KSU’s win: Banner day for the Big 12
Wow. What a day to be a college basketball fan in Salt Lake City. Butler upset Syracuse, then Kansas State beat Xavier in two great overtimes. Great night to be a college basketball/Big 12 fan. That nightcap either meant we were assured of a mid-major in the Final Four or a Big 12 team in the Elite Eight.
Kansas State’s 101-96 victory gives the Big 12 seven schools that have made a regional final in the 2000s. Kansas, of course, plus Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Iowa State and now K-State.
The Big 12 ranks solid in that category. During the 2000s, the Big East has had seven schools make a regional final, but that’s not counting Marquette in 2003. Marquette joined the Big East in 2005. The Big Ten has had six regional finalists in the 2000s, the Pac-10 five, the SEC four and the ACC four.
The ACC most surprises me. North Carolina is the only ACC school to make a regional final since 2004. Duke can get there with a victory over Purdue tonight.
Here are the conference lineups of regional finalists in the 2000s.
Kansas State's Denis Clemente celebrates his team's 101-96 double-overtime win over Xavier with fans following an NCAA West Regional semifinal college basketball game in Salt Lake City, Thursday, March 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
Big East: Louisville, UConn, Pitt, Villanova, West Virginia, Georgetown, Syracuse (plus Marquette, which made it in 2003, before it joined the Big East).
Big 12: Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Missouri, Kansas State.
Big Ten: Michigan State, Ohio State, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Purdue.
Pac-10: UCLA, Arizona, Oregon, Stanford, USC.
SEC: Kentucky, Florida, LSU, Alabama.
ACC: North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Duke, Maryland.
What can we learn from this list? Several things.
* The Big 12′s middle tier schools have risen to the occasion. Kansas State, Iowa State. Baylor if it wins tonight.
* The ACC is not living up to its standard. No Wake Forest in a regional final. No N.C. State. No Virginia or Boston College.
* The SEC needs some help from Arkansas. This is a program that made three Final Fours in the early ’90s, won an NCAA title and yet hasn’t done squat since.
* The Pac-10 has done well but seems to be floundering. Its glory outside UCLA and Arizona was done a decade ago. Stanford and USC success came in the early 2000s, and Oregon has fired Ernie Kent, who brought it success in the middle part of this decade.
The Big East is basketball’s best league, this season notwithstanding. Most nationally-competitive programs. Of course, it ought to be, with 16 teams. But the Big 12 can hold its head high.
And another NCAA championship would help the Big 12 even more. Can Kansas State do it? I say yes.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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