Owen Kemp of Rock Chalk Talk and SB Nation Kansas City is the RTC Correspondent for the Big 12 Conference.

A Look Back

Last  week’s Big 12 schedule ended up riddled in upsets, and rather than the league providing some clarity as the NCAA Tournament approaches, the waters just got a little muddier.

The week started with a Valentine’s Day Big Monday matchup between the Kansas State Wildcats and the newly-anointed #1 Kansas Jayhawks in Manhattan.  Headed into the game, the Wildcats were in desperate need of a statement win headed toward the tourney, while the Jayhawks talked about embracing the target that comes with being named #1. The game turned out to be all Kansas State, as senior guard Jacob Pullen exploded for a career-high 38 points and the Wildcats dominated a Jayhawk team that looked complacent from the start.

Tuesday night went as expected as the Texas Tech Red Raiders lost in Columbia in a high-scoring affair against the Tigers.  The Tech effort actually provided one of the closer games for the Tigers at home this year, but the eight-point loss was just another bump in the road for a Tech team that hasn’t had much in the way of positive news this season.

On Wednesday, the Texas Longhorns took to the court knowing that taking care of business in two very winnable games during the week likely meant a top ranking to start the following week.  Against Oklahoma State in Austin, the Longhorns cruised and the Cowboys dropped to 4-7 in the conference likely dropping them off the bubble and into the group of Big 12 teams that will be NIT-bound come March.

Texas A&M turned away an Iowa State team still looking for win number two in conference play and Nebraska got a big road win in Norman over the Sooners. The win moved the Huskers to 5-6 in the conference and in the conversation with Kansas State and Colorado as a potential league representative in the tourney.  It’s definitely a bit of a reach, but in a year where college basketball is full of parity, it’s not out of the question.

Saturday tipped off with the Jayhawks rebounding from their loss to Kansas State with a blowout win over Colorado and Missouri getting their first conference road win in Ames over the Cyclones.  The big story in the early going, however, was the Nebraska Cornhuskers.  Doc Sadler and the Huskers pulled off the second big time upset of the week in conference play as they knocked off the Longhorns in a thriller in Lincoln.  The Huskers used a pesky defense and rode the energy of the home crowd to the upset and with a statement win put themselves firmly in the conversation as a fringe bubble team.

Kansas State continued their strong play of late with big win at home over the Sooners, while A&M continued to survive winning by one point over Oklahoma State in Stillwater.  Besides the Longhorn upset, another game provided a mild upset when Texas Tech went into Waco and knocked off the Baylor Bears.  Baylor now sits 6-6 in the conference with an identical record to Nebraska and Kansas State.  The biggest concern for Baylor has to be the lack of any quality wins.  In a little over a week, Baylor has gone from a team that looked to be improving and moving toward lock status, to a team sitting on the brink.  If the tourney started today Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Texas A&M, Kansas State and Nebraska would be your top six teams with Baylor checking in at number seven.  That most likely doesn’t get them in.

Power Rankings

Quick Disclaimer: Power rankings are not meant to be a poll.  They are meant to reflect who is playing the best basketball at a given time.

1. Texas (23-4, 11-1) – Texas dropped one on the road in Lincoln, but they retain the top spot because it was a game where they fought for 40 minutes and it just wasn’t their day.
2. Kansas (25-2, 11-1) – Kansas was manhandled in Manhattan and didn’t put up much of a fight.  They looked great on Saturday at home against a mediocre opponent, but the manner of the loss on Monday keeps them at #2.
3. Texas A&M (11-5, 8-4) – A&M continues to win albeit by a very slim margin.  Still the Aggies have won on the road more often than the Tigers and that puts them at #3 for now.
4. Missouri Tigers (21-6, 7-5) – Two wins this week for the Tigers and their first conference road win against last place Iowa State.  That doesn’t necessarily change the concern over the Tigers’ play away from Columbia, but it’s a start.
5. Kansas State (18-9, 6-6) – The Wildcats were on the ropes headed into the week, but after a win over # 1 Kansas, they now seem firmly in control of their NCAA Tournament hopes. K-State is #5 right now in the conference if the tournament selection show were today.
6. Nebraska (18-8, 6-6) – A big win over Texas and the Huskers now sit 6-6 with a real chance to play themselves into the NCAA Tournament.  Doc Sadler plays a tough physical defensive game and it’s winning basketball games in Lincoln.
7. Baylor (17-9, 6-6) – Baylor losing to Texas Tech at home is a pretty big blow at this point.  The Bears can’t claim any marquee wins and they have more “bad” losses than Kansas State and Nebraska.
8. Colorado (16-11, 5-7 Big 12) – Colorado was in a position to make a play, but the schedule isn’t kind down the stretch.  Right now, they are probably a longshot tourney team, but they’ll have to run the table.
9. Oklahoma State (16-10, 4-8) The Cowboys can’t seem to catch a break and continue to lose close games in tough situations.  Help is on the way in Stillwater, but this year has been a struggle.
10. Texas Tech (12-15, 4-8) – Tech got a pretty nice win on the road in Waco this week and actually proved pretty competitive in Columbia which is no easy task.  One tick up in the power polls as a result.
11. Oklahoma (12-14, 4-8) – Two losses for the Sooners this week and they drop from a potential middle tier Big 12 team back to the bottom.
12. Iowa State (14-13, 1-11 Big 12) – Things just aren’t getting any better in Ames.  It’s a long season when you have such a lean bench.

A Look Ahead

• Monday brings another Big Monday in Lawrence as Kansas welcomes the Oklahoma State Cowboys.  Bill Self has had his struggles against his alma mater, and at this point, the role of spoiler is all the Cowboys have to play for.
• Tuesday night, Texas will play host to the Iowa State Cyclones in Austin in their first game since losing to the Huskers in Lincoln.  The Longhorns are still playing for the outright conference title and with four losses they are the team with the most losses that is still being mentioned in terms of a potential number one seed.
• Wednesday night, Kansas State heads to Lincoln in a game that means a great deal for Nebraska, but  also has implications for the Wildcats as well.  While most believe Kansas State is fairly secure as a fifth Big 12 team in the tournament a win helps improve their seeding while a win for Nebraska is another big feather in the cap of Doc Sadler as he looks to take the Cornhuskers to the tourney in their final year in the Big 12.
• Wednesday night games also include Oklahoma heading to Texas A&M, Colorado heading to Lubbock and the unpredictable but talented Baylor Bears traveling to Columbia where the Tigers are undefeated on the season.
• Saturday once again sees all 12 teams in action with the Kansas Jayhawks and Texas Longhorns going on the road in games they are expected to win against Oklahoma and Colorado, respectively.  The Longhorn trip to Boulder is probably the more dangerous of the two as the Buffs have NBA talent.  The big question will be whether or not they can defend well enough to slow the Longhorns.
• Missouri travels to Manhattan for a tough contest against K-State in a matchup that is slowly growing into a rivalry.  While neither team hates the other in the way they hate Kansas, this is a game that has become competitive and relevant in recent years.
• Elsewhere, Texas A&M heads to Waco for a game against Baylor.  Texas Tech and Oklahoma State square off in Stillwater in a game that holds little significance.  And lastly Nebraska gets another chance to boost the resume when they travel to Iowa State with a chance at another conference road win against the Cyclones.

Player of the Year Watch

With two weeks to go, this is down to a three-man race.   Two players with teams at the top and one player who’s overcome his fair share of struggle and become a better player and leader for it.

Power Ranking Style and Based on Conference Play

1. Jordan Hamilton – (17.6 PPG, 8.0 RPG): Not a great week for Hamilton, but he’s still the best player on the best team in the conference.
2. Marcus Morris, Kansas – (18.0 PPG, 7.7 RPG): Statistically, Morris is still impressive, and he’s by far the most versatile.  But will the perception that he lacks leadership hurt his chances?
3. Jacob Pullen, Kansas State – (21.2 PPG, 3.6 APG): Pullen exploded on Monday against Kansas with 38 points, but what was even more impressive is how he was able to step back and elevate others around him in the second half while Kansas State kept their foot firmly on the gas.  Pullen has put himself firmly back in the conversation for the postseason award.

1. Love him or hate him, you have to admit that he was never boring, and the kid could fill it. On Sunday, Maryland honored former star (and current Memphis Grizzly) Greivis Vasquez by raising his number up to the Comcast Center rafters. And of course you know he loved getting another jab in on North Carolina, as seen in the report from the Baltimore Sun’s Tracking the Terps blog; when asked about how he thought Maryland would do in their last five regular season games, Vasquez predicted five wins, adding, “I think we can beat UNC at UNC anytime.”
2. According to the Kansas City Star, Kansas State’s Jacob Pullen is a veritable bracket expert, often scouring the web for the latest bracket predictions and news. While making sure to note that he really just hopes his Wildcats get into The Dance, he projects KSU as a six-seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament. We don’t know if Jacob is familiar with the work of RTC bracketologist-in-residence Zach Hayes, but we’ll make sure Pullen has Zach’s e-mail address in the event that he wants to lobby for his Wildcats or offer Zach a few choice words, heh heh. We’ll see where ZH has Kansas State (if anywhere) in his next bracket projection later today. In last week’s edition, KSU was one of the last four out, but it was released before the Wildcats’ win over Kansas on Monday night.
3. You probably remember how full Cornell’s bandwagon got last year as the Big Red rolled to a 29-5 record, a 12-seed in the NCAA Tournament (way, way too low), and a Sweet 16 appearance. That was their third straight bid to the Tournament, a trifecta of appearances that came after a 20-year drought. Harvard is not impressed. The Crimson (20-4, 9-1) are a half game up on Princeton in the Ivy League standings with four games to play — remember, there’s no post-season tournament for the Ancient Eight, so the auto-bid goes to the regular season champ — and all that’s at stake for Tommy Amaker’s team is the program’s first NCAA bid…in 65 years. The last game on their schedule? Princeton. March 5th.
4. You think Jerry Tarkanian, at age 80, has tempered his ire toward the NCAA with the passage of time? Right. You figure that $2.5 million dollar settlement check he received from them in 1998 diluted his anger? Think again. On Friday at the Palms in Vegas, HBO premiered a documentary about Tark’s UNLV days, and it’s obvious from his post-screening comments that this is one grudge he’ll never put down. He gets in some priceless digs (the strip club comment is hilarious) in this Tim Dahlberg/AP article we caught in the New York Times.
5. Remember that play from Tuesday’s Michigan State vs Ohio State game where Aaron Craft ran down that errant Spartan pass that went into the backcourt, gathered it before it went out of bounds, then took it up strong for the and-one? A few seconds after it happened, we tweeted that that single effort told you a lot of what you needed to know about the impressive Ohio State freshman. Well, we were wrong. This article from the Akron Beacon Journal tells you even more. His sections in that “Party In the USA” viral video brought to mind the voice of the great Ralph Wiggum (full disclosure: HLN’s Rafer Weigel said that before we did), but Craft’s evidently got skills in about fourteen other sports…and that’s not counting what sounds like some serious expertise on the dance floor [h/t: Coach Jeff Boals].

If you are interested in participating in our ATB2 feature, send in your submissions to rushthecourt@gmail.com. We will add to this post throughout the day as the submissions come in so keep on sending them.

Top 25 Games

• #1 Ohio State 71, Michigan State 61: “In front of an energetic sell-out crowd (3rd of the season), the Buckeyes bounced back from their defeat in Madison on Saturday with a 71-61 victory over Michigan State Tuesday night. The Spartans have now won just 2 of their last 8 games to continue their dissappointing season, while the Buckeyes took step one of potentailly reclaiming the top spot in the nation after Kansas’s loss last night.” (Eleven Warriors)
• Kansas State 84, #3 Kansas 68: “The stay atop the polls will be a short one as the Kansas Jayhawks stepped onto the court on Monday night and never stood a chance. Jacob Pullen was a man on mission, the Kansas State Wildcats fought their way off the ropes and for all the talk of embracing no.1 the Jayhawks looked completely unprepared for the challenge.” (Rock Chalk Talk: Part 1 and Part 2)
• #13 Villanova 60, Seton Hall 57: “For the third consecutive game the outcome came down to the last shot. And twice in those three games the ball was in the hands of the opponent. The nightmare scenario was unfolding as Jeremy Hazell, Seton Hall’s latest 2,000 point scorer had the ball with 0:11 on the clock and 25 points already banked from this game. Hazell-led teams had never beaten the Wildcats, and this was the best chance in his four seasons. Hazell, who had 2,005 points entering the game, will probably almost certainly pass Greg Tynes (1974-78) to become the #3 scorer in Pirate history. But his total stopped at 25 tonight as his last three point attempt careened off the rim and into Dominic Cheek’s eager grasp. ” (Villanova by the Numbers)
• #20 Syracuse 63, West Virginia 52: “There will be no three-game losing streak. There will be no four-game home losing streak. When they needed to most, the Orange got their act together and held on for 63-52 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers Monday night.” (Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician)
• #21 Kentucky 85, Mississippi State 79: “Tonight, the Kentucky Wildcats did just slightly more than enough to win this game. Ugly or pretty, nobody will ever know at the end of the year that this was anything other than a W. I am not surprised that the Mississippi St. Bulldogs offered Kentucky such a stiff challenge. Last year’s two overtime losses to Kentucky had to affect this team, they came in smarting from a bad loss against the Auburn Tigers, and they were ready to take it to Kentucky. They did so. If not for the untimely foul and absurd technical by Rick Stansbury at the end of the first half, who knows for sure what the outcome of this contest might have been? In the end, though, Kentucky did just enough to win, and made some timely big plays in the bargain. But Mississippi St. deserves praise for bringing their A game into Rupp Arena.” (A Sea of Blue)

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David Ely is an RTC Contributor.

Introduction

What a weekend. We’re still reeling from the Saturday’s chaos in Madison. It’s always a bittersweet day when the final undefeated team in the nation suffers its first loss. Do you think the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers pop champagne and toast themselves every year once that game clock hits 0:00 and their legacy is preserved for one more year? Sure, they aren’t the ’72 Dolphins, but we easily could picture Bobby Knight smirking to himself and lighting a cigar after Ohio State’s loss at Wisconsin. 

What We Learned

Taylor May Be the Most Talk-About Player In America Right Now

Ohio State wasn’t an invincible juggernaut and we already knew that. OSU endured close calls earlier the season against Minnesota, Michigan, Penn State, Illinois and Northwestern. It wasn’t a matter of if Ohio State would suffer its first loss, it was a matter of when some team would rise up and topple the Buckeyes. Cue the Wisconsin Badgers. Jordan Taylor exploded in the second half scoring 21 of his 27 points to lead Wisconsin to a come from behind win and an all-time RTC. But here at TWTW, we’re not as interested in single game scenarios; we focus on the big picture. So in their win, did the Badgers show the nation a blueprint for beating the Buckeyes? The main quality a team needs in order to emulate what the Badgers did against OSU is offensive efficiency. Ohio State is the #12 team in the nation at forcing turnovers, causing them on 25% of opponents’ possessions. Wisconsin values the ball more than any other team in the NCAA, turning it over on just 13.6% of its possessions, and on Saturday the Badgers had just eight turnovers. Of course it doesn’t take a genius to point out that fewer turnovers increases your win probability. But what’s harder to duplicate is the Badgers’ enigmatic guard. Taylor pretty much single-handedly propelled Wisconsin to the upset. Few clubs have a guard capable of putting up that many points that quickly. So while opposing coaches can point to Saturday’s outcome merely as proof that OSU is beatable, it’s difficult to emulate the Badgers’ winning formula. Here’s the best recipe for beating a highly ranked Ohio State squad: schedule the game in Madison. Neither the OSU football nor basketball teams are invulnerable to the powers of Bucky Badger.

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The Lede.  Big Monday came through with a shocker tonight, and only part of it involved Jim Boeheim attacking the Syracuse media for what he deemed unfair reporting.  We’ll discuss this more below, but did Kansas State turn the proverbial corner on its season this evening with a superb showing against its bitter rival, or did we just witness the 2011 version of Devan Downey knocking out #1 Kentucky?

Start of Something or Highlight of the Year For Pullen?

Your Watercooler Moment.  K-State Obliterates #1 Kansas, a Nation Wonders How? Everyone in the building and watching on television knew exactly the moment when it was over.  Not over in the scoreboard sense necessarily — after all, there was enough time for a big comeback by Kansas — but over in the heads-hanging, back-breaking sense.  With about ten minutes to go in the game, K-State’s Jacob Pullen, who had broken out of his season-long slump with 25 points in the first half, shot a long three that spun around the rim, bounced up to hit the backboard, and dropped right back in.  It’s the kind of shot you only get when the night is yours, and Pullen, on his way to a 38-point masterpiece, the second-most points scored in a game against a #1 team ever, drained it for his fourth trey of the evening.  It was almost as if all of the team’s pent-up frustrations about preseason expectations, the suspensions, the finger-pointing, the NIT flap, the overriding average-ness of this team, came out in one glorious game against its hated rival.  As it turns out, the Wildcat victory tonight represented only the third such win in its last 45 tries against Kansas, a streak so unbelievable on its face that you start to think maybe K-State should only agree to play the Jayhawks when they’re ranked #1 in the polls (two of those three wins came as such).  As for tonight, Kansas State hit everything it threw up (56% FG), out-rebounded (+4) and generally out-toughed Bill Self’s top-ranked team.  They played like a team with something to earn, while Kansas played like a team with something to lose.  The big question is whether this transcendental win for Frank Martin’s guys means anything in the long run — conventional wisdom is that KSU still has some work to do before getting itself back onto the NCAA bubble, but only Florida State, Wisconsin and the Wildcats have wins over #1 teams this season.  It’s not a matter of whether — obviously if Frank Martin’s team can beat KU by nearly twenty points — they have the capacity to win four of five games the rest of the way (we’re assuming Texas in Austin is a loss).  But will the same Pullen and the same aggressive defense that we saw in Bramlage Coliseum tonight show up against the likes of Oklahoma and Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa State?  Kansas, on the other hand, once again looked completely listless in a game where we can only presume that they expected K-State to kneel down and take the beating like they had done in Lawrence a few weeks ago.  That’s what really scares us about Bill Self’s team — it’s not that they don’t have the talent and experience in droves, because they do — it’s that, as we saw in the Northern Iowa game last year and a few other near-misses since then, sometimes they’re just not mentally all the way there.  Tonight the Jayhawks were down 30-16 (thanks to a 20-8 run) before they seemed to realize they were going to have to play to win the game.  They are good enough to win the national title when playing full bore, but as Self alluded to in the postgame, if they think they can waltz in and intimidate teams with their pedigree alone, they’re vulnerable to getting shocked.  Pullen and K-State definitely did the shocking tonight; it’s up to those capable individuals to determine if it’s sustainable.

Your Watercooler Moment, Pt. II.  Boeheim Wins #850, Trashes Media Afterward. Coming into tonight’s game having lost five of seven games and two in a row, the Orange needed a home win to remind everyone of the team that ran out to an 18-0 start earlier this season.  Despite the same bugaboo that has caused major troubles in the Syracuse defense appearing again (three-point defense), the Orange were able to shut down WVU in the last eight minutes of the game, holding the Mountaineers to a mere three points during that stretch and pulling away.  WVU hit 11-22 from deep, though, which means that the vaunted 2-3 defense employed by SU is still having trouble getting to shooters; luckily, West Virginia didn’t appear to have much other offense than that outside the arc (6-25 from two).  The win moved Syracuse to 21-6 (8-6 Big East) and was also Jim Boeheim’s 850th win in his career (second only to Coach K among active coaches).  Boeheim used the post-game presser to rip the media about their preseason predictions and comparing his record against other coaches.  Here’s the entire thing, but we’d suggest you watch starting at around 3:00 to get the gist of it.

Tweet of the Night.  Complete agreement… during the Kansas-KSU game, it was incredibly distracting.

***** – quit your job and divorce your wife if that’s what it takes to watch this game live
**** – best watched live, but if you must, tivo and watch it tonight as soon as you get home
*** – set your tivo but make sure you watch it later
** – set your tivo but we’ll forgive you if it stays in the queue until 2013
* – don’t waste bandwidth (yours or the tivo’s) of any kind on this game

Brian Otskey is an RTC contributor.

We’re now less than a month away from Selection Sunday. A couple of Big East teams try to enhance their resume while one Big 12 team is in desperation mode tonight. All rankings from RTC and all times Eastern.

West Virginia @ #12 Syracuse – 7 pm on ESPN (***)

How Tough Is the Big East? The Orange Got Clowned In the Carrier Dome On 1/25...by Seton Hall

Given the state of the bubble, you’d have to say these two teams are solidly in the field of 68. We’re sure, however, that Jim Boeheim isn’t feeling so fine and dandy about his Orange right now. Syracuse has lost six of their last eight games and will look to snap a three game home losing streak when West Virginia visits the Carrier Dome this evening. Syracuse hasn’t won on their home floor in a month, their last victory coming over Cincinnati on January 15. In order to help the Orange continue that home losing streak, West Virginia needs to control the pace and work every possession through the middle of the Syracuse 2-3 zone. Joe Mazzulla and Truck Bryant have proven to be a solid tandem at the point and it’ll be up to them to take care of the ball, control the pace and create open shots.

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Owen Kemp of Rock Chalk Talk and SB Nation Kansas City is the RTC Correspondent for the Big 12 Conference.

A Look Back

• This week’s Big 12 play kicked off with a Big Monday matchup between Kansas and Missouri as part of ESPN’s Rivalry Week.  The Tigers and Jayhawks both entered the Monday night matchup ranked in the top 25 with Kansas checking in at #2 and the Tigers at #20.  As has been the case over the past few meetings between these two programs at Allen Fieldhouse, it was all Kansas in a game that saw plenty of offense and a final score of 103-86.
• Wednesday night, Texas handled another Big 12 opponent with ease, beating Oklahoma by 16, while Nebraska gave Baylor all they could handle before the Bears would secure a four-point win and position themselves for a tournament bid.   In Boulder, the Colorado Buffaloes played with a lead for much of the game before losing by three in overtime to Mark Turgeon’s Texas A&M Aggies.  With the win, Turgeon gets the best of former teammate Tad Boyle in the first and last meeting between the two coaches as Big 12 foes.
• Saturday paved the way for the Big 12 to have the #1 and #2 teams in the country following Ohio State’s loss to Wisconsin and both Kansas and Texas made their case.  The Jayhawks continued a hot stretch offensively in a dismantling of the Iowa State Cyclones while Texas fought off an upset bid by Baylor to win by nine and end a four-game losing streak to the in-state rival.
• Missouri got back on track with a big win over Oklahoma at home.  The Tigers continue to look like a completely different team in Columbia than they are on the road.  The Aggies won their second close one this week on the road with a late win over Pat Knight’s Texas Tech squad.
• Doc Sadler and Nebraska kept their slim postseason hopes alive with a win over Oklahoma State in Lincoln.  Both teams now sit at 4-6.  The other two teams in the conversation for a potential sixth Big 12 bid are Colorado and Kansas State.  The Wildcats made a last-second three pointer that was later determined to come after the buzzer, giving the Buffaloes a late win in the game in Boulder despite seeing very little in the way of production from star Alec Burks.

Power Rankings

Quick Disclaimer: Power rankings are not meant to be a poll.  They are meant to reflect who is playing the best basketball at a given time.

1. Texas (22-3, 10-0) – Texas continues to cruise and the Longhorns have their eyes on an undefeated conference run.
2. Kansas (24-1, 9-1) – Kansas remains on a hot stretch on the offensive end and might find themselves playing with the #1 ranking this week.
3. Baylor (16-8, 6-5) – Baylor looks to be developing of late and with all that talent, they have a chance to be dangerous. It’s still a work in progress but a good showing against Texas in Austin helps the argument for the Bears.
4. Texas A&M (19-5, 6-4) – A&M gets two tight wins on the road and turns the momentum back in the right direction heading down the stretch.
5. Missouri (19-6, 5-5) – New week, same story.  The Tigers can’t win on the road.  The schedule becomes a little more forgiving over the next few games, and it might be a good opportunity for the Tigers to get that first road win and make a push for a first-day bye at the Big 12 tourney.
6. Colorado (16-10, 5-6) – Colorado takes A&M to overtime and gets a nice win over Kansas State.  Right now they have an ever-so-slight edge in the race for sixth in the conference, which might also signal the last bid for the conference come NCAA Tournament time.
7. Nebraska (16-8, 4-6) – The Huskers are a sleeper team in the four-way race for #6 and they currently hold wins over two of the other three teams, with victories over Colorado and Oklahoma State.
8. Kansas State (16-9, 4-6) After a LONG week off, the Wildcats lose to Colorado in a heartbreaker on the road.  Rumors ran wild as to the status of senior Curtis Kelly, and the year that was supposed to be special is truly on the brink.  A big opportunity comes on Monday with Kansas coming to town.
9. Oklahoma State (16-8, 4-6) The Cowboys dropped their only game on the week and have a bit of inner turmoil with some off-court issues.  It will be interesting to see how well Travis Ford can hold things together.
10. Oklahoma (12-12, 4-6) – The Sooners lose to the Longhorns and the Tigers; no shame in that.  Jeff Capel has done better than expected but OU isn’t there yet.
11. Texas Tech (11-14, 3-7) – Another almost for the Red Raiders as they take A&M to the wire but can’t squeak out a win.
12. Iowa State (14-11, 1-9) – No depth and it’s finally caught up.  Fred Hoiberg’s team never quits, but they just don’t have the horses to keep up this season.

A Look Ahead

• The week in the Big 12 kicks off with Kansas heading to Manhattan for a Big Monday matchup against Kansas State.  The Wildcats will be hungry for revenge after a recent blowout in Lawrence and the Jayhawks might head into this one as the top ranked team in the nation.
• A rare set of Tuesday games keeps things going with Texas Tech heading on the road to face Missouri and Baylor playing a mid-year cupcake against Wayland Baptist.
• If the Jayhawks aren’t number one, it could be the Texas Longhorns who carry that title.  Texas tips off Wednesday night at home against Oklahoma State, while Iowa State heads to College Station and the Cornhuskers look for another resume-building win on the road at Oklahoma.
• Saturday sees all 12 teams in action once again and it’s a weekend that could provide some separation at the six spot.  Colorado has to travel to Lawrence while Nebraska hosts Texas.  A&M goes on the road to Oklahoma State while Kansas State hosts Oklahoma.  Again, OSU, KSU, Nebraska and Colorado could all by vying for a final NCAA bid and all four will be tested on Saturday.
• Rounding out the action on Saturday is a trip by the Missouri Tigers into Ames, where they’ll look to get their first conference road win against the last place Cyclones.  If the Tigers can’t pull off a win in Hilton, they might have to start concerning themselves a little more with postseason seeding.   The last game on the day is between Texas Tech and Baylor in Waco, as the Bears look to further cement that #3 spot in the conference.

Player of the Year Watch

Power Ranking Style and Based on Conference Play

1. Jordan Hamilton – (17.8 PPG, 8.5 RPG): Hamilton keeps plugging along on a great Texas team in the hunt for an undefeated conference season and a #1 seed come tourney time.
2. Marcus Morris, Kansas – (18.7 PPG, 8 RPG): Morris and Kansas are hot right now, playing lights-out on the offensive end.  The Jayhawks could soon be the #1 team in the nation and Morris is a big reason why.
3. Alec Burks, Colorado – (20.2, PPG, 7.9 RPG): Burks had an off night against Kansas State but Colorado pulled off a win anyway securing the season sweep of the Wildcats and keeping the Buffalo postseason hopes alive.
4. LaceDarius Dunn – (18.7 PPG): Dunn is starting to assert himself and Baylor is playing better.  The Bears sit in the top 4 of the conference and are starting to look more like a tournament lock than a team lost.
5. Jacob Pullen, Kansas State – (18.9 PPG, 3.5 APG): Pullen keeps fighting, but the Wildcats are facing the very real possibility of an NIT bid come March.

Owen Kemp of Rock Chalk Talk and SB Nation Kansas City is the RTC Correspondent for the Big 12 Conference.

A Look Back

• Last week in the Big 12 seemed to be a bit of a slow week in the grand scheme of things.  Not in the sense that games weren’t being played, but simply from the standpoint of few high-stakes games being played.  As the league has turned into a two-team race, it’s become more apparent that the Big 12 may only have four teams playing in the NCAA Tournament, league play has taken a bit of a different tone on a day-to-day basis.
• Still, there was plenty of action, and it kicked off last Monday with a Big Monday showdown between Texas A&M and Texas in College Station.  The matchup was highly anticipated, as the Longhorns had just recently dispatched the Aggies in Austin with relative ease and this was a game that figured to be a potential stumbling block for Texas. At the end of the day, however, Texas ran away with this one in a 20-point victory, further staking their claim atop the conference.
• Tuesday saw a Kansas Jayhawk team that continues to look better head into Lubbock and manage an easy victory over Texas Tech while Colorado won by a wide margin over the Iowa State Cyclones in Boulder.
• Wednesday did provide the league’s primary upset for the week, as Missouri went into Stillwater and dropped their fourth league game, all but eliminating the Tigers from conference title contention.
• Saturday saw all 12 teams in action and another upset of sorts.  Baylor, a team with tremendous talent, finally put together a solid win in a two-point overtime victory over Texas A&M.  The loss dropped A&M back to the pack in the Big 12 and the conference is now a two-team battle between Kansas and Texas, while a logjam in the middle exists with eight teams having either four or five losses in conference play.

Power Rankings

Disclaimer: Power rankings are not meant to be interpreted as a poll, but are meant to reflect who is playing the best basketball at a given time.

1. Texas (20-3, 8-0) – At this point, there isn’t an argument otherwise.  The Longhorns are running through the Big 12 with ease and the hold the head-to-head advantage over the only real challenger in Kansas.
2. Kansas (22-1, 7-1) – Kansas has looked like a team that might have finally found its chemistry over the last few games.  The offense has been efficient, the defense has stepped up, now it’s just a matter of whether or not Texas ever loses and gives the Jayhawks a chance pull even.
3. Baylor (15-7, 5-4) – The three spot is a tough call right now in the Big 12.  After #2, you have eight teams with 4 or 5 losses.  Right now, Baylor is coming off a nice win over A&M, and they look to be creeping a little bit closer to putting things in place and scraping together a workable conference record.
4. Missouri (18-5, 4-4) – Missouri is a different team at home and on the road. In Columbia, they are every bit the top-15 ranking they’ve held for much of the year.  The margin of victory is typically big and the Tigers look dangerous.  On the road, they look pedestrian offensively and the pressure doesn’t seem to cause near the problem for opponents that Missouri is accustomed to.   They’re a tourney team, no doubt, now they just need to play for a better seed.
5.  Texas A&M (17-5, 4-4) – A&M has gone 1-4 in the last two weeks with two losses to Texas, one to Baylor and one to Nebraska.  The Aggies are still a tournament-caliber team but Mark Turgeon needs to right the ship in a hurry.
6. Oklahoma(12-10, 4-4 Big 12) – The Sooners have won four of their last five in the conference to reach a surprising 4-4 record and currently sit tied for fourth in the conference.  The schedule gets tougher here in a hurry, but for now, Jeff Capel has his team exceeding expectations.
7. Oklahoma State (16-7, 4-5) Oklahoma State put together two solid wins in the past week to get things back on track after a tough start in the conference.  At 4-5 they definitely have work to do, but the Cowboys have shown the ability to pull off an upset this year.
8. Kansas State (16-8, 4-5) – K-State has won three of their last four, and minus the buzzsaw that they ran into in Lawrence, the Wildcats have looked better of late.  The departure of Wally Judge is another blow to their thin hopes at the NCAA Tournament, but it might still be a bit early to write of the Wildcats just yet.
9. Colorado (15-9, 4-5) – Colorado continues to slide.  They did pick up one win this week, but they still sit 1-5 in their last six games and the early season NCAA Tourney hopes have faded away rather quickly in Boulder.
10. Nebraska (15-7, 3-5) – Nebraska continues their farewell tour, and as usual, they seem to come up just a bit short.   The Cornhuskers definitely look like a better team this year under Doc Sadler, but it’s still not enough to push it over the top and make a serious play at a tournament bid.
11. Texas Tech (11-13, 3-6) – Tech has a record almost equal to that of the Huskers, but if you asked yourself which place you’d be more nervous about traveling to it would be Lincoln and not Lubbock.
12. Iowa State (14-10, 1-8) – Reality has set in completely in Ames.  The Cyclones’ best talent is probably sitting on the bench awaiting eligibility.  This year looked like it had some potential, but Fred Hoiberg has a serious depth problem and a rebuilding project on his hands.

A Look Ahead

• The week in the Big 12 kicks off with another solid Big Monday matchup as nationally ranked Missouri will head into Lawrence to take on #2 Kansas.  The Tigers and the Jayhawks have one of college basketball’s most bitter rivalries, and the game should provide a solid kickoff to the week.
• Wednesday night, the Longhorns head into Norman to take on an Oklahoma team that has surprisingly put together a 4-4 record halfway through league play.  Jeff Capel has managed to take a team left for dead early and put them in a position to compete in the middle of the Big 12 pack.  It won’t be enough to talk tournament, but it’s something to build on in Norman.
• Other Wednesday games include Nebraska heading into Waco to take on Baylor, and Texas A&M heads to Boulder, where both the Aggies and the Buffs are looking to gain an edge for a first day Big 12 tourney bye with a win.
• Fast forward to Saturday and the Baylor Bears head to Austin.  The Longhorns have taken on all comers and won with relative ease in the conference, but the Bears are a team with the talent to compete.  Baylor hasn’t been able to put the pieces together, but if they can, it’s one of the few games left on the Longhorn schedule that could prove a bit tricky.
• Other games include Iowa State at Kansas, Oklahoma at Missouri, Oklahoma State at Nebraska, A&M at Tech and Kansas State heads to Boulder looking to get a little revenge for the early season loss in Manhattan.

Player of the Year Watch

Power Ranking Style and Based on Conference Play

1. Jordan Hamilton – (17.6 PPG, 8.6 RPG): Hamilton is the leader on the best team in the conference.  That’s a big part of the resume when selecting a player of the year.
2. Marcus Morris, Kansas – (18.6 PPG, 7.6 RPG): Marcus has looked unstoppable at times in the last two weeks but statistically his numbers have dipped as others have stepped up as well and at this point Kansas still sits one game back of Texas. Morris is definitely in the conversation for the POY but right now he has taken a backseat to Hamilton much like Kansas has taken a back seat to Texas.
3. Alec Burks, Colorado – (21.6, PPG, 8 RPG): First in scoring, third in rebounding.  Those are Burks conference rankings in two key statistical categories.  Usually, a player of the year is going to come from a team in contention, but Burks might be one of the few players that still have a chance despite being on a middle of the pack team.
4. Jacob Pullen, Kansas State – (19.7 PPG, 3.44 APG): Pullen is still a pretty good player, but his team has been one of the most disappointing stories in college basketball.  That’s not a likely recipe for a player of the year nod, but Pullen received preseason mention and has still been a statistically solid contributor.  Tough to say how serious of an option he really is.

Brian Goodman is an RTC editor. Owen Kemp, the RTC correspondent for the Big 12, will return on Monday.

A Look Back

• It’s been a season full of surprises around college basketball, and the Big 12 is no different. There are surprises on both sides of the spectrum, but the possibility of sending merely four teams to the Big Dance looms large here in early February. On the disappointing side, Frank Martin looks like he’s losing his team, which was ranked third in the country to start the season. Forward Freddy Asprilla, recently reported as leaving the team to play in the professional ranks in his native Colombia, citing a need to take care of his family, wound up at Canisius, which is even farther from Colombia than Manhattan. Making matters worse, fellow big man Wally Judge, once a can’t-miss recruit, left the team last week.
• The Baylor Bears have also underperformed, and could join Kansas State in the bubble watch if Scott Drew can’t turn his recruiting prowess into quality wins in a hurry. Losses to KSU, Iowa State and Oklahoma have marred the Bears’ postseason prospects, but there are still chances for Perry Jones and company to regroup.
• Missouri, hopeful to challenge the Jayhawks and Wildcats in November, already have four conference losses to their name after dropping Wednesday’s tilt in snowy Stillwater. Aside from a big rivalry game against Kansas in Lawrence on Monday, though, the toughest of the Tigers’ schedule seems to be behind them, with their remaining road games coming against Iowa State, Kansas State and Nebraska.
• Things aren’t all bad, though. Oklahoma, a laughingstock after losing to Chaminade in the Maui Invitational, have reeled off four straight wins, and lo and behold, they sit tied for third with Texas A&M at present. Texas and Kansas remain the cream of the crop in the Big 12, with the Longhorns absolutely rolling through conference play with nary a threat, largely thanks to their defense, which has allowed a measly 53.4 points per game through seven conference bouts. The Jayhawks continue to play with heavy hearts in the wake of the death of Thomas Robinson‘s mother, Lisa. With their lone loss coming against Texas after a long night of grieving and consoling, the Jayhawk faithful are hoping for a shot at redemption against the Longhorns in the Big 12 Tournament, and are taking care of business in the meantime.

Power Rankings

1. Texas (19-3, 7-0) – A combination of focus, team defense and a brutal non-con slate has shaped the Longhorns to an unblemished 7-0 conference mark. Jordan Hamilton continues to make his claim for Big 12 Player of the Year by averaging 18.4 points per contest over his last five. Luke Winn has a convincing take this week on how Texas has made things look easy on the defensive end.

2. Kansas (21-1, 6-1) – The close losses to teams the Jayhawks should have handled more easily could be a thing of the past, based on the events of this week. Kansas completely dismantled their in-state counterparts, handling the Wildcats with ease on Saturday in front of former Jayhawk great Wayne Simien, who had his jersey retired at halftime. Tuesday, Bill Self got a small monkey off his back by winning in Lubbock after three straight losses on Texas Tech’s home court since he took the helm in 2003. The Morris twins have continued their high-efficiency styles of play, and their lone weakness of interior defense has been boosted almost to the point of becoming a strength, with Thomas Robinson pouring in two straight 17/9 performances.

3. Texas A&M (17-4, 4-3) – When a team like the Aggies, sitting in third place, fails to crack 50 points in consecutive contests, you start to wonder just how good the conference really is. In fairness, the Aggies had the unenviable experience of having to play the Longhorns twice in two weeks, so their current stretch of having lost three of four is a little deceiving. They boast the conference’s second-best defense in terms of points allowed, but Khris Middleton can’t do it all on his own when it comes to scoring. A steady supporting cast is important if Mark Turgeon‘s crew wants to make noise in the top half.

4. Missouri (17-5, 4-3) – This is where things get really murky, and the difference between a system like power rankings and the more objective (and authoritative) conference standings is apparent. Does anyone in the conference want fourth place? Colorado’s lost to Baylor and Missouri, Baylor and Oklahoma have already split with one another, the Sooners have fattened up on the bottom rung of the conference, and Missouri fell to Oklahoma State this week, remaining winless on the road in conference play. Distinguishing the 4-7 spots at this point is nearly a futile exercise, but perhaps Missouri can make a statement about that with a big rivalry game coming up on Monday against KU.

5. Oklahoma (12-9, 4-3) – Give credit where it’s due to Jeff Capel‘s charges, but hold off judgement until they come out of this stretch: Saturday’s Bedlam battle against Oklahoma State in Stillwater, playing host to Texas on Wednesday, and taking to Columbia in a fight at Mizzou Arena.  Steven Pledger had a career performance against the Cyclones last Saturday, pouring in 38 points in 44 minutes on 12-20 shooting, including 7-13 from long range.

6. Baylor (14-7, 4-4) – With their own Big Three in LaceDarius Dunn (20.7 PPG, 42.7% 3FG), Perry Jones (14.1 PPG, 57.1% FG, 7.0 RPG) and Quincy Acy (13.0 PPG, 7.7 RPG), the Bears can be entertaining to watch (especially Acy’s dunk reel), but head coach Scott Drew’s passive scheduling methods could come back to cost his team a tournament bid; If anyone knows how a mid-February break from conference play with non-D-I Wayland Baptist on the 15th will help Baylor get ready for March, let me know. It would also be helpful if Drew picked a defensive style and stuck to it.

7. Colorado (15-8, 4-4) – Colorado’s twosome of Alec Burks and Cory Higgins almost topped the Bears this week before falling four points short. They took their angst out on the helpless Cyclones, winning 95-69, so the Buffs’ up-and-down season continues. If Colorado can sweep Missouri this weekend with a road win (they already beat the Tigers at home), I’ll be impressed. I’ll be more impressed if they don’t go on to lose three in a row, because once you think you have Tad Boyle‘s crew pegged, they turn around and completely change your mind.

8. Kansas State (15-8, 3-5) – There’s only so much yelling and screaming that Frank Martin can do before his players become desensitized and the environment becomes inhibitory, and that might be the case here. Between Jacob Pullen‘s comments about refusing to play if the Wildcats find themselves in the NIT field (a growing possibility) and the various defections and NCAA rules violations, distractions have also been eminent. It’s not all on the coaching though, as Curtis Kelly has been disappointing, though his 16-point performance in Wednesday’s big win over Nebraska could be a sign of a leaf turned over.

9. Nebraska (15-6, 3-4) – The Cornhuskers’ stout defense may be coming back down to Earth, and the offense has also let the team down over the last week. Nebraska has shown flashes that it can be good (such as a win over Texas A&M and a double-digit lead at Allen Fieldhouse that was eventually surrendered), but they can’t get it all together.

10. Oklahoma State (15-7, 3-5) – Breaking a 1-5 stretch with a win over Missouri is a big breath of fresh air for the Cowboys. Sometimes, it’s good to have a diverse scoring attack, but in OSU’s case, it could be more indicative of the lack of a reliable playmaker. Marshall Moses, Keiton Page, and J.P. Olukemi have taken turns leading the ‘Pokes in scoring the last three games, but all three have also pulled vanishing acts this season.

11. Texas Tech (11-12, 3-5) – The Red Raiders had a nice three-game spurt with wins over Nebraska, Iowa State and Oklahoma State, but crashed in a Groundhog Day blowout loss to the Jayhawks. Kansas went inside with ease and had no problems whatsoever, and even Kansas reserve Brady Morningstar was in double figures in the first half. Pat Knight may want to have a copy of the Geneva Convention at the ready when his team ventures to Austin on Saturday.

12. Iowa State (14-9, 1-7) – The Cyclones have fallen off a cliff, Wile E. Coyote-style, and we’re still waiting for the little “poof” that finally signals an impact. Fred Hoiberg‘s squad has allowed at least 82 points in each of their last five games, all losses.

A Look Ahead

Before Rivalry Week, there’s an intriguing set of games around the conference on Saturday. Colorado will hit the road to Missouri, where we might see that 4-7 knot get somewhat untangled. In a battle of Big 12 train wrecks looking to regroup, Iowa State will play host to the Wildcats. At the top of the conference, Kansas and Texas get what look to be a couple softballs against Nebraska and Texas Tech, respectively, but the Jayhawks will be on watch after the ‘Huskers put a small scare into them a few weeks ago.

Other action around the league includes Baylor taking on Texas A&M, and the Gallagher-Iba half of the Bedlam Series between the Sooners and Cowboys.

Walker Carey is an RTC contributor.

If someone would have told you in November that the preseason second- and third-ranked teams would be unranked on February 1st, you wouldn’t have believed it, right? Well, as we change our calendars to the new month, that’s the position in which we  currently find ourselves, as Michigan State and Kansas State have each so far experienced what could be accurately referred to as a lost season — that anomaly of a 1-3 year stretch that befalls even the best and biggest programs, resulting from circumstances almost nobody could have forseen.

Nobody Could Predict How Lucas' Would Come Back From Such a Major Injury

Michigan State was a Final Four participant last April and entered this season with almost every publication selecting them to run away with the Big Ten. At the time, it was difficult to come up with reasons why this wouldn’t come to pass. Tom Izzo’s squad included a healthy Kalin Lucas, the versatile Draymond Green, experienced swingman Durrell Summers, formidable big man Delvon Roe, and last year’s NCAA Tournament hero for MSU, Korie Lucious. Shortly after the season began, however, it became clear that this version of the Spartans would be different than the team tabbed as one of the nation’s best.

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