Checking in on the… Big 12
Posted by rtmsf on January 8th, 2009Patrick Marshall of Bluejay Basketball is the RTC correspondent for the Missouri Valley and Big 12 Conferences.
Current Records and my standings (Last Week)
- Texas A&M (13-1) (3)
- Oklahoma (13-1) (1)
- Texas (11-2) (4)
- Baylor (12-2) (2)
- Kansas (10-3) (6)
- Missouri (12-2) (5)
- Kansas St. (10-3) (7)
- Oklahoma St. (10-3) (8)
- Texas Tech (10-5) (9)
- Iowa St. (10-4) (10)
- Nebraska (9-3) (11)
- Colorado (7-5) (12)
This week for the Big 12 had some ups and downs. Let’s check in on these teams.
TEAM OF THE WEEK
Kansas (2-0 this week)—This young Kansas team is really starting to get it together and have started to win some bigger games. Mario Little finally made his debut for the Jayhawks but almost went out on the court without his shorts on. However, it gets real tough for them before heading into conference play as they take on a hot and hyped Siena team and then hit the road at Michigan St. Kansas gets a little New Year’s gift by getting Jeff Withey (a transfer from Arizona) to play for them, but won’t be able to until December of this year.
TEAMS DOING WELL THIS WEEK
Texas (1-0 this week)— Texas had a nice warmup game this week against Appalachian St. but Connor Atchley needed 20-30 stitches for his tongue after getting fouled on a reverse layup. Now they head to Arkansas who have only lost to Missouri St. and are on a 9 game winning streak after beating Oklahoma this week. Texas is in for a big game in Fayetteville.
Missouri (2-0 this week)— Missouri got a huge win at Georgia this week and are having their best start in 10 years. This is the first road victory against a non-conference team since 2003. This defense is starting to swarm and get turnovers. They are a bit of surprise as things are coming together for Mike Anderson’s team.
Texas Tech (1-0 this week)— Texas Tech got a win over Stephen F. Austin this week. Remember last week how coach Pat Knight took responsibility for the huge loss at Stanford? Well, looks like son is a chip off the old man’s block! In the middle of the SFA game, Knight took a 12-year old fan out of the stands and brought him into the huddle to ask him if he can make layups to point out to his team that if a 12-year old can make layups, they should too. Well, I guess that was the motivation needed to close out that game and for Tech to get the win. Now if he would just take a chair and throw it across the court.
Iowa St. (2-0 this week)—Iowa St. got a couple wins this week, one coming against SIU-Edwardsville currently transferring up to D-1. Every Iowa St. Player scored in that game. They get another new D-1 team in Houston Baptist next week before starting conference play against Texas.
Nebraska (2-0 this week)—Ho hum, Nebraska gets a couple more wins against bottom feeders. Turning the ball over 3 times is too much for Doc Sadler. Geez. Wake me up on Saturday when they open up conference play against Missouri.
Texas A&M (2-0 this week)— A&M is sort of the sleeping giant of the Big 12 as they are getting hidden from promotion behind the big 4 (Oklahoma, Kansas, Baylor, Texas). Maybe they like it that way. Both the Men’s and Women’s teams are having success for the Aggies this season.
Oklahoma St (2-0 this week)—The Cowboys came back to play well rested and dominated in their two wins this week, though Northwestern St. wasn’t too happy when Okie St. hit the 100 point mark in that victory. The Cowboys eclipsed the 100-point mark with slightly more than seven minutes remaining in the game and a few moments later, Cowboy coach Travis Ford showed some swagger when he and Northwestern State coach Mike McConathy exchanged heated words at mid-court. The two coaches had a second confrontation after the contest. It must have been the showboating at the end of the game that got McConathy’s panties in a bunch.
Kansas St. (2-0 this week)—After some time off over the holidays, Kansas St. continued their dominance over their past 5 opponents winning by at least 20 points in the wins. Two of K-State’s players Luis Colon and Denis Clemente are from Puerto Rico and apparently it isn’t so great there compared to the United States. Chicago St. comes to town before heading to Soonerville on Saturday.
TEAMS THAT ARE STRUGGLING THIS WEEK
Oklahoma (1-1 this week)— Oklahoma got knocked off from the list of unbeatens by suffering their first loss of the season at Arkansas. It does look like Oklahoma has something to work on. They had just been plugging along so well, this loss was probably good for them.
Baylor (2-1 this week)— Baylor won in a couple of snoozers earlier in the week, but then lost on a last second basket by South Carolina to lose their bigger matchup of the week. This was a great game as it went back and forth, but the Baylor defense didn’t come to play on this day.
Colorado (0-2 this week)— Colorado continues to embarrass the Big 12 by not doing much at the last normal Rainbow Classic tournament in Hawaii. But apparently Coach Bzdelik isn’t too concerned about the performance. Losing to Buffalo and Vermont are not good signs for this team.
GAME OF THE WEEK
Kansas 92, Tennessee 85 — Kansas rebounded from their loss at Arizona and some time off to beat a ranked Tennessee team. Led by the veterans Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, Kansas locked things down and just willed their way to victory. A huge win for a young team.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Willie Warren, Oklahoma—The freshman had one of those weeks that you knew he was going to have when he was heralded coming into Oklahoma. He averaged about 25 points in the two games this week including a 35 point performance against Arkansas in Oklahoma’s loss this week. In the Coppin St. game he only had 14 points, but dished 7 assists in the blowout win.
WEEK AHEAD AND GAMES TO WATCH
The last of the big non-conference matchups.
- 1/6, Texas @ Arkansas (ESPN2)—Will a surprising Arkansas feast on another Big 12 team after beating Oklahoma last week?
- 1/6, Kansas vs. Siena (ESPN Full Court)—Kansas’ first of 2 tough non-conference games yet to play. Siena has been on fire since going 0-3 at the Old Spice Classic.
- 1/10, Kansas @ Michigan St. (CBS) –Two storied programs going at it in this made for TV matchup on CBS.
Then conference season starts on Saturday. - 1/10, Oklahoma @ Kansas St. (ESPN Full Court)—Kansas St. has been on a roll lately, albeit against lower competition, but this will be a good test to see if Kansas St. wants to make some noise in the conference.
- 1/10, Baylor vs. Texas Tech. (ESPN Full Court)—How will Pat Knight’s first full conference season be for him? We’ll see as they open against one of the tougher teams in the conference.
