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. Next on the list — Texas. 

2011-12 record: 20-14, 9-9 (6th place, Big 12)

The worst nightmare happened for Texas’ J’Covan Brown: He went undrafted in June. It’s easy to play the role of revisionist historian with regard to Brown’s decision to enter the NBA Draft and skip his final year of school in Austin. In hindsight, though, perhaps he should have stayed in school and tried his luck in 2013. In reality, Brown made the decision with his family in mind. He has a daughter to take care of, and he’ll find a way to make a lot of money playing this game somewhere. After averaging 20.1 points per game as a junior and taking almost all of the shots for the young Longhorns — sometimes earning the team a reputation as a One-Man Show — his decision to bolt for the pros this summer now leaves a major void for Rick Barnes in 2012-13. It would be silly to use the cliched “addition by subtraction” theorem in this situation because Brown was so important and frankly had a terrific junior campaign without much experience surrounding him, but there’s no doubt Barnes will have a different team without him on the court. With heralded point guard Myck Kabongo ready to take a leap in production as a sophomore after growing up considerably by the end of his freshman season, Barnes should have no trouble qualifying for yet another NCAA Tournament. Despite a close call a year ago, he’s still never missed the NCAAs during his tenure at Texas, and even though his team is maddeningly inexperienced, it should certainly make leaps with a stud recruiting class and improving group of sophomores.

Myck Kabongo is The Man On This Team

Summer Orientation: Barnes welcomes six new scholarship freshmen to his roster, headlined by one of the Big 12’s presumed top newcomers in center Cameron Ridley. Say goodbye to last year’s woes of lacking a true post presence. Ridley’s 6’10”, 245-pound frame speaks for itself. So does his game. He’s a traditional center with back-to-the-basket post moves, a rarity in this age of Kevin Durant and European-style hybrids. The Texas native’s decision to stay home changes the dynamics of Barnes’ roster, and so does fellow freshman big Prince Ibeh. He’s considered more of a project than Ridley and has a leaner body type, but he’s another true center who could become a monster if he develops his offensive game. Barnes told ESPN’s Andy Katz this summer that both Ridley and Ibeh are right on track to contribute as freshmen, but that article actually mentions another freshman as the biggest surprise of the off-season. That’s DeMarcus Holland, a 6’3” shooting guard noted by Barnes as performing like an “every day” kind of guy. That’s some of the highest praise a freshman can achieve before stepping on the court, and it’s the kind of comment that leads us to believe Holland could be a valuable reserve in his first season. Point guard Javan Felix will need to grow up quickly in order to backup Kabongo, and three-star small forward Ioannis Papapetrou finds himself in an interesting role as one of the only true wings on this roster. To round out the class, Connor Lammert will fight for minutes in a crowded frontcourt. The 6’7” power forward had a decent outing in a summer All-Star game by scoring 14 points. As is the case for every single team in America with rather large freshmen classes, the Longhorns’ Big Six will have to sort themselves out by the end of the offseason and October practice. Ibeh and Ridley are early bets to see a ton of playing time, but there’s no telling who else will emerge in their rookie campaigns. Overall, though, this appears to be a good group with a lot of potential down the road, and 2012-13 should serve as a solid foundation for this class.

Read the rest of this entry »

Nine games. That’s all we know right now with regards to the 2012-13 Big 12 hoops schedule — nine games, all part of ESPN’s legendary Big Monday presentation. The four-letter network released the Big Monday schedule this week, meaning we now have five months to let the anticipation build. Want to feel a little giddy during the slow summer months? Take a look at the schedule below and imagine the possibilities: Bob Huggins returning to the one city in the world that cannot stand him, a Week One showdown between the league’s top dogs, and a prime time game at revitalized Iowa State.

Huggins Heads Back to K-State on Big Monday

Before we break down the schedule on a game-by-game basis, there are two noticeable absences from Big Monday this year. First, there’s no TCU. Not a major surprise, but it’s a sign the program clearly still has some work to do to gain relevance in the Big 12. Big Monday also won’t carry the Bedlam Series between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. It makes perfect sense, of course. Oklahoma hasn’t finished with a winning record since 2008-09, when Jeff Capel and Blake Griffin led the Sooners to the Elite Eight. And Oklahoma State lost 18 games a year ago and hasn’t danced the past two seasons. Plus, according to preseason projections — often a terrible barometer to use, by the way —  there won’t be many critics or even coaches within the league willing to choose either team to finish near the top of the league. So yes, it’s understandable that ESPN would not give a Big Monday slot to a Bedlam game. Perhaps both games will get prime Saturday slots. Who knows? Still, there’s a magic to Big Monday, and a rivalry as sacred as Bedlam deserves that magic. So that’s our plea to ESPN: give Bedlam a Big Monday slot, and give it to them every year. With that rant out of the way, here’s a look at all nine games:

• January 14, Baylor at Kansas: A year ago, an undefeated Baylor team had a chance to make a statement to the Big 12 during a road trip to Lawrence. Win that game and Scott Drew’s program would have arrived. Predictably, the Bears crumbled under the wrath of Allen Fieldhouse. They fell behind immediately. Thomas Robinson wowed the crowd with one of his inhuman, highlight-reel dunks. It got ugly, and from there, Kansas never looked back. This game could represent a similar opportunity for Baylor to change the dynamics of the Big 12 race in 2013. It’s a lot of pressure to put on one game, but even in July, it’s obvious to see the importance of this first Big Monday game. Read the rest of this entry »

1. A week ago, we were hearing Myck Kabongo and J’Covan Brown were as good as gone from Texas, which meant coach Rick Barnes was looking at another rebuilding job. Not so fast, my friends. Kabongo says he’s coming back next year, and Brown has denied that he’s made a decision on his NBA Draft status. Whether Brown leaves or not, Kabongo’s decision to return has to merit a sigh of relief for Barnes. His freshman season did not begin smoothly, but Kabongo matured into a team leader by the end of the winter and showed enormous growth over the course of five months. Give him another offseason and there’s no reason Kabongo can’t earn All-Big 12 honors in 2012-13.
2. If Kansas State fans awake from the depression Frank Martin‘s departure sent them into, they may realize the Wildcats have a lot to offer to a new coach. The rabid fan support is a major plus, as is the program’s decent history and proximity to Kansas City. It may not be a marquee job, but there’s no reason Kansas State can’t attract a successful candidate.
3. Another day, another honor for Thomas Robinson. He became a unanimous All-America selection yesterday, putting him in elite company in college basketball history. There’s not much to analyze here because the choice is not shocking in the least bit. Anthony Davis not earning unanimous status is shocking, however.
4. It seems like a long time ago Bill Self said he was concerned about the talent level on his Kansas team. That was back in October, when the Jayhawks were dealing with a lot of questions. What would they do without the Morris twins? Would Thomas Robinson’s production from the previous season translate to a starting role? Would Tyshawn Taylor elevate his game as a senior, would the team have enough depth, and would they even win the Big 12 again? As the season wore on, Self got all of the answers he wanted.
5. It took about, oh, 10 minutes for the world to figure out that Baylor wasn’t going to beat Kentucky on Sunday. But even as the Wildcats clobbered the Bears, one fan at least got his 15 minutes of fame during his team’s loss. Good for him. Give it a few weeks and he’ll be an Internet sensation.

Despite hiding relatively under the radar for most of the regular season, 60% of the Big 12 will represent the league in the NCAA Tournament this week. Texas was the last team to cement its at-large bid, knocking off Iowa State in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament to secure an 11 seed. Here’s a team-by-team look at the burning questions this weekend (apologies in advance for that Jim Rome reference):

Missouri

Will its lack of size eventually be its downfall? The Tigers have proven this season that they are capable of overcoming a thin frontcourt. If it was really such an issue, they would not have won a Big 12 Tournament title and finished with 30 victories. Still, when Frank Haith‘s team runs into a team with dominant bigs, it will simply have less room for error. A foul-ridden game by either Ricardo Ratliffe or Steve Moore could end Missouri’s season.

Can Frank Haith Continue To Highlight Missouri's Strengths & Hide Its Weaknesses?

Kansas

Will it overlook Detroit? Hard to say. The idea of “overlooking” anyone in the NCAA Tournament is a little trite, but the Jayhawks actually did draw a scary matchup in this instance. Nobody’s going to doubt Bill Self with all of his Big 12 titles and a national title to his name, but you have to take the good with the bad. He has suffered four fairly enormous upsets during his tenure: Bucknell (2005) Bradley (2006), Northern Iowa (2010), and VCU (2011). Will the trend continue? Probably not, but Detroit is a team that has high-major talent and underachieved in the regular season. Remember, they were a trendy pick to win the Horizon over the two-time national runner-ups.

Read the rest of this entry »

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 Texas’ 71-65 victory over Iowa State. You can follow him on Twitter @dspewak.

There was a moment early in the second half Thursday night when it appeared Texas and its three freshmen starters would unravel in its most important game of the season. Trailing by 11 with 18:22 remaining in its NCAA Tournament life, the Longhorns looked like the team that fell apart in a 19-point loss at North Carolina in late December. Like the team that lost six of its first nine Big 12 games by an average of 4.6 points.

Rick Barnes Got His Team To Respond in the Second Half.

Then, something clicked. “We’re not young anymore,” freshman point guard Myck Kabongo said. “We’ve grown up. We’ve shown strides, every single one of us.” With Kabongo running the show, the Longhorns sliced their way to the rim and denied the Cyclones’ looks from beyond the arc by eliminating dribble penetration. J’Covan Brown, the league’s leading scorer, began to abuse Chris Allen. As Iowa State’s layups rimmed out and its guards turned the ball over, the Longhorns’ threes began to fall. And just like that, Texas saved its NCAA Tournament hopes with a 71-65 victory in one nine-minute stretch. “That’s the ball game. They made big plays. I thought we put our heads down a little bit as a team,” coach Fred Hoiberg said. “They made big plays down the stretch and we didn’t.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Danny Spewak is a Big 12 microsite writer and will provide wall-to-wall coverage from the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City. You can follow him on Twitter @dspewak. 

Unlike Iowa State, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma, which ran loose, light-hearteded practices Wednesday morning, the Texas Longhorns looked like a team in desperation mode. Rick Barnes had no time for nonsense this afternoon, not with an NCAA Tournament at-large bid hanging in the balance this week. He screamed at Myck Kabongo several times for not finding the open man in the post (“He’s wide open! Find him!”) and got on walk-on Dean Melchionni for a mistake later in practice (“Shoot it! It’s not that hard!). For almost 40 minutes, the Longhorns scrimmaged with focus, intensity and a mission in mind: beat Iowa State and solidify its spot in the NCAA Tournament. “We’re taking it one game at a time this tournament. Tomorrow is the most important game of the season,” freshman Jonathan Holmes said after practice.

Texas worked on defending Scott Christopherson and the dribble handoff for several minutes

All practice, Barnes repeated over and over again that the team must take away the three-point shot. When J’Covan Brown politely mentioned that harassing shooters on the perimeter would leave defenders one-on-one, Barnes did not care. “You’re playing against the best three-point shooting team in the conference,” Barnes said.  Royce White may be Iowa State‘s leading scorer and star this season, but Barnes and assistant Rob Lanier seemed more concerned about Scott Christopherson and his ability to burn their defense from beyond the arc. “Christopherson, we’re not giving him anything. Anything,” Barnes said during practice. In preparation for Christopherson, Lanier prepped his team on how to defend Iowa State’s dribble handoff. Sheldon McClellan stood in as Christopherson, and Lanier ran drills for about 10 minutes to make sure his players knew how to shut this down. He told his team to hedge hard on the handoff, making sure the help defender “had it under control” before he retreated to cover his own man.

Later in practice, Barnes’ guys ran full court and worked on defending the dribble handoff in a more realistic setting. Take a look at the video below, where McClellan receives a handoff and runs into a help defender.

Read the rest of this entry »

1. Jeff Withey has arrived. From his early days as a transfer from Arizona and a project at the center position, Withey has now emerged late this winter as a terrific second option to Thomas Robinson in the frontcourt. It’s been an interesting transformation to watch, especially because he became lost in the shuffle behind the Morris twins last season. Once a stud recruit out of high school, Withey has finally learned to play at this level. This won’t be the last article we read about him.
2. Take this one, for example, which compares Withey to Jeremy Lin. That’s pretty high praise, but it’s not all that far off the mark. Sure, Lin’s production has been historic, but Withey’s also somewhat of a feel-good story out of nowhere. Plus, according to the article, they apparently once appeared in the same building in California six years ago. Unfortunately for Withey, they never actually met, but he’s getting his own Linsanity treatment at Kansas. “Walking on campus, everybody wants to talk to you,” WIthey said. “You definitely try to stay humble.”
3. Just one more Kansas article to pass along here: how many different awards could this Kansas team win? Thomas Robinson just might be the Player of the Year, Tyshawn Taylor‘s in the conversation for all kinds of accolades, Bill Self could win Coach of the Year, and Withey is making a name for himself as well. Self is the most interesting case here. He even admitted himself before the season he was concerned about the talent level on this team, but do we give him credit for, say, Robinson’s emergence as a POY candidate?
4. For any Missouri fans still reading through all the Jayhawk talk, here’s a look at the Tigers move to the SEC from a financial standpoint. Apparently, Missouri still needs to pay its exit fees though that should not be a problem here in the near future. The most intriguing part of the article is the Big 12’s benefit from the Tigers despite their departure. If Missouri makes a deep run in the NCAA Tournament in 2012 and brings in major revenue, the conference will see that money even after it leaves for the SEC. That’s not a bad deal for the Big 12… not at all.
5. Rick Barnes has established a winning program at Texas by making 13 straight NCAA Tournaments. His 2011-12 team has overcome a roadblock to put itself in position for another at-large bid, but the Longhorns haven’t won in typical Barnes fashion. For starters, they’re playing their best basketball late instead of early. More strikingly, this team is different because, frankly, it does not have major NBA-ready talent on the roster. Sure, Myck Kabongo, J’Covan Brown, and a few others have serious pro potential somewhere down the line, but T.J. Ford isn’t walking through the door.

1. Lots of Texas news this morning… here’s the first bit: the Longhorns appear to be turning the corner after 24 games. Texas won at Texas A&M on Big Monday thanks in large part to a terrific effort from freshman point guard Myck Kabongo. Still under .500 in the Big 12 at 5-6, the Longhorns probably won’t make the NCAA Tournament if they do not knock off Kansas or Baylor in the final month of the season. It is impressive though that Rick Barnes has this young team in contention for anything at this point.
2. Seven games remain now on the Longhorns’ schedule. Can Barnes make his 14th-straight NCAA Tournament at Texas? It’s going to be difficult, but the path exists. The Longhorns’ resume looks like the epitome of a bubble team right now, but again, it still has two prime opportunities for RPI-boosting wins against Kansas and Baylor. If the Longhorns cannot close out this final seven-game stretch, they will have to look back at the “what ifs” this season after suffering so many close losses.
3. That win at A&M, however, may mean the Longhorns are growing up in late-game situations. Unfortunately, Texas and Texas A&M may not ever play again– not in the near future, at least. Much like the Missouri-Kansas dispute, Rick Barnes has vowed not to play the Aggies when they leave for the SEC. “We’ve got a lot of rivals,” Barnes said. In a way, that’s true. In the state of Texas, the Longhorns can battle Baylor, Texas Tech, or even TCU (if the program improves, of course). But it’s not Texas/Texas A&M. Nothing is, and that’s not lost upon Billy Kennedy. The A&M coach offered to play a neutral-site game in the non-conference schedule, but Barnes told him before the game that it would never happen.
4. Staying in-state, Scott Drew has an idea for guarding Kansas forward Thomas Robinson tonight: use Britney Griner. The Baylor women’s basketball phenom certainly has the height to hang with Robinson, and they are both elite players in their respective women’s and men’s divisions of college basketball. It hardly matters who guards Robinson at this point, though. He was unstoppable in the second half at Missouri, and he’ll probably put on a similar show in Waco. Now, his teammates need to support him, something they did not do in the final three minutes of that game in Columbia.
5. Jeff Withey is one of those teammates. He did not play well against the Tigers, perhaps because he played against smaller, quicker players. It makes sense. Withey may have been able to physically overpower Missouri’s guards, but it’s hard to play when little guys are swatting at you and speeding up the pace of the game. He even said so himself: “I like playing against guys my size a lot more than playing against a bunch of guards,” he said. Well, he’ll get a more favorable matchup then against Baylor tonight, who starts three future pros in the frontcourt. Maybe that will help him find his groove.

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

• Jayhawks Tumble In Ames: Kansas lost its first conference game, losing 74-62 to Iowa State in Ames. Kansas didn’t make many shots and sent the Cyclones to the foul line, but what will undoubtedly make Bill Self the angriest is the general lack of effort. Kansas had the second-lowest offensive rebound rate of Self’s tenure, and there were multiple times when a lone Cyclone got a loose ball despite three Jayhawks being around it. It certainly won’t be a fun couple of practices for the Jayhawks this week as they get prepped for Missouri.
• Nash Bash: Like Kansas, Missouri was bitten by the upset bug, losing 79-72 in Stillwater. LeBryan Nash had by far the best game of his college career, pouring in 27 points on 12-18 shooting (3-4 from three), and the Cowboys held Missouri to just 4-19 shooting from distance. Missouri probably has the best offense in the country, but it is so dependent on jump shots that when they have an off night in that department, they seem to be a bit more vulnerable to an upset than the best offense in the country should be.
• White Shows His Stripes: ESPN had a very nice story on Iowa State forward Royce White, highlighting some of the issues he has had in his life with anxiety. White had numerous criminal and other behavior issues while at Minnesota and while his anxiety should not be used as a blanket excuse, it is yet another caution that we as fans should not make our minds up about a player’s character without knowing the full story.

After Spinning His Wheels For Most Of The Season, LeBryan Nash Raised The Roof In Stillwater. (AP)

Power Rankings

1. Kansas (17-4, 7-1): The Jayhawks remain in first in the rankings due to their loss being “better” than Missouri’s. They are just now hitting the meat of their conference schedule, with three of their next five games on the road at Missouri, Baylor, and Kansas State. Winning all three of them will all but lock up the conference title for Kansas, but if they play like they did in Ames they will be lucky to win one of them, and their streak of Big 12 titles could be over.
2. Missouri (17-2, 4-1): The Tigers, as I mentioned above, rebounded nearly half of their misses at Baylor over the weekend and shot 68% from two, with Ricardo Ratliffe scoring 27 points on 11-14 shooting.  All season, they have struggled rebounding and at defending the two-point shot, so questions about how they will react when faced with size in the tournament are still valid, but they answered some of those questions on Saturday. Read the rest of this entry »

Brian Otskey is the Big East correspondent for RTC and a regular contributor. You can find him @botskey on Twitter. See bottom of the post for the Official RTC Star System.

Pittsburgh finally won two games last week and will look to win its third in a row at the Backyard Brawl in Morgantown. In Austin, Texas looks to stun highly-ranked Missouri. Rankings are subject to change with a new RTC Top 25 coming out today.

Pittsburgh at #22 West Virginia – 7:00 PM EST on ESPN (****)

• After getting hosed by the referees at Syracuse, West Virginia returns home on Monday night to face rival Pittsburgh. While the Panthers have won two straight games after losing eight in a row, the Mountaineers remain a strong favorite despite Tray Woodall’s return to the Pitt lineup. The Panthers look like a different team with a healthy Woodall in the fold and Bob Huggins’ team will have to come up with a strong defensive effort in order to limit the Pitt point guard from getting into a flow. West Virginia’s two-point defense is not good, ranked #239 in Division I. If Woodall and Ashton Gibbs can get inside, Deniz Kilicli and Kevin Jones will have a hard time defending Nasir Robinson (9-9 FG vs. Georgetown) and Lamar Patterson. West Virginia’s biggest defensive strength is guarding the three-point line (25.9% in Big East play). If the Mountaineers can shut down Gibbs company from deep, they will have an easier time defending the paint and keeping the Panthers off the offensive glass, where they rank #1 in the nation.
  

  Huggins and the Mountaineers Will Be Fired Up After Their Controversial Loss at Syracuse

• Pittsburgh’s offense has run much smoother with Woodall back but the biggest change might be defensively. The Panthers held Georgetown to 60 points and 47.5% interior shooting (below Pitt’s 51% in Big East play), something that will be very important against Jones and a West Virginia team that struggles from deep. If Pitt can force Truck Bryant into a bad shooting night (he’s had many of those), the Panthers will be in the game for all 40 minutes. Defending Jones is a very difficult task but Jamie Dixon just might be content to let Jones get his points and focus on shutting down Bryant and West Virginia’s young supporting cast. The Mountaineers need contributions from players like Gary Browne and Jabarie Hinds in order to win consistently.
• This is the 183^rd meeting between these longtime rivals. Pittsburgh won both meetings last year and has won 16 of the last 23. We have a feeling this game will be closer than some might think. The Panthers look like a different team with Woodall back and healthy but West Virginia has the best player on the floor in Jones. Offensive rebounding is going to be the key in this game. Neither team defends the paint well but each crashes the offensive glass with authority. Pittsburgh has had problems with turnovers but that may not be the case with Woodall running the show. If West Virginia can’t create turnovers, it will have to score in the half court against a team playing with some renewed confidence. Call us crazy but we think Pitt has a legitimate chance to win this game. This one will come down to offensive rebounding and the play of Jones and Bryant.

Read the rest of this entry »