1. Oklahoma took care of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 78-56 in a game moved up five hours from its original start time last night to avoid conflict with worsening weather conditions in Norman. The surprise performance came from junior forward D.J. Bennett, whose nine points, three boards and career-high five blocked shots added a different edge to the Sooners’ frontcourt. Bennett has dealt with a partially torn tendon since earlier in the season, and because of that hasn’t seen a lot of floor time, but this could be the start of his comeback. Goodness knows the Sooners could use someone who is effective down low when Ryan Spangler isn’t on the floor.
2. It wasn’t easy, but Kansas State found a way to get by the Fighting Marshall Hendersons from Ole Miss, 61-58, on Thursday. Henderson tried his darndest to single-handedly win the game for the Rebels, but his 4-of-18 shooting (off the bench) did more harm than good. It’s fascinating to see how different the Wildcats play when Thomas Gipson is in the lineup — the junior tallied 15 points, six rebounds, and two blocks in the contest. And here’s an update on the attendance at Bramlage Coliseum: It certainly looked like the Wildcat faithful showed up last night. The 11,990 fans in the building made last night the third-highest attended game this season at Bramlage.
3. A year and change into his sophomore season, Isaiah Austin is pretty pleased with his decision to attend Baylor. “Coming out of high school, everyone wants to go with the hype and Kentucky was the hype out of high school,” Austin told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “But I made the best decision for me — coming here to Baylor playing under Coach Drew, who is just as great of a coach as coach Calipari is… we have just as great of faculty and staff and everybody. Kentucky is not better than us in any way, shape or form.” Oooh, them sounds like fighting words! Just in case you don’t miss it, Kentucky-Baylor from AT&T Stadium is tonight. A little big-time Friday night college hoops never hurt anybody.
4. It was also more than a year ago when Iowa State guard Bubu Palo was arrested on charges of sexual abuse before those charges were dropped in mid-January. Now, Palo is seeking reinstatement to the men’s basketball program and in a text message to the Ames Tribune said his appeal was denied by the Iowa State Board of Regents. According to ISU’s Student Disciplinary Regulations, decisions made by the Regents can be appealed in district court. The Tribune is also reporting that Palo was initially exonerated from the SDR but that decision was appealed to ISU president Steven Leath, who in turn removed Palo from the team. I hope he can return to the floor as soon as possible. I know I’d hate to be missing out on a season like the one Iowa State is having right now.
5. While Marcus Smart finishes off his sophomore campaign and the Stevie Clark situation is still very much up in the air, Oklahoma State received a letter of intent from Jared Terrell, the four-star point guard who committed to the Cowboys back in September. He’s 6’3″ and 220 pounds which will scare the living bejeezus out of opponents next year, and according to Travis Ford, can drive to the hoop, hit mid-range jumpers and make threes. I wonder if this official announcement translates into anything with Stevie Clark and his future with the team.

1. While you weren’t looking, Texas Tech is going through a meat-grinder of a non-conference schedule. Their losses include one to Alabama and undefeated Pittsburgh but now you can add Arizona to the list. The season schedule was made well in advance of Tubby Smith coming to town but they still have to contend with a pair of much improved LSU and Arizona State squads. There’s no shame in losing to a team like the incumbent #1 on its home floor. Due to Michigan State’s loss to North Carolina last night, if Arizona can finish out the week unbeaten, they would become the nation’s newest No. 1 team on Monday. Take pride in that, Texas Tech. You played the best and lived to tell about it.
2. The Oklahoman sat down with Oklahoma guard Isaiah Cousins, who split time at the point last season but is now in a larger role out on the wing. Going into today’s game, Cousins is posting 11.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and three assists per game among the Sooners’ four-guard lineup. “I think it’s going pretty good,” Cousins said. “I’ve been getting a lot of minutes trying to pick up from last year, and I’ve got a bigger role. I like the role I take. I think it’s a good fit.” No kidding. We should point out that Oklahoma’s game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi originally scheduled for 7:00 PM will actually tip off at 2:00 PM at the Lloyd Noble Center due to some inclement weather moving into Norman tonight. Adjust your pocket watches accordingly.
3. It’s getting a little awkward around Oklahoma State basketball as of late. Stevie Clark, the freshman backup point guard, was suspended by coach Travis Ford and sent home from the Old Spice Classic. Here’s what Ford had to say on the issue yesterday: “Wait and see. We’ll wait and see.” According to Ford, Clark is still a part of the team but we don’t have a clue as to why he was suspended. Whatever unfolds here will have implications for not only this season but for the future at point guard for Oklahoma State. Smart is definitely leaving for the NBA and if Clark (9.8 PPG, 5.0 APG) were to transfer or worse, get kicked off the team, it’s back to square one for Ford. I guess we shall wait and see.
4. Here was the headline from this recent piece in the Kansas City Star: “With Marshall Henderson in town, Kansas State hopes for better home basketball crowd.” As far as “official” attendance numbers go, the difference between paid attendance and arena capacity never exceeded 1,000 seats. I haven’t seen a K-State home game on TV yet so I can’t tell if a lack of attendance is apparent from that perspective; but if it is, that’s really disappointing. In the Bob Huggins/Frank Martin era, Bramlage was arguably the best home environment in the Big 12 outside of Lawrence. I guess you could call it “The Octagon of Plenty of Room,” amirite? I regret this already.
5. A high school recruit has grabbed the attention of five of the league’s 10 teams and many others. Cheick Diallo is a 6’9″, 220 pound center who attends Our Savior New American in New York. Diallo is primarily known as a defender but is improving on his offensive game by averaging 12.9 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game on the Elite Youth Basketball League circuit. He currently holds offers from Kansas, Texas, West Virginia, Iowa State and Baylor. But if there’s a Big 12 leader in the clubhouse for Diallo, it might be the Cyclones, where he has already made an unofficial visit to campus in September. What does all this mean? Not much at this point, but it’s fun to see half the conference battle over one guy.

1. Kansas State has seen better Novembers. So far the Wildcats have lost their home opener to Northern Colorado, got one win in three games at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and two of their four wins came against one team: Long Beach State. The month of December gives the Wildcats a chance to turn the page starting with Thursday night’s tilt against Marshall Henderson and Ole Miss. The Rebels are a perfect 6-0 after sweeping Georgia Tech and Penn State at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn over the weekend. K-State doesn’t need this game just to say they have a “signature win” — Bruce Weber’s team simply can’t afford three losses in a month, especially with conference play lurking in the distance.
2. Are we watching Fred Hoiberg’s best team at Iowa State? The contributions have been numerous and frequent for the Cyclones and perhaps the most surprising contribution has come from JuCo transfer Dustin Hogue. When Melvin Ejim was supposed to be out a significant amount of time with an injury, Hogue was thrown into the fire to replace the double-double machine. Since then Ejim has returned and Hogue’s play of late has earned him regular minutes; in fact, Hogue is nearly averaging a double-double himself at 12 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. He is one of six Cyclones averaging double-figure scoring for a team that averages a robust 91.8 points per game (good for fourth in all of college basketball). It might be a long shot but I would love to see them put 90 burgers on Kansas or Oklahoma State in conference play.
3. The 2014 Battle 4 Atlantis field was officially announced yesterday and it reveals yet another stacked field. The poor teams that have to make the sad trip to the sunny, tropical Bahamas are North Carolina, UCLA, UAB, Georgetown, Florida, Butler, Wisconsin and Oklahoma representing the Big 12 next November. Putting things in unnecessary but mind-blowing perspective, the eight teams in next year’s field have combined for 20 national championships and 33 national title games (!!!). Um… is it November yet?
4. Here’s Bill Self again, continuing his Gloomy Gus routine about his Jayhawks. One quote: “I thought we would have errors of trying too hard, rather than errors of casualness. And that’s the thing that’s really frustrating to me.” Another beauty: “As a coach, you should be judged on basically three things. Do they play together — are they unselfish? Do they play extremely hard, and are they tough? And I’d say we went Oh-for-three. So that’s frustrating to me when you go oh-for-three.” Self is a master at motivating his team after a loss and whomever is next up to face KU is usually in for a heap of trouble. (To bring balance, it’s only fair that I show the contrast in personalities for Self. Here he is: doing riverdance or something.)
5. There wasn’t a lot of good from the aftermath of Monday’s Vanderbilt-Texas game in the Big 12/SEC Challenge. But it did bring us this GIF of Texas center Cameron Ridley startled by a bat roaming the Frank Erwin Center. He’s officially listed at 6’9″ and 285 pounds but to see Ridley react the way he did made me feel a lot better about my slightly shorter stature. Plus it’s a GIF, so you know it’s good.

1. The Big 12 offices released their weekly awards and this week’s honorees are Baylor’s Cory Jefferson for Player of the Week and Kansas’ Joel Embiid for Newcomer of the Week. Jefferson averaged 14 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks per game as he helped the Bears make somewhat of a surprise appearance in the EA Sports Maui Invitational championship game. Jefferson currently leads his team in scoring (13.5) and rebounding (8.8) for the season. Embiid put up 9.7 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.3 blocks in three games at the Battle 4 Atlantis. Bill Self told the media following their win over UTEP that Embiid has “got to play more minutes…without fouling.” If this is how he’s playing after picking up basketball two years ago, I’m sure he’ll correct that issue soon enough.
2. Hello, Texas fan. Caught up in the ups and downs of another football season and know nothing about the hoops squad? Burnt Orange Nation has your back with a breakdown of each player’s performance going into last night’s game vs Vanderbilt. The young Horns have three point guards and improved big men such as shooter Connor Lammert and center Cameron Ridley, who doesn’t look totally spooked when he gets the ball down on the block anymore. Their 7-1 record will be put to the test with Temple, North Carolina, and Michigan State popping up on their schedule in three of the next four games.
3. Normally, a trip to the Bahamas is a good thing, but not if you ask Bill Self. “I’m not depressed,” Self said. “I would say frustrated, but not just me. I think the players are frustrated, too, knowing we didn’t play like we are capable of playing while we were down here. Sure, the Jayhawks dropped one to Ryan Arcidiacono and Villanova but that was followed by a nervous win to a UTEP team going into Saturday at 4-3. On Sunday morning, he decided to give his players the opportunity to ride the rsort’s water slide. Did Self tag along? “I did not,” Self told the Lawrence Journal-World. Hard to believe Self and this guy are the same person.
4. The return of Thomas Gipson is a welcome one for a Kansas State team struggling to find its offensive identity. He suffered a concussion in the early stages of the season and missed the first two games. Since playing starter’s minutes again, Gipson is averaging 17.6 points and 7.3 rebounds helping the Wildcats win two of their last three. Boy, do they need him. He now joins freshman Marcus Foster as the only two players averaging double-digit scoring. To be seven games into a soft non-conference schedule and rank 302nd out of nearly 350 Division I teams is discouraging for a team coming off a shared Big 12 title last year. It is going to be a long season in the Little Apple.
5. What’s this: West Virginia is…scoring? They defeated Loyola (MD) 96-47 last night that saw five Mountaineers in double-figures: Remi Dibo (19), Terry Henderson (16), Eron Harris (14), Kevin Noreen (13), and Nathan Adrian (11). Through eight games this year, West Virginia is averaging 85.1 points per game compared to 69.3 through eight games last season. Now the month of December brings the meat of their non-conference schedule with a road date at Missouri followed by a home tilt against Gonzaga next Tuesday. Are they at-large worthy? That could be determined in the next seven days.

1. It’s no secret that a good portion of the country (myself included) has marveled at the eye-popping numbers Marcus Smart has put up this season for Oklahoma State. But Run The Floor’s Michael Rogner offers the other side of Smart’s play and gives a compelling argument as to why he might not be the leading candidate for National Player of the Year honors. Going into Sunday morning and the Cowboys’ rematch with Memphis, Smart had two games where he turned the ball over five times. His line last night: 12 points, 4-of-13 from the field (0-of-5 from three), four assists and five turnovers. Rogner might be on to something here.
2. TCU is having a tough time in its first year-plus in the Big 12, but some of those troubles are out of their control. Stefan Stevenson of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports more injuries for the Horned Frogs in 2013-14. The most recent setback has to do with junior Amric Fields (12.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG), who suffered a broken hand in their loss to Harvard on Saturday and will be out for the next two to six weeks. This was only Fields’ fourth game of the year after missing all but three games last season due to knee surgery. Freshmen Brandon Parrish also suffered a sprained thumb in the Harvard loss and Hudson Price is recovering from a concussion. Both are listed as day-to-day. If Parrish and Price were both available for Thursday’s game vs. Mississippi State, Stevenson says TCU would have just seven scholarship players in uniform. If you’re a believer in a TCU turnaround, you’ll have to come to this realization: It’s hard to get a program off the ground if you don’t have the bodies to do it.
3. Tonight’s Oklahoma-Mercer game is a homecoming of sorts for Mercer head coach Bob Hoffman. Hoffman, an Oklahoma City native, coached at Oklahoma Baptist in Shawnee, Oklahoma, where he accumulated 243 wins over a long tenure there. Then Hoffman headed to Southern Nazarene in Bethany to be the women’s basketball coach, where he won 88 more games. He was also an assistant at Oklahoma for Kelvin Sampson from 2004-06. If you rewind to last season’s conference tournaments, his Mercer team lost in the Atlantic Sun title game and as a result introduced Florida Gulf Coast to the college basketball world. In five-plus seasons, Hoffman has won 104 games at Mercer but might have trouble getting No. 105 against a Sooners team averaging nearly 88 points per game.
4. In the last two seasons, Iowa State has been seen as a solid team that usually got hot late in conference play to surge into NCAA Tournament at-large bids. This season has gone a little differently: they’re hot early. The Cyclones have already scored a home win over then top-10 Michigan and persevered in a tough road environment against BYU. Heading into their Big 12/SEC Challenge match-up vs Auburn, Iowa State has had a week since its last game and Fred Hoiberg has decided to add plays to an already bulky playbook. It must be a nightmare as a Big 12 coach to game plan for a brand new Iowa State team every year, but to also be thrown off balance with the new wrinkles they use. It’s probably a good thing the other nine Big 12 coaches have quite a bit of patience on the sidelines.
5. Former Kansas State and Maryland assistant Dalonte Hill has decided last week to resign from his post on Mark Turgeon’s staff. In October, Hill was charged with his third DUI in five years, dating back to his tenure working under Frank Martin. He took a leave of absence from the Terrapins to “focus on his personal life,” according to Turgeon, and this is probably the best move for Hill. He feels that he must help himself before he can help others again, and who’s to say he can’t? Hill’s only 34 years old and he’ll have plenty of time to jump back  into the coaching ranks whenever he feels like he’s ready to. All the best to him going forward.

1. Big 12 and college basketball fans alike: rejoice. Just days before the 2013 edition of the Champions Classic tip-off, ESPN announced that Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Michigan State will continue the doubleheader series until at least 2016. For the last couple of years (and of course, Tuesday’s blockbuster), the Champions Classic has been the perfect nightcap to an awesome day of college hoops. As far as the next three years will shake out for Kansas, they’ll face Kentucky in 2014, Michigan State in 2015 and Duke in 2016. Did I forget to mention that today’s opening day? The news lately has been prettay, prettay, prettay, prettay good.
2. Good news on the Oklahoma recruiting front as the Sooners received a commitment from top 150 prospect Dante Buford. A three-star prospect from Arlington Country Day in Florida, Buford commanded offers from the likes of Miami, SMU, USC, Memphis and South Carolina. The news of Buford’s pledge comes two weeks after fellow 2014 big man Khadeem Lattin committed to Lon Kruger’s program despite holding offers from Georgetown, Arizona and Memphis, among many others. The Sooners may be stretched thin for big men this year, but fret not, help is on the way to Norman!
3. Let’s be honest, expectations for Texas this season aren’t very high. But Burnt Orange Nation argues if the Longhorns are to surprise, it will come down to the play of their four big men. Those players — Cameron Ridley, Jonathan Holmes, Prince Ibeh and Connor Lammert — struggled mightily in certain areas during their freshmen (sophomore for Holmes) campaigns, but the opportunity for growth is still great. Ridley is a physical freak, Holmes led the team in rebounds, Lammert’s shooting ability came to light when he started games late in the year, and Ibeh was second on the team in blocks behind Ridley. If they make serious strides in all of these areas, 2014-15 may look quite a bit better than you think right now.
4. Kansas freshman Brannen Greene was rushed to Lawrence Memorial Hospital after taking a hit to the midsection during practice. It wasn’t anything serious as Greene was taken there for precautionary reasons and released shortly thereafter. Head coach Bill Self still believes Greene will see action in tonight’s season opener against Louisiana-Monroe. What we learned from this: Self is a tough coach, his players are tough, Kansas is still predicted to win the league, and water is wet. Man they’re so good.
5. Move over Cameron Crazies: the hottest, coolest and newest student section in college basketball is the Purple Haze at TCU. The TCU Student Basketball Committee announced the name for the student section last week and members of said student section will have opportunities regular students won’t have. Head coach Trent Johnson said “The Haze” (feel free to use the nickname, TCU) will interact and build relationships with players. A point system has also been established that would enable two “Hazers” (you can use that too) who loyally attend home and away games who accumulate the most points will win two tickets to attend the 2014 Final Four at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Sounds like a sweet gig if you can get it.

1. Texas finally made it official on Wednesday, hiring Steve Patterson to be the new director of athletics at the school. Patterson is leaving Arizona State after working as that school’s athletic director since March 2012, but he has plenty of ties to the state of Texas. He has a law degree from the Austin campus; he was the general manager of the Houston Rockets from 1989-93; he was senior vice president of the Houston Texans from 1997-2003; and he was part of the group that brought Super Bowl XXXVIII to Houston. A big decision ahead for Patterson will be how he handles the future of head coach Rick Barnes as the program has taken a nosedive the past few seasons. Fortunately for Barnes, Patterson won’t assume his new role until next summer.
2. The promotions staff at Kansas State deserves a million percent raise for their latest ingenious idea. For K-State women’s basketball opener Friday night, the first 1,000 fans that enter the Octagon of Doom with a student ID will receive six slices of bacon in a tray. Kansas State’s sports information director Randy Peterson had this to say on the promotion: “Bacon is very popular.” And frankly, that’s all he needed to say. This man approves.
3. Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger announced Wednesday that the career of junior Keshaun Hamilton may be over before it had a chance to get started. Hamilton, a junior college transfer, has fallen behind Ryan Spangler and Cameron Clark on the Sooner front line but there doesn’t seem to be any playing time coming his way. “He’s kind of thinking through everything right now,” Kruger told the The Oklahoma Daily. “He doesn’t know if he wants to redshirt or go some place D-II right away in January.” As a sophomore at Labette Community College (KS) last year, Hamilton averaged 9.4 points, seven rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. It must be frustrating to arrive at a new place where he thought he’d get some playing time only to find there won’t be any. We wish him the best in his remaining career.
4. SB Nation‘s Ohio State blog, Land-Grant Holy Land, has confirmed a report that several Nike brand schools, including Texas, will wear alternate throwback jerseys in a game or games yet to be determined later this year. Other Nike brands like Kentucky, Michigan State and Duke have throwback jerseys they could honor but… what exactly does Texas have to look back on? I guess they could try to resurrect the jerseys from the T.J. Ford/Final Four year in 2003. Kevin Durant would later wear his #35 with the same style in 2006. Sigh, those were happier times for Longhorns fans.
5. Staying with SB Nation blogs, Wide Right & Natty Light has come up with perhaps the greatest shirt ever known to man just in time for the start of Iowa State’s season. If you’re a fan of the dearly-departed TV series Breaking Bad, then this has you written all over it. It’s Walter White meets Fred Hoiberg and thus creating: Hoisenberg, the hoops kingpin of Ames, Iowa. (!!!) If you’re not interested in buying it, it’s just as awesome to look at for free but if you do, show some love for WRNL and Iowa State hoops.

This week, the Big 12 microsite will finish previewing each of the league’s 10 teams. Today: Baylor. 

Where We Left Off: They were playing for their NCAA Tournament lives late last season. Baylor faced a tough test in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament against Oklahoma State — not to mention an 18-point halftime deficit. They managed to trim the Cowboys’ lead to two with seconds remaining but Pierre Jackson’s running three-pointer careened off the mark as the buzzer sounded. The Bears, who had struggled to find consistency all season, hoped their 9-9 record in Big 12 play was enough to prove to the committee they were worthy of an at-large bid. But they were left on the bubble and had to settle for an invitation from the NIT. It was there when we saw the Baylor team most had expected in the preseason, ripping through five games to bring home the first NIT Championship for a Big 12 school. Jackson has since graduated, but a combination of players returning and the addition of several touted incoming recruits could result in a more promising finish this season.

Scott Drew loses his best player from a year ago and could possibly have a better team in 2013-14. (John Sleezer/The Kansas City Star)

Positives: Almost everybody’s back! Isaiah Austin put his NBA future on hold by returning to campus after averaging 13 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game as a freshman. If there was one thing the 7’1″ Austin could improve on this year, it’s his outside shooting. It’s weird saying that about a center but the outside shot is a potentially lethal weapon of his offensive arsenal (33 percent from three-point range in 2012-13). The most important player returning is Cory Jefferson because his play usually indicated how competitive Baylor was in big games. I attended Texas-Baylor back in January and saw firsthand the kind of monster Jefferson can be when he’s playing his best. His 25 points and 10 rebounds were a big reason why the Bears won that day and went 13-3 in games where Jefferson scored at least 15 points. The best trait of these Bears is their frontcourt. In addition to Austin and Jefferson, Rico Gathers at 6’8″ and 270 pounds was a space-eater on the floor who scored the same amount of points as he did rebounds per game (5.7) off the bench. Their recruiting class also brought in four-star guard/forward Ish Wainwright (6’6″, 245 pounds) of Missouri who turned down offers from Ohio State, St. John’s and Texas to come to Waco; three-star big Johnathan Motley (6’9″, 210 pounds) of Houston decided to come to Baylor despite offers from Marquette, Oregon, Wichita State and his hometown school, Houston. News also came down within the last week that Denver transfer forward Royce O’Neale (11.2 PPG, 5.5 RPG in 2012-13) has been granted a waiver and will play immediately. This might be the best frontcourt in America. Everybody’s favorite Canadian sharpshooter Brady Heslip is also back for his senior season and fellow countryman Kenny Chery is expected to step in as the starting point guard.

Negatives: Pierre Jackson is gone. He was the heart and soul of the team, leading the Bears in minutes played, points, assists and spectacular plays, although I’m sure that last one isn’t a real stat. Another big loss is A.J. Walton, who wasn’t a big offensive presence but did serve in better roles as a second distributor and designated defensive stopper. Who will emerge this year to guard guys like Marcus Smart or quick guards like Naadir Tharpe or Buddy Hield? It might have to be Gary Franklin. With all their depth at the forward and center positions, there are five pure guards on the team and freshman Allerik Freeman‘s hand injury stretches those guards even thinner until his likely return in late November or early December.

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1. Today is November 6 which means it’s time for… bracketology? CBSSports.com’s Jerry Palm believes it is and his first bracket only has four Big 12 teams safely into the field of 68, with another team in the ‘first four out’ category. If there’s one thing to look forward to, it’s next week’s Champions Classic, where the four number one seeds — Kentucky, Kansas, Michigan State and Duke, according to Palm — will play each other in Chicago. It should be noted that there are some new bracketing measures that will go into effect this year. Due to conference realignment, the selection committee will allow teams from the same conference to meet in rounds earlier than the regional finals. Previously, the committee only allowed this situation in the event that a conference received nine or more bids to the NCAA Tournament (see: Big East in 2011 and 2012). Sadly, that’s an advantage the Big 12 never had a chance to experience.
2. Oklahoma lost a lot of the talent that brought it back to NCAAs last season for the first time since 2009. To replace the Sooners’ front line of Romero Osby and Andrew Fitzgerald will be transfers Ryan Spangler and D.J. Bennett. The Oklahoman tells us the story of  their commitments to Oklahoma on the same day and their workouts together while they waited to become eligible. Spangler is projected to be a starter while Bennett appears to be a good option for significant minutes off the bench. To have such good chemistry already built between the big men has to be a good thing for Lon Kruger.
3. Oh look, Fred Hoiberg just snagged another transfer with the commitment of ex-Indian Hills Community College forward Jameel McKay on Tuesday night. McKay had previously committed to Buzz Williams and Marquette but came to the realization in October that their style of play wasn’t particularly conducive to his talents. McKay was a two-time junior college All-American, averaging 18.1 points, 10.6 rebounds, and two blocks per game during his sophomore campaign. He’ll enroll at Iowa State for the spring semester and become eligible to play in December, but expect that the Cyclones will apply for a waiver so that he could play immediately.
4. Can Tubby Smith save Texas Tech? That’s the question CollegeBasketballTalk asks about the Red Raiders program. The case made in the article is that Smith may not be an interesting character like Bob Knight or Billy Gillispie were, but he’s a man who gets results. He took Georgia and Tulsa to Sweet Sixteens, Kentucky to a National Championship, and even though he may have suffered a misguided firing at Minnesota, he took the Gophers into the round of 32 for the first time in a non-sanctioned year since 1990. Is he Tech’s sexiest hire yet? You tell me.
5. Lost in the shuffle of West Virginia‘s exhibition win Monday night was an inappropriate moment featuring a Fairmont State player on its bench. (WARNING: A NSFW photo with a Fairmont State player giving the “double birds” will appear. Click at your own risk.) According to The Big Lead, they believe the player to be Martins Abele, a Lithuanian center who fouled out at the time of the photo, and in a moment of frustration, took it out on the home student section. Fairmont State athletic director Tim McNeeley said that Abele will be disciplined for his act but decided not to go into specific details as to how or when.

It’s safe to say that the three teams in the Big 12 that should feel somewhat good about making the NCAA Tournament this season are Kansas, Oklahoma State and Baylor. Outside of that, who can tell? That’s what make non-conference schedules so vital to Kansas State, Iowa State or another possible surprise team. My definition of a strong non-conference schedule is one where a team is in a preseason tournament with at least two NCAA-level teams, one or two true road games in difficult environments, and a minimum of one home game against a likely Tournament team. I’m more lenient toward home games because most of them need to be gimme games or are set apart for smaller schools within a state. So from the teams that matter to the teams that won’t, here they are: the good, the bad and the ugly non-conference schedules in this season’s Big 12.

Bill Self does a terrific impression of everyone who has Kansas on their non-league schedule. (AP Photo)

The Good

• Kansas: They have the most talented team in the Big 12, but perhaps more importantly, the most difficult non-conference schedule to boot. Luckily for the fifth-ranked Jayhawks, they will participate in a Champions Classic where they will face Duke, ranked one spot ahead of them in the preseason AP poll. A surprising low point on the schedule is the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament. That tournament’s championship game gave us Louisville-Duke last year, a precursor to their eventual Elite Eight match-up. But looking at this year’s field gives the impression that it’s Kansas’ event to lose. The greater litmus test for this team will come between December 7-14. In that span KU will face Colorado, Florida in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, and New Mexico — all away from Allen Fieldhouse. There may not be a more demanding week in non-conference action for any team in America. And on top of that they’ll play Georgetown and San Diego State in the Phog before league play begins. Wouldn’t it be great if all big-time coaches were as ambitious with their scheduling as Bill Self?
• Baylor: The first thing that jumps out immediately is the Bears’ season opener against Colorado. This is an incredible get considering the Buffaloes could very well be the best team Tad Boyle has had in Boulder as well as the fact that it’s an on-campus game. During the week of Thanksgiving, the Bears participate in this year’s EA Sports Maui Invitational, usually perceived as the preseason’s most prestigious tournament. Assuming it wins the whole thing, Baylor would presumably have to go through the likes of Gonzaga and Syracuse to do so — two teams ranked in the AP Top 25. They wouldn’t have much time to regroup, because a little more than a week later, they’ll have a date with top-ranked Kentucky on December 6 in Arlington. After winter break, the Bears will face Northwestern State, a team that won its conference tournament last season and led the nation in scoring. Baylor ends its slate with a game against an Oral Roberts program that has won 20+ games in three of its last four seasons. The Bears make a good case for the toughest non-Big 12 schedule but a lack of true road games hurts them.

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