Big 12 Basketball Recap (March 2- March 7)

Something about Kansas winning an eleventh straight conference title. All game recaps are in chronological order and exclude games involving the Jayhawks because you can find content about those games in fairly obvious places.

Texas 61, Baylor 50

Boy did Texas need this one in order to make a case to the NCAA committee. How strong is the Big 12? After the win against Baylor, Texas had seven wins in conference against 10 losses and their RPI was 35. I’m not sure that a team with a sub .500 record in conference play deserves an NCAA berth, but if one does, it’s probably this year’s Texas team.

Iowa State 77, Oklahoma 70

What a wild second half in Ames. Iowa State looked dead and buried, down by 20 points at home, but some red-hot shooting got the Cyclones back into it. Just days before, ISU fans were like an angry mob with pitchforks and fire, ready to ride Fred Hoiberg and company out of town. What a difference a magical comeback makes.

Oklahoma State 82, TCU 70

The Cowboys took one step towards an NCAA tournament berth with their win against TCU. Meanwhile, the Horned Frogs aren’t going dancing but Kyan Anderson and company should get an invite to the NIT where I feel like they could some noise.

Baylor 77, Texas Tech 74

Anytime you get to break out the Canadian national anthem, it’s a good day. Except it almost wasn’t for Baylor and senior star Kenny Chery. Baylor was down by as many as twenty to lowly Tech in the second half, but a furious rally and a rainstorm of threes gave the Bears their first lead with just about three minutes left. Taurean Prince scored 24, Chery and Rico Gathers put in 18 while Devaughtah Williams scored a game high and career high 28 for the Red Raiders in defeat.

West Virginia 81, Oklahoma State 72

West Virginia was without Juwan Staten and Gary Brown again, but this time it didn’t matter. Devin Williams had a double-double with 22 and 13 and Daxter Miles added 15 to help the mountaineers to their 11^th conference win of the season. Oklahoma State probably needs to win the Big 12 tournament to go dancing.

Texas 62, Kansas State 49

Texas had 14 blocks in this game, tying a school record, and K-State now has to do serious damage in Kansas City if they even want to get an invite to the NIT. Texas on the other hand, despite having a losing record in conference would be in contention for an NCAA spot with a win against Tech and a nice effort against ISU.

Iowa State 89, TCU 76

This game was for seeding and Iowa State got the job done. They are the two seed in KC.

Team of the Season: Kansas

Eleven straight conference championships is pretty ridiculous.

Win of the Season: Texas Tech over Iowa State

Call me crazy, but I think this loss did some serious damage to the Cyclones’ collective psyches. It was also the single most surprising result in two years.

WTF of the Season: Texas

Texas was supposed to be a contender to win the league. They have the talent to do it, but somehow they lost 10 games.

Final Big XII Standings:

Kansas, 13-5, 24-7

Iowa State, 12-6, 22-8

Oklahoma, 12-6, 21-9

Baylor, 11-7, 23-8

West Virginia, 11-7, 23-8

Texas, 8-10, 19-12

Oklahoma State, 8-10, 18-12

K-State, 8-10, 15-16

TCU, 4-14, 17-14

Texas Tech, 3-15, 13-18

Big XII Tournament Games:

Wednesday at 6:00 PM CT- #9 TCU at #8 Kansas State

Wednesday at 8:00PM CT- #10 Texas Tech at #7 Texas

Thursday at 11:30 AM CT- #5 West Virginia at #4 Baylor

Thursday at 1:30 PM CT- TCU/KSU winner at #1 Kansas

Thursday at 6:00 PM CT- TTU/UT winner at #2 Iowa State

Thursday at 8:00 PM CT- #6 Oklahoma State at #3 Oklahoma

Friday at 6:00 PM CT- Semifinal #1

Friday at 8:00 PM CT- Semifinal #2

Saturday at 5:00 PM CT- Championship Game