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 »

1. Oklahoma didn’t get much preseason publicity, but it departs southern California this weekend with two wins under its belt in the 76 Classic. The Sooners, who lost by double-digits in the title game to Saint Louis, aren’t going to get any top 25 votes for their modest two victories, but Lon Kruger has to be happy with the way his team competed this week. The Sooners looked good in wins against Washington State and Santa Clara, and Kruger found out that guard Steven Pledger could be a go-to player this season. In the end, that’s what these tournaments are all about–getting a feel for your team and learning about your players.
2. Switching to the women’s side for a moment, we’d like to recognize Oklahoma State‘s women’s basketball program for picking up their first win since the fatal plane crash earlier this month. OSU, which lost two members of its coaching staff in that crash, beat Coppin State 59-35. It is gut-wrenching to read about the emotions of the game, and we cannot even imagine how hard it is to play basketball in this sort of a situation. No, this isn’t men’s basketball news, but OSU’s women’s team has surely picked up a lot of fans in recent weeks.
3. It appears the NBA may be back, and that’s perfectly fine with us. But the interesting thing about this new deal between the players and owners is the potential age limit for the NBA Draft, which would obviously have enormous consequences for college basketball. There’s a possibility the league will implement a rule to require players to be two years removed from high school before entering the NBA Draft. What would that do for Quincy Miller, LeBryan Nash and Myck Kabongo? Nothing has been decided yet, but this is a story to keep an eye on.
4. Kim English struggled for Missouri last season as a junior, but he has found a way to revitalize himself under new coach Frank Haith. English shredded Binghamton this weekend for 29 points, making six three-pointers during an unconscious first half. That’s a career-high for English, who made another three-pointer after halftime to finish with seven total. But more importantly, it is the kind of performance most never dreamed they would ever see out of English. He looked so lost at times last season, but it appears he has made the necessary adjustments.
5. We have beaten this Border War story to death. Yeah, yeah, we know Missouri and Kansas might not play each other anymore. Big deal–we’ve been talking about it for weeks. Here is an interesting perspective, however, regarding basketball: does Missouri need Kansas more in this sport? Obviously, the Jayhawks have a legendary and historic program, and their fans will show up no matter who they are playing. Missouri’s fan base is a little less basketball-crazy, and this particular writer says Missouri “needs Kansas” for basketball (and vice versa for football).

Andrew Murawa is an RTC correspondent for the Pac-12 and Mountain West conferences and a Pac-12 microsite staffer. This week he’s checking on the eight teams at the 76 Classic in Anaheim with some thoughts…

While the old tradition about Thanksgiving Day and football going together like turkey and mashed potatoes is all well and good, college hoops fans know that Thanksgiving week has fast become a smorgasbord of hoops action as well. Thursday night after some turkey and fixings with the family, I got a chance to dig into the basketball buffet a bit at the 76 Classic with a pair of intriguing games: New Mexico/Santa Clara and Oklahoma/Washington State. While I’ve had a chance to catch WSU and UNM on TV a couple of times, this was my first real good chance to get to know these teams. Here are my thoughts on what I saw Thursday night.

Drew Gordon Is Just One Lobo Who Has Yet To Get On Track This Year

The big question mark for New Mexico coming into the season was how they would go about replacing point guard Dairese Gary, who graduated last season. Junior Jamal Fenton had served as Gary’s understudy for a couple of years, but at 5’9”, he can be a liability on the defensive end. Well, after four games I think we can safely say that UNM has its point guard – and it’s not Fenton. Freshman Hugh Greenwood, a 6’3” native of Australia, saw the majority of the minutes at the point Thursday night (he played 33 minutes, Fenton just 16) and scored 14 points, handed out three assists and never turned the ball over. “I thought he was tremendous,” said head coach Steve Alford. “He has, like a lot of guys, some things he has to do better defensively but he competed and ran our team well.” However, as solid as Greenwood was, the Lobos still are having trouble getting Mountain West Preseason Player of the Year Drew Gordon, or even MW preseason all-conference player Kendall Williams, on track. Gordon scored 11 points and added ten rebounds on Thursday, but did so in a below-the-radar way, while Williams scored just six points and was repeatedly exposed defensively by Santa Clara’s Kevin Foster. In the Lobos two losses so far this season, Williams and Gordon area combined 2/25 from the field. ““We had some guys, very similar to the New Mexico State game, where there was just no production and we’re not good enough for that,” said Alford in a clear reference to his two stars. “We’ve got to have production from guys who are supposed to produce.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Brendon Mulvihill is an RTC contributor. You can find him @themulv on Twitter.  See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

Thanksgiving is for food, family, and football.  But around these parts, we like to throw a big heaping pile of college hoops on our plate also.  Keep an eye on these games as you sit around the table with your loved ones.  Happy Thanksgiving from RTC!

Leonard Hamilton's Seminoles Look Solid on Defense Once Again

#19 Florida State vs. Massachusetts  – 4:30PM EST on Versus (**)

• Florida State’s defense is picking-up right where it left off last season. While the Seminoles have not played any offensive juggernauts to this point in the season, they are still holding teams to an impossibly low .86 points per possession (adjusted). Keep an eye on the perimeter defense, as FSU’s set of 6’5” guards, Michael Snaer and Delvidas Dulkys, will likely have to deal with UMass’s 5’11” point guard Chaz Williams. Williams is currently lighting things up at 17 points per game and hitting 42% of his three-point shots. Watch how the length of Snaer and Dulkys affects Williams’ shot throughout the night.
• Not to be outdone, Massachusetts brings its own set of defensive credentials into this game, ranking in the top ten in both block rate and turnover rate. Florida State has had trouble with turning the ball over this season. Since scoring will be difficult against the Seminoles, Derek Kellogg’s team needs to figure out a way to continue to create turnovers to give his offense more opportunities to score. They have to do this without fouling, however. Teams are getting to the line frequently against UMass (50% FT rate). The Seminole offense thrives on free throws. If you see FSU in the bonus early in either half, you know things are not going well for Massachusetts.
• This game is shaping up to be a defensive battle. The game will hinge on UMass’s ability to deal with the ‘Noles length in the front court. Williams needs to figure out a way to get his shot off on offense and defend players much larger than him. Again, if he and the rest of the Minutemen can create steals without fouling, they have a shot in this game. However, if FSU plays their usual lights out defense and continue to shoot the ball well, they will win.

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 »

1.  In case you missed the marquee Big 12 contest of the night on Thursday, ESPN posted a quick review of Texas A&M‘s loss to Mississippi State in the 2k Sports Classic. For those of us who turned the game off after MSU took a 20-plus point lead in the first half, it’s hard to believe the Aggies eventually lost by only nine points. They were outclassed in almost every way without star Khris Middleton, but they at least deserve credit for battling all 40 minutes. After such an atrocious start, Billy Kennedy has to be pleased at his team’s effort to cut the lead to eight points late in the second half.
2. If you’re an ESPN insider, here’s another look at the 2012 recruiting classes in the Big 12. Once again, it’s worth mentioning the Texas schools are completely dominating the recruiting trail lately within the conference. John Stovall ranks Texas first overall in these rankings, and interestingly, he points out that UT only has one player taller than 6’8” right now. That’s why Barnes hauled in a talented group of forwards, all of which should form the nucleus of his program in the near future.
3. Speaking of Texas, the play of J’Covan Brown has been ridiculous this season. It’s early, of course, but Brown has played like the star Rick Barnes needs him to be. If he keeps up the pace, he’s easily a Big 12 Player of the Year candidate; but again, it’s only been two games. So what do we make of the hot start? There’s one thing we can all agree on: Brown can play. The former sixth man was productive last season and looks like a budding star, and he’s the key to this team’s success this year.
4. Oklahoma may not be the most notable team in the league, but the Sooners have a decent core of players in Cameron Clark, Andrew Fitzgerald and others that get their names in the paper a lot. Calvin Newell almost never gets his name in the paper– until now. He’s starting to get a little more attention for his scoring ability, and he looks like leading-scorer material down the road. For now, he’ll have to settle for being a spark off the bench, and we’re guessing coach Lon Kruger won’t complain about that.
5. The folks over at Big 12 Hoops have published their first “Conference Call” of the year, and they hit on a variety of topics. One of the more interesting discussions centers around Kansas and its decision to play Kentucky during the first month of the season. They wondered out loud whether or not it was worth it to lose a game so early, but we don’t see any sort of problem here. If you’re a program like KU, why not play more games like that at Madison Square Garden? Any exposure is good exposure, even in a loss.

1. In the midst of signing week, Kansas State hauled in a big-time talent in Robert Upshaw, a 7’0” center out of California. Upshaw, the eighth-ranked center according to Rivals.com, opted to play for Frank Martin over offers from Louisville and Georgetown. After Huggins helped recruit Bill Walker and Michael Beasley several years ago, Martin has continued the strong recruiting tradition, and Upshaw could be the next elite big man in the Big 12. With Jordan Henriquez already in the fold, Martin will have a monstrous twin towers to work with next year.
2. Although the Oral Roberts/Oklahoma State game tonight is an interesting match-up in and of itself, it’s a little more interesting due to the Sean Sutton storyline. Sutton, an assistant to his brother, Scott, at ORU, says he hasn’t even stepped inside Gallagher-Iba since his firing a few years ago, but we’ll have to see how he’s welcomed by the OSU faithful. Our guess is the fans will be classy: Sutton’s on-the-court results weren’t great, but he’s turned his life around after a bout with drug addiction and he’s part of the Cowboys’ first family. There shouldn’t be any boos tonight.
3. Royce White hadn’t played a basketball game in months, but he scored 25 points against Lehigh on Friday for Iowa State and earned Big 12 Rookie of the Week honors. Sure, it was only Lehigh, but the dominant performance showcased just exactly how dangerous White could be this season. He may look a little rusty here in the early months, but he’s so physically gifted it’s not even funny. White will certainly be one of the top forwards in the Big 12 this season if Iowa State continues to emphasize his role in the offense.
4. And keeping with awards… J’Covan Brown of Texas earned the league’s first Big 12 Player of the Week honors, scoring 28 points on 10-19 shooting against Boston University. Brown, who’s stepping into a new role as the Longhorns’ unquestioned leader, was an easy choice here. He turned in exactly the kind of performance Rick Barnes needs out of his guard, as he’s trying to mesh a young team full of newcomers. Brown has been around the block before, and he’s got to continue to lead like this.
5. Nobody has much faith in Oklahoma this season, even though Lon Kruger has won everywhere he’s been. One newspaper has at least a little faith, claiming OU should at least aim for the NIT. That’s not an unattainable goal for a team with decent guards, a rising star in Cameron Clark and a good big man in Andrew Fitzgerald. Kruger won’t turn this program around overnight, but he’s got enough to work with for a post-season appearance this season.

For the past several weeks, we’ve pretended to be experts on the Big 12 Conference here. You likely disagree with most (if not all) of our arguments, and we’ve probably made statements bold enough to send you away from RTC and never come back. If you’re still here, though, the 2011-12 season looks promising in the Big 12. It’s a wide-open league with multiple championship contenders, and it’s also a league in transition with Missouri and Texas A&M departing after the season. The realignment apocalypse has subsided for now, and we’ve got real basketball to talk about now for the next five months. As we begin our quest this season, however, let’s take a look back at our fearless predictions this fall:

The Big 12 Streak is in Tyshawn Taylor's Hands Now

RTC Big 12 Predictions

1. Kansas
2. Baylor
3. Texas A&M
4. Missouri
5. Texas
6. Kansas State
7.  Oklahoma State
8. Iowa State
9. Oklahoma
10.  Texas Tech

RTC All-Big 12 First Team

Read the rest of this entry »

Two Big 12 teams received some tough news on Friday: Texas A&M learned it will lose star wing Khris Middleton for about a month, and Oklahoma received three years of probation as a penalty for major violations under former coach Jeff Capel‘s watch.

There’s a theme of promise with both situations, though. It could have been worse. Middleton, considered a candidate for Big 12 Player of the Year this season, hurt his knee in the first half of A&M’s season opening win against Liberty and will miss three to four weeks. The Aggies will have to make major adjustments without their star, as their offense essentially runs through him on every possession. Between now and the middle of December, though, A&M plays just one school from a BCS conference: Mississippi State, next Thursday. Besides that, A&M won’t have another major test until Dec. 17 at Florida. By then, Middleton should be back, so the damage here is minimal.

Middleton Will Miss the Next 3-4 Weeks with an Injury

As for Oklahoma, the word “probation” always hurts, and Lon Kruger‘s new staff will suffer recruiting and scholarship restrictions. Plus, the NCAA will vacate 13 wins from OU’s dismal 2009-10 season, but we get the feeling Sooners fans would rather forget the memory of that season anyway. Capel was not implicated in the findings, but the violations stem from Tiny Gallon and certain illegal payments during his career in Norman. Kruger will be a bit handcuffed here, but overall, his program should recover.

1.  The one word a college basketball coach never wants to utter is “suspension.” In Lon Kruger’s case, however, the suspension of junior guard Steven Pledger could be much, much worse. Pledger, who averaged 10.9 PPG last season for Oklahoma, will miss just one game after playing in a professional event this summer. If you’re wondering, OU plays Idaho State in its season opener Friday night, a team which finished 9-20 last season and lost three starters. Needless to say, when Pledger returns for the second game of the season against Coppin State on November 18, the damage should be minimal.
2. The Michael Beasley lawsuit, part of which accuses Kansas State of serious NCAA violations, hasn’t gained much steam in the national media lately. One outlet in Manhattan, Kansas, is covering the story, of course, and this article breaks down the situation pretty coherently. Basically, it all comes down to any knowledge the coaching staff had of Beasley’s allegations. It’s very difficult to prove “knowledge,” though. Just ask Frank Haith, who’s embroiled in the same sort of scandal from his days at Miami. The issue for Haith is whether he knew about a payment to a recruit at UM, and that’s the same question raised in this case.
3. The resignation of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno made national headlines Wednesday night, and it’s interesting to draw comparisons to the Baylor murder scandal from 2003. Like at PSU, the Bears’ situation also dealt with a cover-up by head coach Dave Bliss, though his role in that scandal was significantly more active. Bliss actually tried to paint the victim — former player Patrick Dennehy — as a drug dealer to hide several violations that had occurred during Dennehy’s career. The two scandals aren’t quite parallel, but they’re both landmark incidents in the continuing stain of college sports.
4. Basketball prospects signed letters of intent all across the Big 12 on Wednesday, which marked the first day of the early signing period. And although Iowa State didn’t make national headlines with its signings, it did add Mr. Popularity. Georges Niang is already a Twitter sensation, and coach Fred Hoiberg says he’ll be replaced by Niang in terms of popularity “the minute he steps on campus.” And we’re talking about The Mayor here, folks. Here’s to a healthy and productive career for the likeable Niang over in Ames.
5. Do you dare pick against Kansas in the Big 12 after seven league titles in a row? We didn’t, but Seth Davis has. He tweeted on Wednesday that he thinks Baylor would win the league — “eight is too much,” he said. After losing so much production from last season, it’s an understandable position. But with so many outspoken Jayhawks roaming the social media world nowadays, Davis had better be ready to defend his position.