All the Big 12-2 Conference news that is and isn't fit to read...
And some other stuff.
“I’ve always thought the sign of a great program is consistency,” Barnes said. “I tell our team every year: ‘Our goal is to get to the NCAA tournament.’ The more you get there, eventually it’s going to click for you.” [Yahoo Sports]
Texas isn't a big enough name for you? [Dallas Morning News]
“We knew we were going to get a big name,” Kampe said. “I thought it was going to be Kentucky or Florida or somebody like that. We knew it was going to be a top-20 basketball team. It's just a surprise it's Texas.
“This is like a curveball because now I have to start over," Kampe said. "They were not on our radar in any way shape or form.”
Don't forget about Texas. [Tulsa World]
Texas is the No. 4 seed in the West Regional. Here's a tip: Don't go to sleep on the Longhorns, who just might be the sleeper of this Big Dance.
"Texas getting a four seed blows my mind," said Bill Self, whose KU (32-2) team is the Southwest Region's top seed. "I thought they had a two (seed) locked up.
Oakland coach Greg Kampe is a bowler. [The Detroit News]
Travis Bader is essential to an upset. [Detroit Free Press]
A redshirt freshman guard, Bader has become the team's X-factor, a dead-eye shooter who can drill it from anywhere. He shoots 45.8% from three-point range and averages 10.5 points per game.
"I love the pressure," Bader said this week. "Everybody's counting on me to hit shots and try to hit the three-ball. I'm really going to help the team out, if it's knock down shots. I knock them down after practice so I can knock them down in the games."
Kansas is favored to win it all. [USA Today]
Wildcat forward Jamar Samuels is looking for atonement. [Wichita Eagle]
The Wildcats are fine with that 5th seed. [Kansas City Star]
“Five is very good,” Jamar Samuels said. “We’re playing our way into something big.”
If K-State defeats Utah State, it will face No. 4 Wisconsin or No. 13 Belmont in the second round. Should the Wildcats advance past the tournament’s first weekend, as they did a year ago, they could face top-seeded Pittsburgh or Butler in the Sweet 16. No. 2 seed Florida and No. 3 seed BYU highlight the other half of the region.
Billy Gillispie reported to be the next coach at Texas Tech. [Ft. Worth Star-Telegram]
Perry Jones got suspended while Cam Newton didn't. [ESPN]
It is accepted that Jones did not know his mother accepted the money from the coach. It is unclear whether the coach had any connection at all to Baylor. And yet, despite precedent set in the Cam Newton case (no suspension) and the Ohio State Five (delayed suspensions), Jones was suspended immediately and taken from his team at a critical time.
The NCAA claims that they warned Baylor about Jones so it isn't anything like the Cam Newton case. [ESPN]
Blake Griffin speaks out about Jeff Capel firing. [NewsOK]
The Land Thieves fire coaches for recruiting players with character issues? [Tulsa World]
Capel's problems judging both character and talent came to a head Monday, but were building for some time. That's evident from emails the Tulsa World obtained from OU as part of an Oklahoma Open Records request concerning the Gallon/Hausinger matter.
March 20, 2010, Capel sent an email to his staff saying: "As you know, this program is in a very bad place right now. We have made many mistakes in recruiting, and it showed its head this season in many ways. We have had so much turnover since we have been here that it left (us) in a position where we really did not have any upperclassmen. Now, we will lose many guys from this year's team, and recruiting is not going as I anticipated.
"Also, how our guys conduct themselves when they get here, our reputation on campus, and in the community has taken a severe hit...
Three names are being mentioned for the OU head coaching job. [NewsOK]
Even with a new coach, the Sooners won't be tournament material next season. [NewsOK]
Football
Missouri is looking for a quarterback. [ESPN Big 12 Blog]
Missouri's secondary has high aspirations for the 2011 season. [ESPN Big 12 Blog]
"Our expectations are to be No. 1 in the league in pass defense. That’s our goal," said cornerback Kip Edwards.
Tiger linebacker Donovan Bonner dislocated his elbow in practice. [College Football Talk]
For the Pokes, change could be good. [NewsOK]
Will the offense change?
The answer is yes.
That answer sparks fear into the hearts of those who watched the OSU offense help the Pokes to an 11-win season in 2011.
Yet it shouldn't, because every successful offense is organic.
Preview the Iowa State offensive line. [KCRG]
The Pac 10 gets a new logo. When does the Big 12-2 get a new one?
The Pac 12 is encouraged by the Big 12-2 network deal. [San Jose Mercury]
The fact that Fox is interested in a Big 12 Network that doesn’t include OU and UT bodes extremely well for the formation of a Pac-12 Network, with Fox as the partner.
In addition to third-tier football and basketball games, the Pac-12 Network would feature the league’s world-class Olympic Sports — a more valuable asset than the Big 12-’s Olympic Sports.
Is Jimmer Fredette the 2011 version of Stephen Curry? [Sports Illustrated]
You can't screw up college basketball, no matter how hard you try. [ESPN]
Luckily for the people who are trying their best to screw it up, college basketball, like professional football, is bulletproof. No amount of bungling, apparently, will make the NCAA men's basketball tournament anything less than irresistible. They can put the wrong teams in (VCU, UAB, USC, Illinois) and keep the right teams out (Virginia Tech, Colorado, Harvard) and the masses keep smiling as they fill out their brackets.
Could the Final Four consist of all Cinderella teams? [Sports Illustrated]
A glimpse into the future, two weeks from today ...
There's another dance going on in March. [NY Times]
Fisher’s story illustrates the intimate relationship between college coaches and referees, especially during conference play. Although referees are rarely discussed at length publicly, the habits and quirks of certain officials and horror stories about them are discussed endlessly in athletic departments across America.
One of the most overlooked aspects of tournament games is the awkward dance among referees, coaches and players.
It is time to go upset shopping this year. [Wall Street Journal]
The bright-eyed kids at the Harvard College Sports Analysis Collective, a student-run sports analytics group at Harvard University, have a present for you: They've figured out which teams will suffer the humiliating upset.
Which school benefits the most financially in the NCAA tournament? [Forbes]
The Oregon and Wilie Lyles probably won't go away. [Oregon Live]
If a team wins a championship, you had better stay off the local roads. [Live Science]
In an analysis comparing traffic fatalities with exciting basketball and football games (both college and professional) in the last eight years, study researchers Stacy Wood of North Carolina State University and Melayne McInnes, of the University of South Carolina, discovered that, after a close game, fatal car crashes in the winning team's hometown were over 130 percent higher than when the win was a complete blowout.
There are some strange college mascots. [Chicago Now]
Anything for a buck...At least it going to charity. [Yahoo Sports]
UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said the school is “extremely disappointed” that the original round center section of basketball court at Pauley Pavilion is to be auctioned.
And finally...
I never thought I would see an article about my two favorite things, but here it is. [NY Times]