to big games and big-time environments. Kansas, which welcomes eight freshmen but returns a solid core in Jeff Withey, Elijah Johnson and others, still figures to compete for a ninth straight championship. With that in mind, get ready for a rowdy crowd. They know how to bring it in Morgantown. Let’s just hope this doesn’t happen again.
- February 4, Texas at West Virginia: Hey, would you look at that! The newbies get two Big Monday games in a row. Not a bad way to start off the Big 12 era for Huggins and company. From a basketball standpoint, the revamped Mountaineers are one of the league’s most intriguing cases. Huggins welcomes transfers Aaric Murray (La Salle) and Juwan Staten (Dayton) from the Atlantic 10, and both could grow into All-Big 12 players by the end of the year. They’re that good. Murray is an NBA prospect with out-of-this-world athleticism at center, and Staten is a former top-50 recruit who played very productively in his lone season with the Flyers. Texas’ notable newcomer is Cameron Ridley, a true big man who lends a much-needed post presence to Rick Barnes’ team.
- February 11, Kansas State at Kansas: Since the Border War no longer exists (for the near future, at least), perhaps the Sunflower Showdown will take center stage. This has actually been an underrated rivalry, especially after the revitalization this program has undergone during the past half-decade or so by Michael Beasley, Bill Walker and Frank Martin (and, um, Bob Huggins– but we’ll get to that later). Kansas had won, we don’t know, about 500 straight games in Manhattan before Beasley and the crew knocked off the Jayhawks at home in one of the most memorable games of the 2007-08 season. College Gameday came to town in 2010 too. With all but Jamar Samuels returning for KSU this year, first-year head coach Bruce Weber should immediately have a competitive team in this rivalry.
- February 18, West Virginia at Kansas State: This is the one we want to see. Sure, Bob Huggins already played against Kansas State in Wichita last year, but he’ll make his first trip back to Manhattan on this date after spurning the Wildcats for WVU in 2007. At the time, it wasn’t hard to blame Huggins for the move, since he was born in Morgantown and played at West Virginia. But that didn’t stop Wildcats fans from lashing out against the so-called traitor, who lasted just one season at Kansas State (that video, by the way, is tame compared to the others you can find on YouTube). No matter how understandable Huggins’ move was — and no matter how well the transition to Frank Martin eventually worked out — nobody likes a traitor. Get ready for an ugly atmosphere, even five years after the fact.
- February 25, Kansas at Iowa State: Big Monday is old hat to Kansas. It’s not old hat to Iowa State, so this late-February battle will mean a lot to the Cyclones. Even without Royce White, Chris Allen and Scott Christopherson, there’s no telling where this team could be at this point in the season. Will Clyburn and Korie Lucious are the impact transfers this year for Hoiberg, and mixed with a solid group of returning veterans, Hoiberg has a team that won’t shy away from frontrunners like Kansas. It’s very, very difficult to tell this far into the future, but this February 25 matchup could have major implications for ISU’s NCAA Tournament hopes, since it is likely to find itself more toward the bubble this year.
- March 4, Baylor at Texas: Here’s a nice in-state game to end the Big Monday slate. Again, it’s impossible to know where these teams will be in March. For all we know, Baylor might be under .500 and Texas could be fighting for an outright regular season title. Or it could be the other way around. Or maybe they’ll both be terrible. In late July, it’s not really possible to predict that. Still, if preseason projections play out somewhat according to plan, this could also be an important game for a Texas team likely to need resume-boosting victories. We do know this, however: Pierre Jackson vs. Myck Kabongo at the point guard position will feature two of the fastest players in college basketball. Watch carefully, or they’ll leave you in the dust.
