This was supposed to be a fresh start for Oklahoma State. A year after injuries and transfers derailed Travis Ford’s program and ruined Keiton Page’s senior year, the Cowboys’ 2012-13 roster looked healthier, deeper and significantly more dangerous on paper when practice opened more than a week ago. That’s why the latest injury to Brian Williams, who will now miss the rest of the season with a fractured wrist, is so discouraging for the Cowboys. The loss of Williams will not cripple this program, but the last thing Ford needed was to deal with another personnel problem. Consider this: In 2011-12, two of his point guards transferred before conference play, his best athlete (J.P. Olukemi) tore his ACL after 13 games, and Le’Bryan Nash and Philip Jurick also missed a handful of games. Ford played Missouri in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals with six scholarship players and a walk-on, and his team’s season predictably ended with an embarrassing 18-point rout.

Brian Williams Won’t Play This Season (Photo Credit: Nate Billings, The Oklahoman)

Brian Williams scored 21 points in that loss, by the way. Nash and freshman Marcus Smart headline this roster, but Williams was a projected starter on the wing. He’s a highlight-reel dunker with terrific athleticism and the kind of guy who could have created serious matchup problems against slower forwards. Instead, he’ll now take a medical redshirt and return as a sophomore in 2013-14, leaving the Cowboys praying even harder that Olukemi can gain eligibility for the second semester. In an odd scenario, he’s technically eligible only for the first semester right now, but OSU has appealed that decision and apparently believes it has a decent shot to win. Between Olukemi’s status, Williams’ injury and the mystery surrounding Jurick (he was arrested this summer on drug charges), it looks like Ford’s roster headaches weren’t exclusive to last season.

CBS Sports made an ambitious attempt earlier this month at ranking the top 100 players in college basketball, a fun but mostly impossible task good for heated debate and preseason discussion. At the risk of seeming unoriginal, it gave us the bright idea at this microsite to attempt something similar — a top 100 list of Big 12 players, which essentially spans almost every single player on all 10 rosters. Before you proceed, please understand this list is simply for fun. It’s not intended to be taken completely seriously, but it’s supposed to offer a guideline for the talent in this league from top to bottom. Direct all complaints to Danny Spewak (@dspewak), the genius who decided to write this. I’m looking forward to the criticism. 

1.    Pierre Jackson, Baylor (PG): The preseason Big 12 Player of the Year was, inexplicably, not a unanimous choice on the all-conference team, which is almost as bizarre as his coach not starting him until Big 12 play a year ago.

2.    Jeff Withey, Kansas (C): Considered replacing Jeff Withey with FakeJeffWithey at this spot because the latter has more Twitter followers.

3.    Rodney McGruder, Kansas State (G): If he ever finds himself nostalgic for a Frank Martin tirade, at least he’ll have this to look forward to during his senior year.

4.    Myck Kabongo, Texas (PG): Had his family not chosen to mis-spell his first name, he’d probably be number one on the list.

5.    Marcus Smart, Oklahoma State (G): I’ve never seen him play, but I’ve read more than enough sappy articles about his intangibles to know he’s a Smart pick in the top five.

6.    Le’Bryan Nash, Oklahoma State (G): Travis Ford just read the past two selections and had a heart attack.

7.   Isaiah Austin, Baylor (C): Unlike the Kabongos, the Austin family spelled its son’s first name correctly, something Isiah Thomas cannot brag about.

8.   Sam Grooms, Oklahoma (PG): Averaged more assists per game than Pierre Jackson, but since he doesn’t score much, he’s obviously a bad basketball player.

 9.  Aaric Murray, West Virginia (C): It won’t get you cool points to know he’s a good player now because he doesn’t play for La Salle anymore.

10.  Will Clyburn, Iowa State (F): Everybody wants him to be Royce White, but he doesn’t have a Mohawk, so that really won’t work.

Someone Decided The Big 12 Pre-Season POY Wasn’t Good Enough to Be First Team All-Big 12.

11. Rico Gathers, Baylor (F): The mere thought of lifting weights with this guy scares me.

12.  Ben McLemore, Kansas (G): His Rivals.com profile has as many stars (4) as the IKU constellation (I had to Google that).

13.  Jordan Henriquez, Kansas State (C): Averaged about two-and-a-half blocks per game, but he should play with a handicap because of his 7’6’’ wingspan.

14.  Elijah Johnson, Kansas (G): His first name is not mis-spelled, it’s just cool.

15.  Steven Pledger, Oklahoma (G): He scores the basketball.

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College basketball’s back, baby.

But how do we know when it’s actually back? The 24-Hour college hoops marathon? Please. Midnight Madness? Not a chance. You know the season’s here when the coaches do the pointless deed of releasing their preseason all-conference awards. Feel the excitement!

Are the coaches always spot-on with their picks? Lord no but they mean well… usually. There’s a lot of good here but it has its share of stuff to pick at. So I present to you a critique of the preseason all-Big 12 awards.

Pierre Jackson has rightfully earned the Big 12 preseason player of the year award. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Here, I find it easier to start off with the good stuff first. So let’s start at the top with Player of the Year, Baylor’s Pierre Jackson. Initial reaction is: nicely done, guys. A quick guard who took the league by storm blowing past defenders, shooting a cool 40% from three-point land, and squeezing in a highlight dunk or two. Scott Drew couldn’t be happier with his senior point guard’s emergence as a big-time player especially going into a season with three fewer NBA Draft picks than a year ago.

Much like the freshman of the year award, Newcomer of the Year is one of the hardest to choose. Last year the coaches masterfully selected Iowa State’s Royce White, who ended up being a first-round pick in June’s NBA Draft. This time around the coaches went with Oklahoma’s Amath M’Baye, a 6’9″ transfer from Wyoming. You may have never heard of the man before but after some help from YouTube, M’Baye could best be described as an athletic freak of nature. NBADraft.net has him going as a mid-second rounder in 2013. His numbers suggest that he’s not a natural scorer and has been horrid from three-point territory. Given his long frame, he seems to play like a guard stuck in a forward’s body.

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In an effort to remind you that college basketball does in fact exist during the summer, Big 12 microsite writer Danny Spewak (@dspewak) will roll out three summer updates per week during the next month. The goal is to compile every bit of news and information from the summer months for each team and package it into neat, easy-to-read capsules for your convenience. The final team on the list — Oklahoma State.

2011-12 record: 15-18, 7-11 (7th place, Big 12)

While his peers in the coaching community were chasing recruits this summer and lounging by the pool, Travis Ford took the stand during a rape trial to testify on behalf of a former player. This wasn’t about basketball anymore. This was about the life of Darrell Williams, facing a prison sentence after two women at a party accused him of groping them in 2010. The soaring expectations in 2012-13, thanks to the arrival of freshman star Marcus Smart and the return of sophomore Le’Bryan Nash, would have to wait. Ford argued for Williams’ innocence on the stand, and several former teammates attended the trial. The defense argued that the two women may have misidentified Williams, but that didn’t convince a jury. It convicted the forward on two counts, sending him into an uncontrollable sob as police escorted him out. Williams was never a star, and he had not played since February 2011. Still, this is not your average legal situation. That kind of thing happens all the time — like this weekend, when police arrested Cowboys’ center Philip Jurick for marijuana possession. In those situations, programs discipline, suspend and move on. When a former player heads to prison on a rape conviction, though, it takes a little while to recover. So that’s where Travis Ford sits with this Oklahoma State program right now. After a traumatic whirlwind of a summer, he must now find a way to recover from the graduation of heart-and-soul guard Keiton Page and transform this collection of individually talented parts into a winning team. It’d be nice, too, if he could find a viable point guard.

For All The Criticism, It’s Easy To Forget Nash Won Freshman of the Year Honors in 2011-12

Summer Orientation: Everybody knows Marcus Smart. Just ask Billy Donovan and Mark Few about the OSU freshman, who wowed them at the U-18 Championships this summer. “He was our leader from the moment the players introduced themselves,” Few told CBS’ Gary Parrish. “He’s one of the best kids I’ve ever been around — and that includes all the Zags I’ve coached.” That single quote from Few sums up Marcus Smart at the most basic level. He may be a McDonald’s All-American with NBA talent, and he may be a scoring guard with ungodly physical gifts and slashing ability. That’s all great, but it’s not even what Smart is known for. He’s known as a leader. Clutch. A playmaker. The kind of guy who prides himself on his instincts, defensive prowess, smarts and basketball savvy rather than his point-per-game average. These are the qualities that have Travis Ford gushing about his freshman, to the point where he’s already anointing Smart as a team leader after he excelled in individual workouts this summer. Perhaps we’re reading too much into the Rivals.com star rankings and the spectacular performance at the U-18 games, and maybe all of this talk of early leadership and the “ultimate teammate” is overkill for a guy who hasn’t stepped on the court yet. The beauty of the situation for Smart and the Cowboys, though, is that he’s not necessarily counted on to carry this team. Le’Bryan Nash often had those expectations as a freshman a year ago, but his decision to return for his sophomore year means the two highly-touted talents can feed off each other.

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1. With the NBA Finals in full swing, the folks over at Grantland have dissected Kevin Durant’s role as a college player at Texas. Bryan Curtis wonders about Durant’s full impact with the Longhorns, claiming his stay seemed to last about “five minutes” as he struggled to recall defining moments from that 2006-07 season. Curtis admits it was a year full of highlights, but he seems to argue with himself over just how much of a legacy Durant left. If you ask us, Durant’s one magical season was enough to cement his legacy forever as one of the best players to ever set foot in the college game. The longevity may not be there, but rarely do players dominate from start to finish like Durant did that year. His team was extremely young–essentially all freshmen and sophomores– and if there were more experience, he could have cut down the nets. And by the end of his article, Curtis seems to come around to this line of thinking.
2. Marcus Smart probably won’t have a freshman season like Durant, but his coach seems to think he will be pretty special. Travis Ford said Smart is the “ultimate competitor” who will “rip your heart out.” That’s partly why Smart is considered one of the top signees in the Class of 2012 in the Big 12. Of course, Le’Bryan Nash entered the 2011-12 season with similar expectations and struggled to live up to the hype, though he did eventually wind up playing very well for the Cowboys. With Nash and Smart in the mix, Ford will certainly have more depth to work with after playing with a razor-thin roster last year.
3. Bruce Weber needs to learn about his team, so he is taking them to Brazil. Kansas State will spend more than a week in South America this August to acclimate themselves to its new coach, and these sorts of trips always seem to have positive effects on college basketball teams. The Wildcats have a good nucleus of returning players, but these experiences can strengthen bonds even between players that have been around the block– not just newcomers.
4. Bob Huggins will return to the Big 12 with West Virginia this year, marking his second trip to the league after coaching Kansas State for a season in 2006-07. He said he is looking forward to the move from the Big East, and he thinks his team may be able to increase tempo on the offensive end and get out and run a little bit. The styles in the Big 12 and Big East may contrast a bit, but Huggins and the Mountaineers shouldn’t have many issues getting used to a new league. They learned plenty from playing in the rough-and-tough Big East.
5. TCU has a different perspective, though. The Horned Frogs, the other new program in the Big 12 this year, hail from the Mountain West. That league was no slouch when TCU played there, but Trent Johnson‘s program is not as Big 12-ready as West Virginia. Johnson, who takes the reigns after resigning his post at LSU, senses a cautious approach from his team’s fans so far. It’s hard to blame them. TCU’s basketball history is not stellar, and it has not experienced much recent success either. Luckily, the basketball program is expected to see facility upgrades and renovations to its arena, so it appears the Horned Frogs are at least trying to keep up with the rest of the conference.

With the 2011-12 campaign now just a memory, it’s difficult to actually remember all of the drama and agony the Big 12 experienced during the last five months. Kansas’ thrilling loss to Duke in the Maui Invitational seems like ages ago, as does the Jayhawks’ first loss to Kentucky at Madison Square Garden. Remember when Missouri and Baylor were only a few of the remaining unbeaten teams in college basketball? Or when Texas found a way to lose game after game in the most heartbreaking fashion? These memories are hard to digest, but you’ll probably never forget the Border War drama between Kansas and Missouri, nor will you forget Iowa State’s rise thanks to the brilliant play of Royce White. The Big 12 kept playing until the final game of the 2011-12 season, ending with Kansas’ loss to Kentucky in the title game on Monday. And with the conclusion of this wild campaign, the final grades are in. Kansas earns an A+. Big surprise. Texas A&M earns an F. Big surprise, too, but for different reasons. The other eight teams settled into a grade somewhere between those two extremes.

We’ll cover the bottom half of the league today, and the top half tomorrow.

10. Texas Tech (8-23, 1-17)

Gillispie's First Year in Lubbock Wasn't Great

FINAL GRADE: D

The Red Raiders get a free pass in Billy Gillispie‘s first season. Playing almost exclusively with newcomers, Texas Tech had no chance this year. Robert Lewandowski was the only senior on the roster, but not even he could lead this team to any sort of success. Their inexperience was just too much to overcome. The Red Raiders were plagued by turnovers all season and they never got consistent point guard play. Jordan Tolbert emerged as the leading scorer in the frontcourt, and he played the most consistent basketball on the team from November through February. Still, even after a last-place finish, Texas Tech should not worry about the state of this program. Gillispie’s success at UTEP and Texas A&M proves he can win in this state, and he’ll have almost everybody back next season.

9. Texas A&M (14-18, 4-14)

FINAL GRADE: F

Sorry, A&M. You fail. Picked in the pre-season to win the Big 12, the Aggies suffered through a nightmare year, though there are extenuating circumstances to consider here. Coach Billy Kennedy learned of a Parkinson’s diagnosis in the fall, which kept him sidelined for fall practice and away from his team during critical teaching moments. As a first-year coach, Kennedy never had the chance to establish himself to his new players. Adding to the woes, many of those players missed time themselves with injuries. Star wing Khris Middleton had surgery on his knee in November and sat out part of Big 12 play. Point guard Dash Harris missed a handful of games, too, and his backup Jamal Branch transferred before conference play. Kourtney Roberson played only nine games before his season ended due to injury as well. As the troubles mounted, the losses began to pile up. The Aggies simply could not score because of all the roster turnover and the lack of creators on the offensive end. We thought this team could muscle its way to a Big 12 title by playing with the principles former coach Mark Turgeon instilled, but that never happened. Now, Kennedy must revamp this program and forget about the 2011-12 nightmare.

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Danny Spewak is a Big 12 Microsite writer. He wrote this piece after covering the first two days of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.  You can follow him on Twitter @dspewak.

One senior exits the court at the Sprint Center with 53 seconds remaining, walking gingerly toward his coach as an entire arena stands to applaud his four years of contributions. He will be remembered in college for playing more minutes than any player in program history — 4,322 to be exact. He is a former high school legend who set a state record for most points in a single season, once totaling 61 points in a single contest. He is a star and always will be. A name nobody around his parts will or could ever forget.

A night earlier, another senior enters the court at the Sprint Center with 21.2 seconds remaining on the clock, jogging toward his teammates as a few supporters in the stands politely applaud his four years of contributions. He will be remembered in college for hardly ever playing any minutes — 111 to be exact. He is a former high school point guard who won a 2008 state title without even scoring five points per game for his team, a man who has never been a star and never will be. A name most people around his parts will immediately forget.

T.J. Franklin and Keiton Page played their last games in Kansas City, Mo. (Photos by Oklahoma Sooners and NewsOK.com)

From a statistical standpoint, Keiton Page and T.J. Franklin could not possibly be any different. At the same time, they could not possibly be more alike. They are two seniors beloved by their teammates and coaches. They are two seniors considered within their respective programs as unquestioned leaders, guys who always say and do the right thing. They are two seniors who represent the best of college athletics.

This is not a story just about a household name and a walk-on. It is a story about two seniors who saw their careers end in the span of 24 hours in Kansas City, Missouri. A story about what it’s like to pour your entire life into one sport and see it all evaporate in the matter of two hours. A story about how Page and Franklin are entirely different and yet entirely the same. Read the rest of this entry »

1. Just a few days after we dismissed a Charles Robinson report as being rather mundane, he comes back with a big story on the FBI investigation into Varez Ward and alleged point-shaving at Auburn. Ward, who was suspended prior to the team’s game on February 25, reportedly attempted to convince members of the team to shave points. According to the report, at least two games (a January 25 loss to Arkansas and a February 7 loss to Alabama) are drawing the most interest as potentially suspect games. Based on Robinson’s reports of those games, Ward’s play seems to be more problematic in the second while the first is a little less clear. We have not reviewed the game tapes and have not have any access to the FBI report, but this is certainly a story worth following.
2. It probably should not be a newsworthy decision, but given all of the dumb early entries we have seen over the years it is worth noting that LeBryan Nash announced yesterday that he will be returning to Oklahoma State for his sophomore season. Coming into the season, Nash was projected to be a potential one-and-done player with his athleticism and the potential to shine on a stage devoid of another elite NBA talent, but Nash’s season was hindered by several nagging injuries. While Nash still projects as a potential late first round pick, his game is still rough around the edges and he needs work both shooting (39.4% FG and 23.5% from 3) and becoming a consistent defender. Cowboys fans may have been somewhat disappointed in Nash’s performance this year, but they should be thrilled to have him for at least one more season.
3. Connecticut‘s main focus for next season is the pending decision by the NCAA on whether or not the team will be allowed to play in the 2013 NCAA Tournament, but it appears that it is not that clear if they would even be allowed to play in next year’s Big East Tournament. According to the conference, they need to address their conference championship across all sports to create a conference-wide policy, but in the case of the Huskies there is also the underlying concern that the conference would award its automatic bid to a team that would not be able to use it. It is extremely unlikely that the Big East would be a one-bid conference, but all the same it would be fairly embarrassing to a conference that has received a lot of negative publicity recently with all of the schools defecting from it.
4. Over the years there have been plenty of organizations that have worn patches to honor a fallen colleague. They are typically for an injured or deceased individual or in rare cases a disenfranchised individuals. We are guessing the patch worn by officials during the ACC Tournament to honor Karl Hess falls under the latter category. Hess, who has long been a controversial official, declined to participate in the ACC Tournament following his decision to remove NC  State legends Tom Gugliotta and Chris Corchiani from the stands last month during a game and Hess was removed from his next ACC assignment. When he was offered an opportunity to officiate the ACC Tournament, Hess, a regular at the ACC Tournament opted to work the Big East Tournament instead. While at some level we can appreciate the solidarity of the officials here, it does seem like a rather idiotic statement to make and the officials in the latter games removed the patches after being instructed to do so by the conference.
5. Over the past two years, we have read plenty of articles about the rise of Harvard basketball, but this piece in The Harvard Crimson is probably the most exhaustive we have seen on the subject so far. If you haven’t been keeping up with Harvard basketball and want to know pretty much everything there is to know about how the program was overhauled, this would be a very good place to start. One of the more interesting aspects is that the writers (all Harvard students) do not hold back with any of the criticisms of the school including questionable recruiting practices and objections to lowering academic standards to bring in the players to create a basketball of this caliber.

Danny Spewak is a Big 12 Microsite writer and will provide wall-to-wall coverage of the Big 12 Tournament from the Sprint Center in Kansas City this weekend. He filed this piece after Missouri’s. You can follow him on Twitter @dspewak.

With his team trailing by 22 points by the first media timeout of the second half Thursday, Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford clapped his hands eight times and grimaced, resigned to the fact his team’s season would end in less than 16 minutes. It was a minor miracle his team even defeated Oklahoma on Wednesday and had the opportunity to lose to Missouri, 88-70, in the quarterfinals. “I think fatigue was a little bit of a factor,” Ford said. “I think Missouri played up on that. That was probably something they talked about: ‘hey, Oklahoma State doesn’t have a whole lot of players… let’s go at them early.” Want the full rundown of OSU’s adversity this season? Start with this: Star freshman Le’Bryan Nash and big man Philip Jurick aren’t playing in this tournament due to injury. Two of his point guards, Reger Dowell and Fred Gulley, transferred within two weeks of each other before Big 12 play began. J.P. Olukemi hasn’t played in months after tearing his knee up. This is also a team playing Brian Williams out of position at the four and using Markel Brown to run the point at times.

Despite What This Picture Looks Like, It Wasn't That Hard-Fought of a Win for Missouri (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

But the Tigers didn’t care. They’ve got their own issues to worry about, like winning a Big 12 Tournament title and earning a top seed in the NCAA Tournament. They roared to a 49-24 halftime lead, looking like athletes from another planet. Missouri dominated the boards and dominated defensively, with Phil Pressey getting his hands on every basketball that came his way. The sophomore point guard finished with five steals. “I’m just playing defense the way I know how to play,” Pressey said. “That’s what my coaches want me to do. And I came out with some steals.” As usual, the Tigers shared the ball and knocked down open three-pointer after open three-pointer, using what Kim English called “Pete Carril” ball movement to shoot nearly 60% from the field. “We had tremendous ball movement. Good ball movement relieves the tension of the offense,” English said, as his coach winked at him for such an astute observation.

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Oklahoma State 76, Texas Tech 60

Oklahoma State hardly looked like a team missing two key contributors on Wednesday night. Even without the injured Le’Bryan Nash and Philip Jurick, the Cowboys managed to pull away from a pesky Texas Tech squad 76-60 thanks to a second-half burst from Cezar Guerrero and Brian Williams. Despite briefly trailing by a point early in the second half, OSU regrouped by attacking the basket and forcing the Red Raiders to jack up bad shots from beyond the arc. Within minutes, that deficit turned into a double-digit lead, and from there Oklahoma State punished the young Red Raiders by working the clock and clamping down on defense. It all happened with major personnel adjustments — with Williams playing the four position and Markel Brown running the point. “Words really can’t describe how proud I am of our basketball team,” coach Travis Ford said. “For these guys to continue to play as hard as they are, they’re fun to coach.”

Texas Tech's season ended with a 76-60 loss to Oklahoma State on Wednesday.

Why the Cowboys Won: Cezar Guerrero really exploded in the second half, burying back-to-back three-pointers after his team’s brief one-point deficit. “I felt like I just needed to bring energy and get these guys going again,” Guerrero said. “Luckily, my teammates just got me open and I hit the shots. I was really feeling it today.” Texas Tech also struggled on the offensive end, looking every bit like the team that finished 1-17 in Big 12 play under first-year head coach Billy Gillispie. Even a strong effort from Jordan Tolbert could not overcome the Cowboys, who had four players score in double figures. Senior Keiton Page couldn’t find his shot early, but he heated up in garbage time to finish with a team-high 20 points. The key statistic to take note of here is Texas Tech’s performance from three-point land: 4-20. That’s your ballgame right there. That, and a 16-16 team mark from the free throw line for Oklahoma State.

What’s Next: Oklahoma State advances to play second-seeded Missouri, a team it defeated in Stillwater this year but could not compete with on the road. If Nash can’t go, though, the Cowboys have little to no shot. Nash put his team on his shoulders in that game, scoring important basket after important basket to announce to the national stage that he was a legitimate star. Without him, it’s important for Williams to keep playing as aggressively as he did against Tech. “We didn’t exactly play the way we wanted to up in Columbia,” Williams said. “We’ll just get to the film room and start studying Missouri.”