KANSAN.COM THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2010 / SPORTS
BIG 12 STOCK REPORT
5B
Conference trends go beyond the rankings
Baylor forward Morgan Medlock, center, looks to pass after grabbing a defensive rebound during the first half of a women's NCAA college basketball game against Sunday in Austin. Texas defenders are Kathleen Nash, left, and Earnes Williams, with her hands up.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY ANDREW TAYLOR
ataylor@kansan.com
Rankings and conference standings do little to reveal the ups and downs a team may experience throughout the course of a season, and as such they have a tendency to be very misleading. Enter the Big 12 stock report. This system will look at Big 12 teams' recent trends in the terms of Wall Street.
NEBRASKA
(19-0, 6-0): BUY
The No. 4 Nebraska Huskers are the real deal. Nebraska has already raked up key wins against Texas and Baylor, perennial Big 12 powerhouses, and with a 16-point
dismantling of Colorado on the road Sunday, it shows no signs of slowing down. The Huskers lead the Big 12 in
scoring margin, averaging almost 25 more points per game than their opponents.
OKLAHOMA STATE (18-3, 6-1): HOLD
Any other week the No. 10 Oklahoma State Cowgirls would certainly be worth buying. This week, however, the Cowgirls have a tough test on the road against the Huskers, Oklahoma State has
the road. It needed a last-second shot to beat Kansas, lost to Texas, and had to overcome a 14-point second-half deficit to defeat Texas A&M.
OKLAHOMA (15-5, 5-2): HOLD
The No. 13 Oklahoma Sooners began conference play 1-1 after losing their second game to Baylor. Since then, Oklahoma has improved its record to 5-2.
Its wins haven't always looked
thick, maybe.
pretty, though. The team beat Missouri and Texas Tech on the road by just a combined five points. Still, Oklahoma has every chance to gain control of the Big 12, and will take a big this week if it beats Te
IOWA STATE (16-4, 4-3): BUY
12, and will take a big step forward this week if it beats Texas.
Despite losing to Kansas State earlier this week, Iowa State is still in good shape. Before that loss,
Iowa Statehad impressive w i n s against both Texas and Oklahoma
on its resume. With its next two games coming against Texas Tech and Missouri, the bottom-dwellers of the Big 12, expect Iowa State's senior point guard extraordinaire Alison Lacey to get her team back on track.
TEXAS A&M (15-4,3-3): SELL
After a great start to conference play, No. 12 Texas A&M has started
to unravel
Sunday's loss to Oklahoma State was the second straight defeat suffered by Texas A&M. With
its next game against Nebraska it doesn't seem as though things will get better any time soon for
the Aggies. To turn things around they'll need to get their conference-leading scoring offense back on track in a hurry.
TEXAS (14-6,3-3):BUY
No. 17 Texas looked dead in the water for a while, but it has managed to find a second wind
gone 3-1. Raven's contributions have also helped the Longhorns to the third-best scoring offense in the conference.
Raven has played an essential role in the Longhorns' resurrection. In the last four games she has averaged 15 points and Texas has
to keep its Big 12 hopes alive. Senior guard Britainye
KANSAS STATE
(11-9, 3-3): SELL
had three straight losses, including a bad loss at home against Colorado. The remaining schedule looks grim for the Wildcats: They will need at least one win against a ranked team to finish the season above .500.
Despite picking up what could end up being a season-saving win
against iowa State State, Kansas State is still in dire straits. Before that victory, the Wildcats
KANSAS
(13-7, 3-4): BUY
After a little mid-season slump, the Jayhawks seem to have finally found a way to win without injured
roll into a rematch against Kansas State in Allen Fieldhouse Sunday. Kansas desperately needs this win to get back to .500 before difficult games against both Nebraska and Texas.
BAYLOR (15-5, 2-4): SELL
The No. 16 Baylor Bears were picked as the favorite to become the Big 12 champions before the
season, but things haven't panned out that way. The Bears have lost four of their six
conference games and are sinking fast. It won't get any easier for Baylor, with five games against ranked teams remaining on its schedule. The team's freshman dunking sensation Brittney Griner might not even be enough to pull Baylor out of the hole it has dug for itself.
COLORADO (12-8, 2-5): SELL
Get rid of any stock you may have in the Colorado Buffaloes as
quickly as possible The Buffalo
started out the conference season
with a win
a gain a st
Missouri; but
have since
lost five out
of six games.
Colorado
is a sinking ship with no signs of recovery as it plays six of its nine remaining games against ranked teams. To cap it all off, Colorado has not scored more than 70 points in a game since entering conference play.
TEXAS TECH
(13-7, 1-5): SELL
Texas Tech
texas a 10-game
rode a 10-game
winning streak
into conference
play before
hitting a wall
against Big 12
opponents.
Its only win has come against a similarly slumping Colorado team. Sophomore guard Kierra Mallard leads Texas Tech in scoring and is one of the team's reasons to hope for better days in the future.
MISSOURI (11-9, 1-6): HOLD
The Misson glimpses of an ability to win in the Big 12, but have always come up just
short. The team has lost two games at home against tough competition by a combined three points. In the Big 12, though, teams need to find a way to win those games to become true competitors. Until Missouri can do that it will likely remain at the bottom of the Big 12.
— Edited by Katie Blankenau
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