1. West Virginia students chanted “Not our rivals” near the end of the Mountaineers’ 69-59 win over Marshall Wednesday night. Bob Huggins agreed after the game, and forward Deniz Kilicli took it a step further. “This happens all the time,” He said. “(Marshall’s) talking all the time. I like it. I just laugh at them.” He added, “We are West Virginia, and we are the state’s team. We prove it over and over again. We are the ones playing big time schools; we have high recruits. We can’t get into all that pushing and shoving and talking trash.” I’m not sure what’s more amusing, that Kilicli didn’t consider that trash talk, that he felt the need to remind people West Virginia basketball is superior to Marshall, or he had the gall to make those statements after the season his team has had so far. In case he has forgotten, the Mountaineers were embarrassed by Gonzaga last month. They then lost back-to-back games against Davidson and Oklahoma. They beat Marshall by 10 points, a team that has lost to Hofstra and South Dakota State already this season. Kilicli is right, West Virginia does play big-time schools. But they sure aren’t playing like one.
2. Sometimes when a player his hot, there isn’t much a defense can do about it. On Tuesday against Oklahoma, Arkansas forward Marshawn Powell had 33 points, going 4-6 from three-point range in the Razorbacks’ 81-78 win. Sooners head coach Lon Kruger wasn’t happy at all with his team’s defensive performance after Arkansas shot 52.6% from the floor. Without watching the game, it’s hard to say how many of Arkansas’ nine three-pointers were contested or just the product of a hot night, but the Sooners also gave up 34 points in the paint. That’s not a good combination, regardless of whether it’s the product of a little luck or not.
3. Could Texas be playing in one of four simultaneous games in Cowboys Stadium next year? Michigan State Athletic Director Mark Hollis, the same guy who came up with the idea to play on aircraft carriers, has come up with another idea to have four games at once on the gigantic floor of Cowboys Stadium next season like an AAU Tournament of sorts. The idea is far from finalized and only Michigan State is confirmed to be playing if it goes through, but the Longhorns aren’t far from Dallas and have played multiple times in Cowboys Stadium. Whether you think this is a terrible idea or not (I’m somewhere in the middle right now), it’s guaranteed to have great ratings, meaning it’s probably going to happen.
4. Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber was pleased with the production he got out of senior guard Martavious Irving in the Wildcats’ 72-53 win over South Carolina Upstate on Sunday. “We settled down with a great run as we finished the half, led by (Irving),” Weber told the Topeka Capital-Journal. Injuries nagged much of the rotation Sunday and the bench, led by Irving, picked up the slack. Irving played 20 minutes, which is more than he’s accustomed to. He had four assists and zero turnovers in the win, and the Wildcats are 6-1 as they head to Washington, DC to play George Washington on Saturday afternoon.
5. Whether it’s been Thomas Robinson, Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, or Michael Beasley, there is usually a Big 12 player in the discussion for National Player of the Year.  That doesn’t look to be the case this season, although ESPN’s Jason King at least listed Kansas center Jeff Withey as “on the cusp” of Player of the Year candidates, along with nine others. And while it looks to be Mason Plumlee or Cody Zeller’s award to lose right now, Withey’s defense has been better than any other player in the country. He’s leading the country in blocks and blocks per foul and is keeping the Jayhawks near the top 10 while they figure out their guard situation.

KoryCarpenter (150 Posts)

This entry was posted on Friday, December 7th, 2012 at 7:31 am by KoryCarpenter and is filed under big 12, microsites, morning 5. Tagged: deniz kilici, kansas state, lon kruger, oklahoma, texas, west virginia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.