THE UNIVERSITY DARRY KANSAN
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 10TH
SPORTS
3B
》 THE RANT
Big 12 tourney prospects are low
Basketball teams must play tougher teams to get bids
Big 12 coaches and officials might be disappointed on March 11. That is the date of "Selection Sunday," and judging by the Rating Percentage Index or RPL, currently only two Big 12 Conference teams are locks for the tournament.
Teams with RPI's of 40 or lower are considered to have an argument for selection to the tournament. The Big 12 had four teams before last night's games with RPI's in that range. Texas A&M leads the conference with an RPI of 14 while Kansas has an RPI of 17. The other four teams who have been making cases for invitations to the Big Dare are Oklahoma State at 36, Texas Tech at 40, Texas, at 45, and Kansas State at 50.
None of those teams are near the level of being a lock to make the tournament and must make strides during the remainder of the season to impress the selection committee.
Once again, the Big 12 Conference is down. Of the six major conferences in America, the Big 12 ranks last in conference RPI and trailed the Missouri Valley for most of the season in that ranking.
The solution to improving this "trend" for the Big 12 is bulking up in the non-conference schedule. Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg needs to sit down with the coaches
and athletics directors of all schools in the conference and press them to schedule more challenging non-conference games. The conference challenge with the Pacific 10 that begins next season will certainly help, but teams need more than one challenging game against major conference foes to make better arguments in March.
Not only will scheduling tougher games in November and December help teams make the tournament, but it will also help teams be better prepared for the NCAA tournament when they face superior talent.
Look at Kansas State's non-conference schedule. Sure the 'Cats defeated now ranked USC, but their other victories were against unranked teams like Kennesaw State and Maryland Eastern Shore. Those games are RPI killers and certainly did little to help prepare Kansas State for conference or tournament play.
The sad thing is, Kansas State's
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schedule is not even the worst of the teams fighting for invitations to the NCAA tournament. Oklahoma State got a solid win over Pittsburgh in late December but also ganged up on Southwestern Oklahoma State and Texas A&M Corpus Christi among others. And Sean Sutton wonders why his team has yet to win a true road game.
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The Big 12 still has a chance to get five teams into the tournament, but it is going to be difficult. The teams that have struggled could continue to play their way out of the tournament, like Oklahoma State is doing right now. If that happens, the Big 12 could have only three or four teams in the tournament, an embarrassment for what is supposed to be a major conference.
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After an appropriately decadent performance featuring acrobats, a juggler, Elvis impersonators and the usual All-Star hijinks from 24 NBA stars, Bryant emerged as the game's best player in front of the southern Nevada fans who adopt the Lakers as their team.
With the crowd chanting "M-V-P" in the final minute, Bryant roared through the lane and threw down a vicious dunk over Chris Bosh's head.
By Sunday night, the glorified exhibition was all that remained — and the NBAs biggest stars rolled through a fairly nondescript contest featuring plenty of points and almost no defense. Some things don't change, even in Vegas.
"No doubt about it, we definitely enjoyed Las Vegas," said Phoenix's Amare Stoudemire, who had 29 points and nine rebounds. "I hope the All-Star game comes back here soon, because it was a lot of fun."
The weekend heated up Saturday when Boston's Gerald Green won the dunk contest with a much-needed injection of originality, and Miami's Jason Kapono was crowned the top 3-point shooter with a record-tying final performance.
weekend will be remembered for its setting — the first All-Star game outside an NBA franchise city, and the first with a flock of bedazed showgirls flanking Wayne Newton for a pregame rendition of "Viva Las Vegas."
Most everybody knew the real show went on in the dozens of casinos and hundreds of clubs around the Las Vegas Strip, where athletes, celebrities, groupies, entourages and old-fashioned basketball fans partied the weekend away in a hip-hop hoop summit.
BY GREG BEACHAM ASSOCIATED PRESS
All-Star game draws league's best to Sin City
>> NBA
LAS VEGAS — From Kobe Bryant to the last blackjack dealer, everybody believed the NBA was a big winner after gambling on a 72-hour All-Star extravaganza in Sin City.
Nobody throws a party like Vegas, and everyone who played in Sunday's grand finale seemed eager to come back to the desert soon.
Sure, the main event was a bit of a bust, but the All-Star game is always a crashhoot.
Bryant had 31 points, six assists and six steals in his second MVP performance at the league's midseason showcase, and the West set All-Star records for assists and field goals in a 153-132 win over the East on Sunday night.
Nobody could bet on this game in the local casinos — the favored West covered the 4 1/2 point spread — making the result even more inconsequential than usual. Instead, we outlandish
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