Open Game Day Thread: (1) Texas vs (2) Kansas Big XII Championship

What Fezzik?

I hope we win.

Worked for us last time, can't stop now.

Like many of you I'm sure, I'm trying to keep my emotions in check right now. I really, really want to win today. It's just time we got off the Big XII Tourney Championship shnide and I know losing to KU in the final game 3 years in row would just eat at me.

Then again, I'd gladly trade a conf. tourney title for a deep run in the Dance and a shot at the overall title.

Can't we have both...I hope so.

For those without cable but with AT&T DSL internet (or another cooperating high-speed provider), you can watch the game live on ESPN360.com.  You can also replay past games including yesteday's win over OU.

are killing clemson

I'm sitting in Washington-Reagan airport right now, with a 5:20 ET flight looming menacingly in front of me. I'm all but assured to miss the last bit of this game, as well as the entire selection show, which will surely make this upcoming flight the longest in the history of mankind.

Classy Jayhawk fans booing us as we come on the court.  Real nice...

Come on, Damion!

Hook 'em!

BIG XII CHAMPS!

im going to have to channel flip the entire game between this and the rockets game.  

its great that this is the worst problem i've had all week.

god damn acc game refuses to end

Lots of blue in the crowd

Nice ticky-tack call on James.

as far as shooting

Barnes is NOT wearing a white shirt.

but missing the bunnies inside.  Any word on Johnson?  I'm assuming he won't play, but didn't see anything pregame due to the ACC game.

I feel like there are a few KU fans there.

Kansas needs to get called for a foul.

I don't like zone against KU.  They move the ball quickly and can hit from outside.

It's killing me.  But it's a thing of beauty.

This will be a long afternoon.

nice block!

is on fire!

Is coming up huge right now.  Hustle and hitting his shot.  Fun to watch!

Mason with good shooting, already 10 points in the first half.  We need to rotate a little better on D so Kansas doesn't keep getting these wide open 3 looks.

We have gotten a few nice turnovers and converted. AJ needs to hit a jumper.

the guy setting the pick is usually open (JAMES!!!) easy buckets....come on dj...

WEEE!

Connor takes that ogre off the dribble. Probably got bumped, too. Great shot.

Augustin!

It's by far my favorite match-up of the basketball season.  Shaves years off my life every time.

again?

Great, great stretch of basketball from the 'Horns over the last 3-4 minutes. 24-21 good guys.

What is he?  A 9th year senior now?

Kaun=ugliest human being alive

Sigh.

lost seventy lbs
i haven't heard that announced  yet today

That's just nasty.

god damn this has to stop!!!!

man defense is not good for texas...we might get into foul trouble in the second half

ku does not stay this hot from 3 for the rest of the game...

This game is frenetic. Both teams are firing on all cylinders.  Great basketball.

because going with man in the first half...we are just gonna rack up fouls...

georgia cannot win the SEC

effective the last game against UK. The way they are shooting you have to bet they will cool down.

"He's on fire!"

The nets are gonna go up in flames pretty soon.

we go to man...and rush misses!

losing mentality....#2 seed houston sounds tempting...but this team is built to play anyone!!!!

That's a basketball game.  Holy hell.

i think horns are playing a great defense...wow

in the house, greeted Rick on the way to the lockers.

I dare someone to tell me that KU-UT isn't one of the three best basketball rivalries in the country right now.  I can't think of two teams that consistently play such close amazing games.

I'd argue it's the best one.  Better than Duke-UNC lately.

Has any game this year lived up to the hype that the first half of this one provided so far?  If the second half is anything like the first, this will easily be the Game of the Year.  I just don't see both teams staying this hot.  

We need to pick it up on the defensive end and be careful with the fouls during the second half.  These two teams are looking like National Champs today.

Wow.  Excellent game.  Big XII rocks!  DAMION ROCKS THE MOST!!

HOOK 'EM!

There's my boy... What a half!!! He has what? like 12 points, block, steal... DJ with 18.. shhhhheeeezzzzzz I LOVE THIS TEAM!!!

24-23 on ABC with under 12.

Horns lead 46-45. DJ is red hot from the field. Mason had his best offensive half of bball since the Tenn game.

Both teams shooting over 58% from the floor. This game is going to come down to the wire.  Even if we can get UK to come back to earth, it will be hard for us to maintain our shooting.

We need Connor to have a solid half and AJ to contribute offensivley.  Otherwise, just repeat the effort from the first half.

If I don't post a comment after the game, somebody call the paramedics...I am litteraly about to go through the roof. Can not believe we still have the lead after that 3pt onslought.

I guess Barnes stayed in zone to try to preserve our energy for the second half. Man I hope we have a repeat of the last two games...play it close in the first half and then unleash hell.

Little bit of trivia for ya...

"Did you know Bill Self was Ned Beatty's understudy in Deliverance?"

Did you know Sasha Kahn's middle name is Hussein?"

Let's go Horns!!!

nice block

is sasha's middle name seriously hussein??

needs to hit those shots

Threes will be tougher.

like Arthur had him around the neck!!

COLD

I'm hard pressed to believe that was all clean defending.

AJ needs to hit a shot or DJ needs to drive a few times.

and refs need to call fouls on UK.

Finally!!! damn chalmers.. uggggggggghhhhh

Seat belts on.

They will need to keep it up.  No way our starters can play without resting some in a high intensity game like this.

He runs a play to get Mason a drive at the basket to manufacture some points at the line.  We have the best coach in the nation hands down.

Fuck Kansas.  They are such little bitches.

Horns are still in great position, but they have to take advantage of any more offensive rebounds. The refs have finally realized that UK is molesting us on every drive.

The 3 point onslaught continues.  Weather the storm.

 KU is Kansas

Seriously.  Really chippy fucking defense.  Call a god damn foul.

was fouled on two consecutive drives.

They can't miss from 3.

how did collins miss that. what a bitch.

It makes the refs hesistant to call some of the legit stuff on him.

AJ!!!!!

HELL YEAH!!!

It's on now.

That STF'ing crowd up.

about time he started heating it up!!! AJ

... Maybe I was right in my roundtable.  Until AJ woke up, we've been lucky to keep this close.  Plus, he's getting fouled on nearly every three attempt after the shot.  This will pay dividends.

UT up 67-64. AJ finding his stroke and Damion starting to take over the boards. Every time it looks like Kansas is going on a run we climb back into the game.

Our defense gets better and UK has their hands all over us. I think the fouls will start going our way. We may be in the best shape of any team in the country.

DJ is the man.

There's Big 10 basketball.  Illinois is averaging a point a minute.  Just ugly.

Best game of the year?

They want this championship bad.

that sometimes you get beat
and have to let the bucket go
argh!

I hear Wabash!

Well done big boy.  Take that KAAAAAAHN

were ALMOST as ugly as sasha

Punch for punch.  No one is going to the canvas in this one.

Gah.

Its so refreshing to see two teams that always seem to play well against each other. I guess its because they are the top two basketball programs in the Big 12 and they dont try to junk things up and win ugly like Okie St and A&M.

I don't know if any pro scouts are looking at him but if he keeps playing like this he can expect a reasonable payday one day.

GAH!

How pro-KU this crowd is. They are obviously feeding off the crowd.

This is exactly why we need to be in Houston if we want to get to the Final Four.

Even if we lose today, I am proud of the team. To survive an onslaught of three after three after three.

We're like a cockroach who's getting smashed by a shoe but staying alive!

He is going to be the best PG in the draft. Top 5 pick at least.

We need to make every trip down the floor count.  Time to show the nation what a champion looks like.

Horns are still in it. Need to execute on the offensive end. Tough miss for AJ, but don't worry he'll get another look.

J Mason is having such a good game. We are only a Connor away from having a total game.

just handed them a possession.

And Chalmers is absolutely killing us. He is a Texas killer.

Too bad Kansas, you won't have this fan support in the tournament. If it takes a ridiculous 3pt shooting % to beat us, then it shows we're the better team on a true neutral court.

go on a fouling frenzy.

And they are getting alot of love from this pro-KU crowd

even if Rush really crossed that line, it's a really random call to make. How is the ref even paying attention to that at this point in the game?

Why?  Not necessary.

Look at the clock. Almost a minute to go. We don't have to make up for the whole deficit now. One possession at a time. A two would've made it a one possession game.

not a very good time tto turn it over

I hate Kansas. This sucks. We are clearly the better team. I'm a poor sport.

I think our legs finally gave out on us in the last 5 minutes.  Just weren't taking good shots and couldn't drain the ones we took.

He lost a contact, you lousy red-state fucks.

as long as they have crazy depth. Remember that both teams are play the third game of a back-to-back-to-back. Clearly this favors Kansas.

14-3 run to end the game for KU. We couldn't finish the game. DJ looks exhausted.

hired Super Mario's dad just so he would come to school there?

Tough loss for the Horns. It should put us in Houston, but I wanted a win in the Big XII champ game. Next year.

Our boys just ran out of gas, and KU rained bloody murder from outside the arc.  Nothing to be ashamed of in this game.  Maybe better shot selection at the end, but I'd chalk that up to pure exhaustion.

Well played game by both teams.  A lot of respect shown.  And two ball clubs no one wants to see in the tourny.

He needs to be healthy and prepared for the tournament.

We were without our 6th man today, who could have made a solid impact.

They played well and run into a buzz saw today. I still think a 2 in the south is the perfect scenario for this team. I def didnt want them to be 1 in Detroit. Who in the world would ever wanna go to Detroit?

Not again, please tell we didn't just lose to them for the 3rd straight year.

I've got to believe Barnes stayed in the zone because his team just didn't have enough gas left to go man to man.

This team just wasn't built for 3 games in 3 days. We knew that coming in.

Let's hope it turns into a positive with a 2 seed in the south.

This just hurts.

Congrats to KU, they did what they had to do.

But you are right, three games in three days was a tough task.

A great game by two great teams.  I'll be perfectly satisfied with a 2 in the south.  Let's hope it happens!

Also, maybe this is Mason's offensive breakout game.  It's been a while, but it was nice to see him even looking for his shot a bit in this game.  If Atch could just get untracked again, watch out!

We should have won that game, but we just couldn't make a few wide open shots towards the end that would have kept us from having to foul.  I hope we make this hurt less with a deep tourney run, but until we win a Big XII title, this is going to sting.

but if we're #2 in Houston, everyone better be rejoicing.

Plus I really do think Memphis is ripe for the picking.

I'm just wondering who the #1 would be there.

not only is he pro-KU, all he basically says when he compliments Texas is how Connor is a matchup problem for other teams since he can take opponents' big man out with his great 3pt shooting.

Well today, Atchley did not hit a single three and was the only starter not to get into double figures.

DJ and Abrams combined for 34 of our 64 shots. Hopefully this changes if Johnson gets some shots.

UGA went 4-12 in conference, and is sewing up an automatic bid to the Dance.

Wow.

Watch ESPN or CBS at 5pm?

i cant stand them, and of course im gonna have to hear a bunch of shit from their obnoxious fans here in atlanta...

If ya gotta lose, that's the way to do it. Kansas played their best game of the year and we hung with them almost to the end. Of all the other Big 12 teams, they're the only one I can really root for. Let's hope we get to play them one more time for the big prize.

Rafer Alston had a huge game and Shane Battier held Kobe to just 24 points.  What an outstanding defensive performance by Battier and a well-balanced offensive attack by the Rockets offense today.

22 in-a-row!