Recap of Big 12 Basketball Saturday: Upsets and Wild Endings
by Joe Loyd on Jan 9, 2011 8:01 AM CST
in Big 12 Basketball
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PrintThe first Saturday of Big 12 league play is over and it brought a few upsets along with some entertaining endings. Some players (Alec Burks) raised their games to new levels to lead their teams while others will need to try and bounce back next time out.
A quick rundown of what happened in league play yesterday. Also check out our Predictions for these games we did last Thursday and see how right (or wrong) we were.
Missouri had no answers for Colorado as the Buffs move to 1-0 in league play and gain a home victory over a Top Ten squad with their 89-76 win. Alec Burks went off for 36 points and per Evan here with big12hoops.com made the Missouri coaching staff remember they could have recruited him out of Grandview, Missouri.
Nebraska and Iowa State had probably the best finish of league play as this one came down to the wire with Nebraska getting the home victory 63-62. Huge win for the Cornhuskers as they now take on the aforementioned Missouri Tigers coming off a loss.
Texas A&M traveled to Norman, OK on Saturday to take on the struggling Oklahoma Sooners under Jeff Capel. The Aggies do what good teams do, they keep losing teams losing, as the Aggies defeated OU by a score of 69-51. Khris Middleton led A&M with 16 points.
Another team that was on the road on Saturday was Kansas State but their journey didn't end up as happily for them as the Aggies did. The Wildcats did what they have done for many years now, they went into Gallagher-Iba Arena to face Oklahoma State and they left with a loss on their record. The final score ended up being 76-62 as the Cowboys pulled away in the second half. Full Recap here.
The Baylor Bears avoided what would have been a disastrous loss to open league play as they went to Texas Tech and defeated the Red Raiders 71-59. The Bears only had a six point halftime lead and at one time trailed in the second half but managed to pull away for the double digit victory. LaceDarius Dunn and Perry Jones each had 20 points while John Roberson led Tech with 14 points.
While Nebraska vs Iowa State was probably the best finish of league play, the game in Austin, TX yesterday might have been the best in the country. The UConn Huskies went into Texas and defeated the Longhorns in OT by a score of 82-81. I won't even try and describe all the twists and turns of this one. Check out the highlights.
Kemba Walker hits winner as UConn Holds Off Texas In OT, 82-81 (via ESPN)
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Nothing like the first day of conference play to turn things around.
As always, conference play is where teams, coaches, and fans find out who is really good and who is not so good. The coaches know each other’s teams very, very well and will exploit any and all weaknesses or bad tendencies.
I did not see the CU win coming at all. Missouri had been playing well but they had not been tested very much on the road I guess.
I did expect OkSt to win. KSU has improved from the team they were during the Florida/UNLV low period, but they are still not back to the elite level they were at last season and were expected to be at this year. OkSt on the other hand never was elite but they are fundamentally sound and play very well at home.
I was wrong about the Baylor vs. TT game. Which is good news for Baylor because it means they are not quite as bad as I feared they might be. They still need to improve a great deal to come anywhere near expectations though.
What can I say about the Texas vs. UConn game? When your opponent is making 3-PT shots off the glass and wild sidearm shots from nearly half court, that’s when you know it’s just not your night to win. Hamilton has kept his supersized ego in check for the most part this year but it did hurt Texas in a glaring way on one particular play that could have ended the game in regulation. Still, even in the loss, I liked Texas’s effort and agressiveness and it was a very exciting game to watch.
I love the headline on ESPN “Kemba Walker Leads UConn Past Texas”. LOL, Kemba Walker did not beat Texas. UConn’s frontcourt beat Texas. Put any decent point guard in Walker’s place in that game and UConn would still have been very close to Texas because UConn’s frontcourt dominated Texas on the glass.
Sadly I did not see the ISU vs. NU game. It sounds like it was a good one.
Am I crazy
for thinking one of ISU or Nebraska makes the dance?
Nope.
But you are a bit daring. Both those teams are playing well. But the rest of the conference is good too.
The road is going to be brutal in the Big 12 this year. My general impression of the Big 12 is: the top end is a bit down this year but the middle is much improved. That will make it very hard to win road games, as we saw with Missouri and KSU going down on the first day. If the Big 12 teams beat each other up too much, the conference as a whole may get fewer tournament bids, which is a shame but also how it works.
Also...
Location is working a bit against ISU and NU. The only two truely bad teams in the Big 12, OU & TT, are both in the south. So NU and ISU will only get to play each of them once and will have to play everyone else twice. Not saying it won’t happen, just pointing out the pitfalls.
I think you're crazy...
though I do think that they can get into the NIT. Historically, to get into the dance they need to finish in the top 6 of the conference and I see 8 teams better than them, so they’ll need to leap frog at least three. Impossible, no? Improbably, maybe.
The 8 in no order: KU, MU, UT, KSU, BU, CU, OSU, A&M
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