THE UNIVERSITY JOURNAL ANSAN
BIG 12 TOURNAMENT SPECIAL SECTION
THURSDAY, MARCH 8, 2007
3C
BIG 12FASTBREAK
Big 12 writer Mark Dent's wrap up of this season's conference race
After eight weeks of praising the Big 12's best, observing the hottest topics and bashing Colorado, the conference season has drawn to a close. Here is a special end-of-season Big 12 Fastbreak, highlighting the conferences best.
RAISE YOUR GLASSES TO...
KANSAS (27-4, 14-2)
The Jayhawks proved they were the best team in the Big 12 the last month of the season. They rebounded from a tough loss to Texas A&M with eight straight victories, including Saturday's come
from behind victory against Texas. In that game, Kansas was down by as many as 16 points toward the end of the first half before taking the lead early in the second. The lavahawks did this against the best player in the nation, the best point guard in the conference not named Ace Law IV and the best three-point shooting team. Not a bad accomplishment. Kansas is guaranteed a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament if it makes it to the championship game in Oklahoma City this weekend.
SEND A CONGRATULATIONS
FACEBOOK MESSAGE TO...
KEVIN DURANT TEXAS
KEVIN DURANT, TEXAS
The best col-
The best college player since Magic Johnson-period. No one in the Big 12 has ever come close to doing what Durant did this season. He aver
Durant
aged 28.9 points and 12.5 rebounds per game to lead the league in both categories. And people seem to forget that he is just a freshman. Imagine what he could be doing next year (even though it's not going to happen). At 6-foot 9 Durant can drive, shoot the three, post up on
smaller defenders and defend smaller players. He played at the top of Texas' 3-2 zone last Saturday. It's unfortunate that Durant is stealing the postseason awards from Texas A&M's Acie Law IV, Law had one of the best seasons in Big 12 history, but Durant is a special player who deserves every award.
FIRST-TEAM ALL FASTBREAK
KEVIN DURANT, TEXAS
ACIE LAW JV, TEXAS &M
ALEKS MARIC, NEBRASKA
CARTER MARTIN, KANSAS STATE
JULIAN WRIGHT, KANSAS
START A CONVERSATION
WITH THESE TOPICS...
HE WOULDN'T BE GOOD AT
Texas Tech coach Bob Knight became the all-time college basketball ball winner leader this season, but his performances at the Big 12 Coaches Teleconference each week were more memorable. He hung up on reporters three weeks in a row and rarely gave anything more than three word responses. Here are some of his great insight from this week.
ON A POSSIBLE ADVANTAGE FOR OKLAHOMA SCHOOLS AT THE BIG 12 TOURNAMENT IN
OKLAHOMA CITY
"A city's a city; an arena's an arena."
ON RPI AND THE CHANCE OF K-STATE AND HIS TEAM NOT MAKING THE NCAA TOURNAMENT "I don't know, who knows. I'm not smart enough to figure that out."
BIG 12 RANK
are still on the fence when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. In reality, the big 12 is down this year. Texas, Kansas and Texas A&M are all capable of winning the national title, but the level of competition fades greatly after that. Other conferences aren't much better though. The SEC has Florida and a bunch of other teams that are on par with the K-State and Texas Tech. The Big East doesn't have a legitimate national title contender. The Pac-10 is the nation's deepest conference, but only UCLA will get a top three seed. And the ACC is the most overrated. Virginia tied for the conference title and it only beat Puerto Rico Mayaguez by seven this season.
Listen to any coach and he'll tell you the league is the best it has ever been and is one of the best in the country. RPI rankings don't agree. That's why K State and Texas Tech
KEEP A CLOSE WATCH ON THE RACE FOR IRRELEVANCE...
Believe it or not, Colorado actually won another game last weekend and finished 3-13 in Big 12 play. The Big 12 Fastbreak would like to say goodbye to Buffaloes Ricardo Patton. That victory was his last home game. Patton has been at Colorado for 11 years and though he's not John Wooden, he is a better coach than anyone the Buffaloes athletics department will be able to find for that job.
YOU PROBABLY SAID 'OH MY GOD' ABOUT..
A lot of things this conference season. Here is a reminder of some of the best. Oklahoma State edges Texas in three overtimes, Nebraska's Aleks Marie scores 41 points against Kansas State, Kevin Durant shoots 5 for 5 from the three point land on his way to 25 first half points against Kansas.
Kansan sportswriter Mark Dent can be contacted at mdent@kansan.com.
Edited by Mark Vierthaler
Playing on neutral ground
》' HORN BORN, 'HAWK BRED
In the NCAA tournament, all sorts of strategies are implemented by coaches
trying to catch their opponents off guard.
That's OK, Kansas will be prepared for it.
The Big 12 Conference gave Kansas a wide variety of teams to play, and Kansas proved that it could play anybody's style and still win the game. The Big 12 Tournament will pit Kansas against that same variety, but in a single elimination format on a neutral floor.
Then Kansas will go against Texas Tech or Kansas State in the third round, unless Colorado
In the second round, Kansas will either play against Iowa State or Oklahoma. Both like to slow the pace of the game down by controlling the shot clock to make up for their lack of athleticism. Many mid-major teams will play this way in the NCAA tournament.
shocks the world twice. Texas Tech's motion offense would be a great test for Kansas' defense. The layhawks won't run into many that are more efficient than Tech's, Kansas State, on the other hand, lives and dies by the three-point shot.
In the final round, Kansas could play Texas, a team focused on one star player. The Longhorns play zone, they are athletic and they like to play fast-paced basketball.
Texas A&M could make it. The Aggies play as tough of defense as anyone in the country, and are as well coached as
any team in the country. Kansas could use another test from a challenging opponent.
And although it's not likely, Kansas could play Missouri, Oklahoma State, Nebraska or Baylor.
Missouri will put opponents through 40 minutes of a full-court press. The Tigers play fast on offense too. Oklahoma State is desperate and could make a run. After all the games are in Oklahoma City, which is almost a home game. Oklahoma State or Nebraska would pose similar threats. They each have a challenging low post player.
And Baylor? Well, I severely doubt the Bears will win even one game. But it's March, and anybody can beat anybody in March.
Robinett is an Austin, Texas, senior in journalism.
Edited by Lisa Tilson
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