1. Kansas struggled during the first half against Texas Tech on Saturday in Lubbock, and Lawrence-Journal World columnist Tom Keegan didn’t like the Jayhawks’ energy level in their 60-46 win over the Red Raiders. It was the second straight sluggish game for Kansas, which needed a Ben McLemore banked three-pointer with one second remaining in regulation to force overtime against Iowa State last week, a game the Jayhawks eventual won. And while few people questioned whether Kansas would beat Texas Tech (They led just 27-25 at halftime), it has now been three games in a row where Kansas has either struggled for large parts of the game or has been in danger of losing late. Baylor visits Lawrence tonight, and the Allen Fieldhouse crowd should give Kansas the usual boost it provides for big games. But if not, the Bears have enough talent to take advantage of sloppy play, something you might not be able to say for Texas Tech, Iowa State, or Temple.
2. I read the headline of this column by John Helsley of the Oklahoman and immediately thought, ‘Oklahoma State has more issues than just struggling on the road,’ and a minute later, I read similar sentiments from Helsley. As he says, the Cowboys have lost 20 of 21 road games in conference play and have begun this season 0-2 on the road after losses at Kansas State and Oklahoma. But it’s becoming more clear each day that the win over then #6 North Carolina State in November was more of a mirage then we thought. The Cowboys rank in the triple-digits nationally in PPG (70.6), RPG (36.7), APG (12), and field goal percentage (44.3). Their roster of talented players like Marcus Smart, Le’Bryan Nash, and Markel Brown is nice, but this isn’t the 1996 Bulls we’re talking about, either. They aren’t incapable of free-falling into irrelevance, and unless their road woes cease to exist, that might be exactly where the Cowboys are headed.
3. West Virginia lost a close one to Kansas State last week after playing without second-leading scorer Juwan Staten for the second straight game for disciplinary reasons. The Mountaineers are 8-7 and will be lucky to make the NIT this season, so it’s not completely surprising Bob Huggins is having personnel problems. Losing seasons can make for hostile environments sometimes. It’s hard to say whether Staten’s off-the-court problems are one of the reasons the Mountaineers have struggled this season, or the Mountaineers struggling is giving Huggins plenty of opportunities to teach lessons without fear of losing meaningful games. Who knows? We do know one thing, however. The 2012-13 season won’t be a campaign Huggins looks back on with admiration.
4. It’s still early, and as Tulsa World columnist John E. Hoover points out, Oklahoma has only three wins combined the last three Februarys, but with each win the Sooners are looking more and more like an NCAA Tournament team. The real test will come next month, it seems, but right now Oklahoma is 11-3 with a very winnable game against Texas Tech coming up on Wednesday. With four games remaining against Texas Tech and TCU, it’s not hard to find another eight or nine wins on the regular season schedule, getting them right around the 20-win mark and in a good spot to hear their name called on Selection Sunday.
5. Texas is 0-3 to start Big 12 play, and regardless of how good you think sophomore point guard Myck Kabongo is, his return on Feb. 13 won’t suddenly erase all the problems the Longhorns are facing right now. They lost to back-to-back overtime games to West Virginia and Baylor to open the conference season and were blown out by Iowa State in Ames on Saturday. The Longhorns can’t score this season. There are literally 300 teams with a better shooting percentage this year (302 to be exact). Not only that but head coach Rick Barnes seems to be having problems with effort. But don’t take my word for it. “He went in, first play of the game, gave up an offensive rebound,” Barnes told the AP about benching Shelden McClellan against Iowa State. “We’re not going to continue to talk about coaching effort.” Horrific shooting. No starting point guard. No effort.

KoryCarpenter (150 Posts)

This entry was posted on Monday, January 14th, 2013 at 7:31 am by KoryCarpenter and is filed under big 12, microsites, morning 5. Tagged: baylor, ben mclemore, bob huggins, iowa state, kansas, myck kabongo, oklahoma, rick barnes, 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.