Steve Fetch is the RTC correspondent for the Big 12. You can also find his musings online at Rock Chalk Talk or on Twitter @fetch9

Reader’s Take

The Week That Was

• Denmon Scorching: The Big 12 Player of the Year race will come down to who does what in conference play, but at the midseason point I would be hard-pressed to pick anyone other than Missouri’s Marcus Denmon. The senior is averaging 19.6 points per game, and is doing it extremely efficiently, with a 52.8% eFG. He’s also getting to the line a decent amount, and shooting 91.7% once he gets there. Despite taking more shots than anyone on the team, and using his fair share of possessions, Denmon has been great at taking care of the ball as well: his 4.2% turnover rate is best in the entire country. Not only is he the best player in the league at this point, he might be the best in the country entering conference play.
• Coaches Jockeying: Coach of the Year, on the other hand, is a much more muddled situation. At Kansas, Bill Self has taken a Kansas team savaged by graduations and early departures and led them to a 7-2 record, including a big win over Ohio State. There were some snickers when Missouri hired Frank Haith, but the Tigers are 11-0 and will likely be favored in their next month’s worth of games. Frank Martin has taken a Kansas State team without much offensive talent but has ridden defense to a 7-1 record, including a win over a good Alabama team. Their lone loss came in double overtime to future conference foe West Virginia.
• Tolbert Under The Radar: While Quincy Miller, Deuce Bello, and LeBryan Nash have received more publicity and probably have brighter NBA futures, how about some love for Texas Tech’s Jordan Tolbert? He’s taking 34.1% of the team’s shots while on the floor, but has not wilted in the face of having to carry an offense as a freshman. Quite the opposite in fact as he’s shooting 63% and drawing an impressive five fouls per 40 minutes. Once at the line, he’s shooting 83.3%. He also leads the Red Raiders in both offensive and defensive rebounding percentage. Texas Tech probably will finish last in the league this year, but it won’t be because of Tolbert.

Marcus Denmon Is Setting Nets Ablaze With His Shooting, But Will It Continue Into League Play?

Power Rankings

1. Missouri (10-0): The Tigers start 10-0 for the first time since joining the conference. They haven’t played the toughest of non-conference schedules, however, and will be trying to avoid a repeat of last year’s second half swoon when they lost eight of their final 14 games. I mentioned how great Marcus Denmon has been already, but don’t sleep on Kim English either: the senior is shooting 52.5% from three and has the tenth-best eFG in the country.
2. Kansas (7-2): Kansas didn’t play last week due to pesky finals week, but while they will be hoping for good news off the court in the form of good grades, it looks like they will get a piece of good news on the court as senior guard Tyshawn Taylor, who had surgery on a torn meniscus and was expected to be out a minimum of two weeks, is now expected to play in Kansas’s game Monday against Davidson. Thomas Robinson had a similar procedure as Jayhawk with a comparable recovery time, for what it’s worth. Read the rest of this entry »

GAME OF THE WEEK

• Texas A&M (8-1) at Florida (7-2), Orange Bowl Classic, Saturday 1:30 p.m. CT

Texas A&M Will Play A "Neutral" Game in The State of Florida Against the Gators

The key individual match-up is… Dash Harris vs. Erving Walker. Although Texas A&M’s schedule has not been demanding, this team could have really slipped had Dash Harris not played so steadily. The senior point guard is known for his defense, but offensively, Harris has kept the Aggies afloat without Middleton by making good decisions and taking care of the basketball. He won’t score much, but he’s irreplaceable as a distributor in this offense. And as a defensive stopper, he has the skills to slow down Erving Walker. Harris has a few inches on Walker, and he’s as quick as any guard in the nation. No matter the defender, though, it’s up to Walker to rise to the challenge. He looks to score much more than Harris, and at times, he has looked terrific with the ball in his hands. When he has struggled, it has been his own fault: against Arizona, for example, he settled for quick threes and forced up 16 shots. If he doesn’t settle down against Harris, Walker could be in for a tough night.

Steve Fetch is the RTC correspondent for the Big 12. You can also find his musings online at Rock Chalk Talk or on Twitter @fetch9.

Reader’s Take

The Week That Was

• Kansas scored a huge win over Ohio State on Saturday. One big difference was accuracy behind the arc as the Jayhawks shot 53% from three while the Buckeyes shot just over 29%. The other key was the great defense Travis Releford displayed while guarding William Buford, limiting him to a paltry 8-23 from the field. Thomas Robinson scored 21 points on 77.8% shooting despite rumors that he was battling the flu, and Tyshawn Taylor had a career high 13 assists – against one of the best defenders in the country – all while playing with a torn meniscus.

Tyshawn Taylor Went Under The Knife Sunday, But With Finals Week And A Package Of Cupcakes On The Docket, Kansas Should Be Just Fine With Him On The Mend (Danny Medley, US Presswire)

• Missouri keeps rolling, beating Villanova in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday and Navy on Saturday. They are currently favored by Ken Pomeroy in every game but two remaining on their schedule, and while I don’t think it will happen, there is at least a chance that they will be 22-0 on February 4 for perhaps the last border showdown ever with Kansas in Columbia. Entering this week, they are currently ranked in the top 15 nationally in the following offensive categories: adjusted efficiency, effective FG%, turnover rate, three-point percentage, two-point percentage and free throw percentage. There were a lot of questions aboutFrank Haith when he was hired, but for now, he seems to have passed the test.
• Khris Middleton made his return to the Texas A&M lineup this weekend, scoring 24 points on 8-14 shooting (2-5 from three) and grabbing six rebounds. With Texas A&M struggling offensively despite starting the season 8-1, Middleton is just the medicine they need. And with the team being extremely effective defensively so far, perhaps the Aggies will prove to be Big 12 title contenders yet.

Power Rankings

1. Missouri (9-0) – The Tigers are fantastic offensively as I noted above, but they have struggled a bit lately on the defensive end. They allowed Villanova to score over a point per trip and they are down to 41st nationally in forcing turnovers (though if the season ended today, it would be right in line with their rate last year, when they finished ninth nationally). They’ll have two cupcakes to practice against before a big rivalry matchup with Illinois on December 22. Read the rest of this entry »

Steve Fetch is the RTC correspondent for the Big 12. You can also find his musings online at Rock Chalk Talk or on Twitter @fetch9,

Reader’s Take

The Week That Was

• After blitzing Northwestern State on Friday, Missouri’s offense is now the fourth-best in the entire country. Oddly enough even though they have a general lack of big men, they have the second-best two point offense in the entire country (58.2%), though shooting a lot of lay-ups will do that for you. They don’t depend on just one guy either: four Tigers are averaging double digits in scoring, led by Marcus Denmon’s 20.3 ppg. Senior Kim English is also the fourth-most efficient shooter in the country.
• From great offense to great defense. Kansas might have the worst offense of Bill Self’s tenure, but it might have the best defense. The 42 points the Jayhawks allowed to South Florida on Saturday were fewer than Kansas scored in the second half alone. They’ve gotten it done via a mixture of not letting opponents have many good looks (15th-best two-point defense) and not letting them have many second looks (22nd-best defensive rebounding).
• This week’s most overrated yet maybe underrated team is Baylor. They’re ranked seventh in the coaches poll, but just 31st  in the KenPom ratings. The reasons why they are ranked so low there are obvious: barely scoring over a point per possession in their wins over San Diego State, South Carolina State, and UT-Arlington. It’s also why they were an underdog at Northwestern. But they also showed why they’re so easy to love: their unreal athleticism, which helped hand Northwestern its first loss via a 69-41 drubbing.

Kim English And The Tigers Have Their Eyes On Villanova In One Of The Most Interesting Games Of The Week Monday. (Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Power Rankings

1. Missouri (7-0): Missouri heads to the Jimmy V Classic this week to take on Villanova. Given the Wildcats’ inability to force turnovers and being not phenomenal at hanging onto it, we could get to see a lot of Tigers running up and down the floor. Both Marcus Denmon and Kim English have 22 or more threes made and English is shooting an incredible 57%. Still they seem to be the team’s only threats from beyond the arc something that bears attention.
2. Kansas (5-2): Thomas Robinson is currently the second best defensive rebounder in the country, but hasn’t been shooting very efficiently, shooting just 46.3% from two. A match-up with Long Beach State, the team that upset Pittsburgh, on Tuesday plus a heavyweight match-up against Jared Sullinger and Ohio State on Saturday will give Robinson two big tests. Read the rest of this entry »

1. A big weekend for Big 12 basketball. We’ll start with Friday’s marquee matchup, Missouri vs. Northwestern State, a game the Tigers won easily, 90-56. It was all Marcus Denmon, all night, as he cruised to a career-high 31 points. Denmon, however, says the Tigers want more, saying, “I feel that starting off 7-0 is good, but it’s something that we want to build on as a team. It’s not something that we’re satisfied with at all.”
2. Normally a Top 25 matchup, the UCLA-Texas game lacked the national focus it usually carries. That doesn’t mean folks in attendance weren’t treated to a exciting game, though, one in which Texas rallied from an 11-point first half deficit to earn the 69-59 victory. J’Covan Brown dropped 22 points, but the real story was freshman guard Myck Kabongo filling out the stat sheet. Kabongo finished with 13 points, five rebounds, eight assists, and one steal. In a strange turn of events, the LA Sports Arena encountered a power outage early in the first half. After the lights came back on, Texas played at a different level, narrowing the halftime deficit to six before taking control in the second half.
3. In another game that usually gathers more media attention, K-State defeated Virginia Tech on Sunday in Blacksburg with a narrow 69-61 victory. The Wildcats have encountered considerable doubt this season, with many pundits expecting them to have only an NIT-caliber season. However, the ‘Cats keep winning, and Frank Martin seems to have just as much faith in this team as he had in his previous teams.
4. In a matchup of undefeated teams, Baylor easily defeated Northwestern in Evanston, 69-41. While Perry Jones didn’t have the kind of game he did in his season debut, the Bears received contributions from everybody and dominated the Wildcats from the get-go. Scott Drew has taken notice of his squad embracing the team concept, saying, “I’ve really been impressed with the unselfishness of the players.”
5. While there were some solid matchups this past weekend, many Big 12 basketball eyes are on Tuesday night, when 13th-ranked Missouri will square off against Villanova in the Jimmy V Classic, played at Madison Square Garden. This will be the first time the Tigers have played in Madison Square Garden since 1988, a year before any of the Tiger players were born. Marcus Denmon stated, “the Garden obviously is one of the biggest basketball venues to play in in the world. It’s something that we’re looking forward to.”

Steve Fetch is the RTC correspondent for the Big 12. You can also find his musings online at Rock Chalk Talk or on Twitter @fetch9.

Reader’s Take

The Week That Was 

• J’Covan Carrying Longhorns: In what could quickly turn into a weekly J’Covan Brown watch, the Texas guard had 17 in a loss to NC State and was dreadful in a closer-than-it-looked 56-40 win over Sam Houston State. Brown had exploded onto the scene early but some questions over his efficiency have cropped up again: Brown went just 3-12 from two-point range against Sam Houston State. With Texas currently ranked as the 34th best offense by Ken Pomeroy, the Longhorns need Brown, their best offensive player, to be a lot better if they want to be one of the top teams in the league this year.

• Tigers Get ‘Em Talking: More ridiculous offense from Missouri. The Tigers played two 70-possession games this week and scored 87 and 92 points in them. That’s good against anyone. They currently have the fourth-best three point shooting team in the country and turn it over at a rate higher than just four teams. The same question – What will they do when having to play a team with some size? – will probably linger until conference play, but it’s clear over the first month of the year that their guards are as good as any backcourt in the country.

• The Big Picture: For all the talk that the Big 12 might be down this year, it sure doesn’t seem that way, as they are 38-10 so far this year and two of those losses were Kansas’s defeats at the hands of Kentucky and Duke, both on neutral courts. The league’s two worst losses no doubt belong to Texas Tech, who has dropped games to both DePaul and Indiana State.

Marcus Denmon And The Tigers Can't Help But Give A Smirk, Considering The Buzz They've Generated So Far. (AP Photo/L.G. Patterson)

Power Rankings

1. Missouri (6-0): The Missouri stat that surprised me the most this week is their rebounding numbers: The Tigers snatch just 28.4% of the available offensive rebounds, which is 270th nationally. It’s very strange that a team that thrives on pressuring opponents and forcing them to speed up would be so focused on getting back defensively rather than crashing the boards. Of course, it could be more that the team wants to set up its press, but it is something to watch for sure.
2. Kansas (3-2): After senior Tyshawn Taylor had 11 turnovers in a hard fought Maui Invitational championship game, several Kansas fans took shots at the guard and he responded on Twitter. Thomas Robinson was named to the Maui all-tournament team after putting up double-doubles in each game, but his struggles facing double teams highlight a potential concern for the Jayhawks. If he’s not scoring efficiently, Kansas could find it extremely difficult to repeat as Big 12 champs. One possible answer is the emergence of junior Jeff Withey. Withey had 14 points and 10 rebounds against Duke and might find himself matched up with Jared Sullinger in a little over a week when the Buckeyes pay a visit to Allen Fieldhouse. Read the rest of this entry »

Big 12 Alley-Oops and Airballs is a weekly article examining what’s hot and what’s not in Big 12 basketball. Click here for Week One’s Alley-Oops and Airballs. 

Alley-Oops

• Missouri Tigers: The Tigers are clicking on all cylinders after two easy victories over Notre Dame and 18th-ranked Cal, en route to the CBE Classic Championship. The team is playing as a cohesive unit, and while Marcus Denmon has settled in nicely in his role as the star of the team, Missouri has seven players who can go off at any time. Yes, this team will still have frontcourt issues, but as this juncture, Mizzou appears to be the Big 12 favorite.

Marcus Denmon has the Tigers Soaring

• The Border War: This weekend, Missouri and Kansas will face off in football for the 120th time. This is an especially meaningful game, because, due to Missouri’s departure to the SEC, the rivalry might be at its end. Unfortunately, neither team is extraordinary this season. The Tigers are 6-5, and KU is 2-9. Fear not, Border War fans, because so far this season, Kansas and Missouri appear to be the best teams in Big 12 basketball. Missouri is off to a surprising 5-0 start, while Kansas, even at 3-2, has the look of a team that will once again be very good. Think the KU-Missouri hate will be high this weekend? Wait until February 4, when the talented teams go head-to-head in Columbia surrounded by the ESPN College Gameday crew.
• New Coaches: Sure, it’s early, but the Big 12’s new coaches, Frank Haith of Missouri, Billy Kennedy of Texas A&M, Billy Gillispie of Texas Tech, and Lon Kruger of Oklahoma are a combined 13-1 so far. Not too shabby. All coaches seem to have their players buying into their system, and do not seem overwhelmed by their new positions.

• Read the rest of this entry »

Monday night NC State found itself in a tough spot, down 18 points to Texas on a neutral floor. Things looked hopeless. The Wolfpack started the second half with CJ Leslie going 1-2 from the foul line before proceeding to turn the ball over on both ensuing possessions. Meanwhile Texas continued laying waste to the Wolfpack defense, scoring nine points on its first four possessions. After a miniature comeback was stymied by J’Covan Brown and Julien Lewis the lead was back to 18, and Mark Gottfried called a timeout for his Wolfpack with 11:37 remaining in the game.

J'Covan Brown's Untimely Display of Immaturity Let NC State Back into the Game.

Another aspect that deserves mention is the officiating. The officials clearly wanted to rein in the physicality of the first half (which didn’t seem over-the-top at the time), and had been calling the opening of the second half extremely tight. Unfortunately for the Longhorns, most of those fouls went against them. NC State was already in the bonus less than four minutes into the half. In the first four minutes of that half, the officials had called ten fouls (they called 51 fouls for the game). Despite the chippiness, Texas was still in control until  J’Covan Brown was called for his fourth foul with 8:25 left, yelled at the ref, and summarily fouled out on the resultant technical. In less than ten seconds the momentum of the game totally changed.

Read the rest of this entry »

1. Arkansas will have to learn to adjust to life without Marshawn Powell this season after the school announced that the junior would be out for the rest of the season as a MRI of his knee revealed torn ligaments, which will require surgery with an expected return to play in six to eight months. Powell injured his knee during a practice last Thursday, but the extent of the damage was not known until the MRI was performed on Sunday. The loss of Powell is a huge blow for the Razorbacks who are full of young players and could have used Powell’s presence inside and veteran leadership against a SEC that looks much stronger than it has in recent years despite some early losses.
2. Steve Lavin opted to sit out last night’s game against St. Francis, which St. John’s won, as he adjusts to a modified schedule after his prostate cancer surgery on October 6. According to the press release Lavin is trying to “enhance his stamina and energy level” and this does not appear to be a complication from the surgery, which is a good thing because complications are a not uncommon occurrence. Instead, it appears that Lavin was simply exhausted from coaching back-to-back games and then going on the road for recruiting the following two days. The school has not released any information on when Lavin will return to the sideline, but from the information given in the press release we expect to see Lavin back fairly soon. If Lavin does not return for Saturday’s game against Northeastern, we would definitely expect to see him back for next Thursday’s game at Kentucky although he might want to sit that one out.
3. Over the past few weeks Luke Winn has been focusing on defense, but this weekend he took a break to check out some of the most talented scorers in the nation: J’Covan Brown, John Jenkins, and Jared Cunningham. By now you probably know what happened with each player’s performance and the outcome of the game, but Winn provides an interesting look into how each player’s game affected his team and the outcome of the game. Since most of us were either at games over the weekend or flipping back and forth between games from home Winn’s analysis, which isn’t the typical number-heavy advanced metric stuff he has become known for recently, provides a good insight into what actually happened at the Izod Center and what to expect from these three and their teams this season.
4. Over the past few days we have speculated on how Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim would react to the media, particularly ESPN, with the ongoing Bernie Fine investigation. At a press conference yesterday morning for the Preseason NIT Boeheim threatened to leave if anybody asked a non-basketball (read: Fine-related) question before briefly discussing the matter in a much more measured tone than he had last Thursday night. Later in the day, Boeheim went on-camera with ESPN’s Andy Katz to discuss the Fine investigation, which is surprising to us because he very easily could have held a grudge against ESPN for the way that they handled the report. So basically, nothing has changed–Boeheim remains cantankerous, but is always willing to talk.
5. The NBA may never work out for Adam Morrison, but the former Gonzaga star appears to have had a rebirth of sorts with the NBA lockout and his move to Serbia. While Morrison still isn’t playing at the level that many expected him to be at coming out of college he is showing signs of becoming the player he used to be. Obviously, this is against vastly inferior competition, but it is nice to see Morrison playing some quality basketball and it is interesting to read about the struggles that Morrison has gone through off the court since he left Gonzaga.

­­­­Steve Fetch is the RTC correspondent for the Big 12. You can also find his musings online at Rock Chalk Talk or on Twitter @fetch9.

Reader’s Take

The Week That Was

• Texas A&M Plays Well Without Middleton: With star forward Khris Middleton out nursing a knee injury Texas A&M handled themselves well in New York, narrowly losing to Mississippi State and beating St. John’s. With Middleton out, defense has been the name of the game for the Aggies, who have not allowed an opponent to score a point per possession yet. Unfortunately for the Aggies, they only have scored more than a point per possession in two of their four games. Offensively the Aggies have rebounded reasonably well without Middleton, but have  been unable to score consistently. They had just a 46.7% eFG vs. St. John’s and a 46.3% against Mississippi State.
• Top-Flight Tigers: Missouri has scored 83, 81, and 83 points in their first three games. Granted they have played Southeast Missouri State, Mercer, and Niagara, but with each of the games being around 70 possessions, the Tiger offense has been clicking in midseason form. They are still playing about as quickly as they did under Mike Anderson, and still are taking care of the ball extremely well (their 14.6% turnover rate is 15th-best nationally). They are only shooting 45.7% from two, however, so it will be interesting to see how well they can score when their 48.3% three point percentage regresses a bit.
• Heavyweight Match-ups Approaching?: As I mentioned in the poll question, a number of Big 12 teams will be participating in holiday tournaments. Kansas faces Georgetown in the Maui Invitational, and with either UCLA or Chaminade waiting in the second round, a championship match-up with Duke (or perhaps a 2008 national title game rematch with Memphis) is a real possibility. Texas lost to Oregon State in the Legends Classic semifinals, but should be very encouraged by the play of J’Covan Brown, who is averaging almost 30 points per game on over 50% shooting so far this year.

Tyshawn Taylor Was KU's Top Performer In Its Loss To Kentucky Last Week.

Power Rankings

1. Kansas (1-1): Despite having Tyshawn Taylor and Elijah Johnson, two enigmatic guards, as their primary ball handlers, the Jayhawks have turned it over fewer than all but four teams in the country. Oddly enough, though, they are getting their shots blocked more often than all but 15 teams in the country. Playing Kentucky will do that, but with Thomas Robinson and seven- footer Jeff Withey in the middle it should not be happening this much. The Jayhawks have been good defensively despite opponents shooting nearly 42% from three so once that regresses a bit the Jayhawks should be one of the stingiest defensive teams in America.
2. Baylor (3-0): The Bears struggled to put San Diego State away, but with Perry Jones III suspended that is not that unexpected. Though Baylor is probably the most talented team in the conference, its ceiling is limited because of their lack of consistent guard play. Baylor is turning it over on 23.3% of their possessions so far, which is above the 20% teams generally strive to maintain. Baylor does have a lot of size and length inside though, which contributes to them allowing opponents to shoot only 34.2% from two. Read the rest of this entry »