January 19, 2010 –
by Brendon
Some things come to us naturally, while others are a stretch. For me, finding a Big East or Big Ten game on the tube is as natural as pouring myself a glass of water or stretching my ever-sore calves after a training run. Tuning in a Big 12 or SEC game, on the other hand, is a bit more laborious, maybe the equivalent of using my Crest Whitestrips or preparing a vegetable with my pasta. In other words, while all of those tasks are beneficial, the latter two require more planning and a bit more effort to complete.
In that light, the lead up to Texas’ trip to Kansas State on Monday was refreshing. It was a game for which I needed no prompt to get excited about. This matchup featured two very good teams in an enivironment that promised to brim with energy. The Big 12 looks more and more like one of the top conferences this season, and the Longhorns and Wildcats are two of its best teams. But, even though both teams showed tremendous effort, energy and talent in the Big Monday nightcap, Kansas State’s 71-62 win over Texas left me with eyes glazed.
|
Poss |
PPP |
eFG |
Turn |
Reb |
FTR |
| Texas |
80 |
0.77 |
0.390 |
0.224 |
0.340 |
0.132 |
| Kansas State |
80 |
0.88 |
0.392 |
0.237 |
0.432 |
0.308 |
As the points per possession indicates, the defense was stifling. This game was the rare one when neither team surpassed 40 percent eFG, and both teams surpassed 22 percent turnover rate. A lot of that was, in fact, terrific defense. Pomeroy rates these teams among the top 20 defenses in the nation, with Texas second. Read More »
Posted in Big 12, Game of the Night
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Tagged Baylor, Big 12, Bob Knight, Curtis Kelly, Damion James, Denis Clemente, Dexter Pittman, Dogus Balbay, Dominique Sutton, J'Covan Brown, Jacob Pullen, Jamar Samuels, Kansas, Kansas State, Martavious Irving, Memphis, Missouri, Rodney McGruder, Texas
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January 13, 2010 –
by Brendon
Kansas State 88, Texas A&M 65: We thought the Big 12 would be right with the ACC in the pecking order of top conferences this season, but much of the league has gone under the radar thanks to headline-grabbing seasons from Kansas and Texas. Because of this, you may have missed that K-State has now started 13-2 and sits in the top 10 in the RPI and Pomeroy ratings. On Tuesday, the Wildcats dominated a pretty good Texas A&M team, one that is now 0-9 all-time in Manhattan.
|
Poss |
PPP |
eFG |
Turn |
Off Reb |
FTR |
| Texas A&M |
74 |
0.88 |
0.400 |
0.202 |
0.295 |
0.418 |
| Kansas State |
74 |
1.19 |
0.542 |
0.202 |
0.457 |
0.407 |
It may be hard to believe that Kansas State actually has one of the best offenses in the country, but that’s what the numbers suggest. The Wildcats dominate the offensive glass, led by Connecticut transfer Curtis Kelly and junior Dominique Sutton. Each had three on Tuesday as K-State grabbed 46 percent of its misses. Read More »
Posted in Big 12, Game of the Night
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Tagged Big 12, Chinemelu Elonu, Clemson, Connecticut, Curtis Kelly, Denis Clemente, Dominique Sutton, Jacob Pullen, Jamar Samuels, Josh Carter, Kansas, Kansas State, Minnesota, Texas, Texas A&M
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November 16, 2009 –
by Brendon
In sum: At 16-0, the Big 12 was one of three conferences — along with the ACC and Big East — that emerged unscathed from the first weekend of play, though there were three close calls, all in the state of Texas. In Lawrence, the Jayhawks throttled a not-terrible Hofstra team in Xavier Henry’s 27-point debut. Texas, Nebraska and Kansas State all had impressive performances as well.
Team of the week: Texas Tech. It wasn’t a weekend that made folks stand up and take notice, but there was probably a better chance that the Red Raiders would lose one of their three games this weekend than win all three. Tech throttled South Dakota on Friday and then faced, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, fresh off a win over Oregon State. Corpus Christi led at half, but a suffocating defense — something missing in Lubbock last season — helped Tech win, 66-59. The next afternoon, in the season’s first matchup of teams from major conferences, Texas Tech took out Oregon State, 64-60.
| Teams |
Poss |
PPP |
eFG |
Turn |
Reb |
FTR |
| Oregon State |
63 |
0.95 |
0.467 |
0.316 |
0.448 |
0.178 |
| Texas Tech |
63 |
1.01 |
0.510 |
0.205 |
0.241 |
0.212 |
Texas Tech held a third straight opponent to less than a point per possession, something the Red Raiders only did six times in 33 games last season. They’re still pretty miserable on the backboards, but let’s take one deficiency at a time. It’s a good win against a team that many thought would compete for an NCAA Tournament berth this year. Read More »
Posted in Big 12, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged ACC, Angelo State, Baylor, Big 12, Big East, Boston University, Drake, Ekpe Udoh, Hartford, Hofstra, Iowa State, Jeff Capel, Kansas, Kansas State, Loyola (Ill.), Memphis, Mississippi, Nebraska, Norfolk State, Oklahoma, Oregon State, SMU, South Dakota, St. Louis, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas Tech, VCU, Xavier Henry
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November 6, 2009 –
by Brendon
2008-09 in review: The Big 12 fit comfortably in the middle of the major-conference pecking order last season. Lacking an elite team as the flaws of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas revealed themselves, the league still had a depth of quality teams that helped it win all six of its first-round NCAA Tournament teams and send two squads to the Elite Eight.
The Big 12 also boasted the consensus player of the year last season in Blake Griffin. The athletic big man was unguardable down low, drawing more fouls than any other player in the country. He and freshman point guard Willie Warren helped the Sooners to a 25-1 start, but the Sooners stumbled into the NCAA Tournament. They reached the Elite Eight, nonetheless, losing there to national champion North Carolina by 12 points, the smallest margin of victory in UNC’s march to the title.
Missouri was the conference’s breakout team last winter. In Mike Anderson’s third season in Columbia, the Tigers finally got the 40 Minutes of Hell in place, becoming a sweltering pressing team led by DeMarre Carroll. Carroll, Leo Lyons and the rest of the 10-man rotation advanced to the Elite Eight with a 102-point effort against a Memphis team on a 27-game win streak. Read More »
Posted in Big 12
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Tagged 2009-10 season preview, A.J. Abrams, Ade Dagundoro, Austin Johnson, Avery Bradley, Baylor, Bill Self, Blake Griffin, Bryan Davis, Byron Eaton, Cade Davis, Chinemelu Elonu, Cole Aldrich, Colorado, Connor Atchley, Cookie Miller, Cory Higgins, Curtis Jerrells, D.J. Augustine, Damion James, DeMarre Carroll, Doc Sadley, Donald Sloan, Dwight Thorne, Elijah Johnson, Iowa State, J.T. Tiller, Jai Lucas, Jeff Bzdelik, Jeff Capel, Jordan Hamilton, Josh Carter, Jrue Holiday, Juan Patillo, Kansas, Kansas State, Karron Johnson, Keith Gallon, LaceDarius Dunn, Leo Lyons, Marcus Morris, Mark Turgeron, Marquis Gilstrap, Matt Lawrence, Mike Anderson, Mike Singletary, Missouri, Nebraska, Nolan Dennis, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Paul Velander, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Raymond Penn, Rick Barnes, Ryan Wright, Scott Drew, Shawn Williams, Sherron Collins, Steve Harley, Tennessee, Terrel Harris, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Thomas Robinson, Tommy Mason-Griffin, Tony Crocker, Travis Ford, Tyshawn Taylor, Wally Judge, Willie Warren, Xavier Henry
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March 11, 2009 –
by Lukas
The Big 12 has flown somewhat under the radar compared to fellow BCS conferences this year. The conference featured neither multiple high-soaring teams at the top of the league a la the Big East and ACC nor the down-to-the-wire bubble mayhem of the Pac-10 and Big Ten, nor even the generally uninspiring and sloppy play of the SEC. Once Blake Griffin went down and with it Oklahoma’s likely No. 1 seed, the focus switched to the bubble race. Fortunately for fans of Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Texas, their teams are looking pretty solid in terms of an at-large bid for the NCAAs, but unfortunately for the conference officials, there is a good chance that Selection Sunday will not spring any major surprises. Read More »
Posted in Big 12, Reviews/Previews
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Tagged Baylor, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech
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February 10, 2009 –
by Brendon
Zaire Taylor’s runner gave Missouri a two-point lead over Kansas in the final seconds on Monday night, and that shot — with great assistance from 26 Jayhawks turnovers — resulted in Missouri’s first win over Kansas since January 2006. The game was as evenly-matched as one would expect from two teams in the 3-5-seed range, but the effect of the result that I want to focus on is not how Missouri’s performance and Taylor’s shot will affect the NCAA Tournament projection on Friday. Rather, since this was Kansas’ first conference loss, we’re left with just one team — Oklahoma — that is still undefeated in conference among teams in the six major conferences.
It’s very unlikely that Oklahoma will actually finish the conference season undefeated. Only three teams in the last 10 seasons — Duke in 1999, Kansas in 2002 and Kentucky in 2003 — finished their conference regular seasons undefeated. Duke and Kentucky went on to win their respective conference tournaments as well. Stanford in 2004 and Illinois in 2005 lost their undefeated seasons in the final game, road losses to Washington and Ohio State respectively. Read More »
Posted in Big 12, National Perspective
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Tagged Big 12, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Memphis, Michigan State, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Princeton, Stanford, Utah State, Washington, Zaire Taylor
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January 20, 2009 –
by Brendon
Big Monday is one of the great nights in the college basketball week, at least in theory. The evening typically starts out with a terrific matchup between a couple of powerhouse Big East teams. The 7 p.m. ET game is usually broadcast by Sean McDonough, Jay Bilas and Bill Raftery, for my money the best crew in all of sports.
After two hours of pure college basketball enjoyment, that well-known network sends us to the Great Plains — usually Lawrence, Kan. — and Ron Franklin proceeds to complain about how long the Big East games are before the Jayhawks proceed to beat down whatever Big 12 fodder the league has presented the Jayhawks with on that night (I do love Fran Fraschilla, though).
I know that this isn’t always the case — there are often good matchups that go down to the wire, but it seems like the Big 12 game is always an underwhelming denouement to what should be a stirring basketball double-header. The same was true on Monday night when Texas A&M visited Lawrence and was double-teamed and dribble-penetrated out of the building in a matter of minutes of Kansas’ 73-53 win. Read More »
Posted in Big 12, Game of the Night
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Tagged B.J. Holmes, Baylor, Big 12, Big Monday, Bill Raftery, Brady Morningstar, Bryan Davis, Chinemelu Elonu, Cole Aldrich, Donald Sloan, Fran Fraschilla, Jay Bilas, Josh Carter, Kansas, Marcus Morris, Mario Little, Mark Turgeon, Markieff Morris, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Ron Franklin, Sean McDonough, Sherron Collins, Texas, Texas A&M, Tyler Reed, Tyshawn Taylor
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