The Preview You Must View: Cincinnati (6) vs Texas (11)
by E. Carnes on Mar 15, 2012 6:03 PM CDT
in Big 12 Basketball - 2011-12 Season
At points during the season, it looked like it might not happen, but the Baby Horns made it to the Big Dance. The streak — 14 consecutive NCAA appearances — is alive. This also marks Texas' 13th consecutive season with 20 wins or more and places them tied for fourth for longest current tournament appearances behind Kansas, Duke, and Michigan State. This is an extraordinary accomplishment. The program and this team have a lot to be proud of.
That said, beating 6-seed Cincinnati will still be a tall order.
The Bearcats went 24-10 overall and 12-6 in the Big East, earning an at-large big and a 6-seed in the tourney. A hard, physical team, Cincy is led by Yancy Gates, who you may know as a 6'9'' senior forward and you definitely know as the guy who threw the sucker punch in the nasty Xavier-Cincy brawl earlier this season. Gates averages 12.4 points and 9.2 rebounds per game and is supported by guards Sean Kilpatrick (14.3 ppg and 4.6 rpg) and Cashmere Wright (10.9 ppg and 4.6 apg). Cincinnati seams to be peaking at the right time. They've won nine of their last 12 games, including a victory over Syracuse in the Big East Tournament.
How Texas stacks up, after the jump.
0 commentsBig 12 Conference Call: Tourney Edition
by E. Carnes on Mar 15, 2012 11:13 AM CDT
in Big 12 Basketball - 2011-12 Season
The madness is officially upon us. This week, we discuss our Final Four picks, what upsets we're banking on, and how the Big 12 will fare. Today and tomorrow are some of the least productive work days in American offices — so do your part and leave your answers in the comments. The questions are below.
1. Who are your FInal Four picks?
2. Who are your upsets?
3. How far do you have each Big 12 team going?
4. Our any teams grossly over- or under-seeded?
5. If a genie granted you one wish (which, of course, you plan to use on the tournament — come on, now), what would it be?
Our answers, after the jump.
NCAA Tournament Fantasy Gunner Draft Results
by Evan Pfaff on Mar 15, 2012 10:06 AM CDT
in Big 12 Basketball - 2011-12 Season
Eight of us completed our 2012 NCAA Tournament Fantasy Gunner Draft last night, and it dawned on me just how much of a Big 12 homer I am.
I ended up with the sixth overall pick in the snake draft format, so with the sixth and 11th overall pick I went Mizzou-centric, snatching up Marcus Denmon and Kim English. After a brief respite, I then picked up Baylor's Pierre Jackson, Kansas' Elijah Johnson and BU's Quincy Acy with sixth, seventh and eighth rounds picks. So yeah, half of my team are Big 12ers, but really are those that bad of picks?
I project Mizzou and KU in the Final Four and Baylor to the Elite Eight, so I got good value, especially with my last three Big 12ers. Now did I reach a tad for Denmon and English? Sure, but now I have even more reason to root on Mizzou and the Big 12.
All told, 14 Big 12ers were taken, my five plus: J'Covan Brown, Ricardo Ratliffe, Phil Pressey, Tyshawn Taylor, Mike Dixon, Quincy Miller, Thomas Robinson, Rodney McGruder and Perry Jones III.
Remember, since ONLY points count, the object is to pick the guy who will score the most points per game PLUS play the most games. For more information on how it works, check out my post from Tuesday.
Complete rosters are below. Which team do you like best?
The Preview You Must View: (8) Iowa State vs (9) Connecticut
by Nathan Kotisso on Mar 15, 2012 5:00 AM CDT
in Big 12 Basketball - 2011-12 Season
As I boldly predicted back in October, the Iowa State Cyclones made the NCAA Tournament. Their first obstacle? Beat the defending National Champions. Head coach Fred Hoiberg has guided the Cyclones from a last-place finish in his first year to third-place in his second. Granted he had plenty of new talent coming in but to transform a program in such short time is remarkable enough for him to win co-Big 12 Coach of the Year honors.
After their storybook season a year ago, the Connecticut Huskies have had an up-and-down season to say the least. A team that lost Mr. Everything in Kemba Walker would still have four starters coming back. They've had moments of brilliance like their wins over Florida State and Harvard and moments of frustration in defeats to downtrodden Rutgers and Providence. Couple that with Jim Calhoun recovering from back surgery, so continuity has been an issue in Storrs.
The Preview You Must View: (3) Baylor vs (14) South Dakota State
by Nathan Kotisso on Mar 15, 2012 1:00 AM CDT
in Big 12 Basketball - 2011-12 Season
The tournament is finally here and needless to say, the Big 12 had a great year. A team I thought would make the conference it's personal playground was the Baylor Bears. They didn't win the conference but they didn't need to. More importantly, they managed to remain among the top 15 teams in college basketball.
Since we know what to expect from the Bears this will mainly be a pseudo-scouting report on the South Dakota State Jackrabbits. Cool nickname by the way.
NCAA Tournament 2012: K-State Takes On Southern Miss In Winnable Opening Game
by Joe Loyd on Mar 14, 2012 10:00 PM CDT
in Big 12 Basketball - 2011-12 Season
If nothing else the Kansas State Wildcats should be well rested heading into their matchup of the opening round of the NCAA Tournament against the Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles from Conference USA. Coming off a disappointing loss to the Baylor Bears in their first game of the Big 12 tournament, the Wildcat have had a long wait until Thursday to finally be able to go out on the court and try to atone for their last performance.
The Wildcats enter as a #8 seed which as everyone knows is not the best thing in the world as a victory in the opening game sets up a date with the #1 ranked squad, in this case Syracuse. First thing on the agenda though has to be Southern Miss who enters with an overall record of 25-8. The Golden Eagles lost in the semi-finals of the Conference USA tournament but easily made it into the tournament as an at-large team.
They are led by former Iowa State head coach Larry Eustachy who has been at the helm in Hattiesburg since 2004. Their leading scorer, Neil Watson, comes straight out of Big 12 country as he hails from Kansas City, KS. He is one of three players for Southern Miss who average in double figures in points scored, the others being LaShay Page and Darnell Dodson.
The reality for K-State on whether they win or lose this game comes down more on how they perform than how well Southern Miss plays. The Wildcats have been through the rigors of major conference play and should be able to beat a team that lost to Marshall twice in their previous three games with the one victory being an overtime defeat of East Carolina.
The Wildcats will need to come out and play solid defense without fouling as Southern Miss likes to try and get to the free throw line often. Assuming Rodney McGruder plays up to his abilities and a few other contributors like Jamar Samuels and Jordan Henriquez show up this should equate to another first round victory for Frank Martin.
How My NCAA Tournament Bracket Is Already Busted
by Evan Pfaff on Mar 14, 2012 10:18 AM CDT
in Big 12 Basketball - 2009-10 Season
The 2012 NCAA Tournament doesn't tip off for another 24-hours, but already my bracket is busted.
No, not because of yesterday's play-in games, because -- unless your team is in one of the games -- who really pays attention? Instead, my bracket is already busted because of all the chalk splattered across the page.
5-seeds beating 12-seeds. 8-seeds beating 9-seeds then losing to 1-seeds. I couldn't bring myself to pick any ground breaking upsets. Sure I have a couple 5-seeds over 4-seeds in Round of 32 action, but really, COME ON PFAFF!
Did I really drink that much during the tournament last year to forget that the Final Four was comprised of a 3-seed, 5-seed, 8-seed and 11-seed? Where's the chalk in that? Or what about 2010 when two 5-seeds made it to the Final Four?
Nope, my Final Four mirrored that of the "First Brackatologist," as President Obama and I each have the same two 1-seeds and two 2-seeds. In fact, the President and I share seven Elite Eight teams (three 1-seeds, three 2-seeds and a 3-seed), and the only difference might be that he filled out his bracket before the news of the Fab Melo suspension had come down, otherwise... we both could run on the chalk platform. "Hi, I'm a left-leaning, fiscal conservative who is die-hard pro-chalk. What a cute baby you have, want a picture of the two of us?"
Oh, and our championship game picks? You guessed it... two 1-seeds.
So enter the free SB Nation "Wisdom of the Crowds" pool and see how badly your bracket beats mine, because Lord knows I'm dead man walking.
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Self Share: E. Carnes and I discuss Big 12 teams' tourney chances for the Huffington Post
See our Best Case / Likely scenarios for all six teams in the NCAA tournament.
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