Big 12 Takes Three on the Chin, But Today is a New Day
Posted by Brian Goodman on March 20th, 2015
Well, that could’ve gone better.
In the Big 12’s latest opportunity to reverse its NCAA Tournament fortunes, the conference fell flat on its face, losing all three of its games on Thursday. Were this the regular season or the conference tournament, I’d say that Baylor and Iowa State both losing by a single point shouldn’t be huge a cause for concern, and analytically, that remains true. If the Bears and Cyclones played their games again today and every day after that, they’d come out on top in an overwhelming number of those games. But it’s a different game this time of year where variance trumps all, and this was the end of the road for two teams that, at minimum, were expected to make it through the weekend. The same can’t be said for Texas, but that’s only a reflection of the Longhorns’ massive letdown of a campaign.
Three favorites, three losses, all in time for Happy Hour.
The Cyclones knew going into Thursday’s game against UAB that they could no longer afford to fall into double-digit deficits if they wanted to survive. They lived up to one end of the bargain, as the biggest hole they faced was just three points. But that doesn’t (and shouldn’t) take away from the fact that the Blazers didn’t have much business hanging around with the Big 12 Tournament champs, let alone knocking them off. UAB has a tall, athletic lineup, but the Cyclones outscored the Blazers 36-32 in the paint. Instead, Iowa State’s undoing came down to poor rebounding and relying too heavily on jumpers, shots that head coach Fred Hoiberg has become famous for despising. More than one-third of their attempts were jump shots, and star forward Georges Niang was most responsible in that department, attempting 10 jumpers and connecting on just two.
A couple hours later, horrendous late-game execution led to Baylor coming up on the wrong side of a game-ending 13-0 run in their battle against Georgia Southern. You’re going to hear a lot about Ron and R.J. Hunter, and their connection is a fantastic story worthy of all the ink it’s going and will continue to get, especially if they go on to beat Xavier on Saturday, but the Bears quite literally gave this one away. Baylor’s last eight possessions included four turnovers, four missed shots and a missed front end of a 1-and-1. Scott Drew‘s team struggled to hold onto the ball for most of the season, finishing seventh in the Big 12 in offensive turnover percentage, but more often than not, they were able to overcome those issues. Just one more possession without a giveaway would have allowed the Bears to survive on Thursday afternoon, but as was the case with Iowa State, they shouldn’t have ever been in a position where one break against a 14-seed would have decided the fate of their season.
Georges Niang and company were in for a surprisingly tough day. Unfortunately for Iowa State and the Big 12, that tough day ended in not one but three of its marquee programs getting knocked out. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
The third and final loss of the day, which came in the form of yet another sloppy shooting effort by Texas, was simply the last gasp of a team that disappointed all season long. At the start of the season, the Longhorns had arguably the best chance to end Kansas’ reign at the top of the standings but instead, their season ended in a whimper, dropping a low-scoring game as an 11-seed to a well-coached Butler team. Whether or not Texas retains Rick Barnes, the future of the Longhorn program will be an interesting topic, but that’s a discussion for another time.
As loud as the criticisms thrown at the Big 12 may be, today is a new day, with four more opportunities to swing the pendulum back. Kansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma are each flawed in different ways, but they’re also capable of delivering the kinds of surprises that make the NCAA Tournament so great. Additionally, while it wouldn’t be the most exciting story of the tournament, it would be very Big 12 for Oklahoma State and West Virginia to be the only teams to survive the first two days of action.
It’s problematic to draw sweeping conclusions from a few hours of tournament play, but it’s also tough to picture the first round going much worse than it did on Thursday.
Brian Goodman a Big 12 microsite writer. You can follow him on Twitter @BSGoodman.
