Big 12 Basketball: Conference is getting tougher
Big 12 basketball is getting tougher. At least on the sidelines. Texas Tech hired Billy Gillispie, who is a social risk but a heck of a ballcoach. Missouri is making a strong run at Purdue’s Matt Painter. Now it’s Oklahoma’s move.
New Texas Tech men's basketball coach Billy Gillispie, left, gestures next to Texas Tech athletics director Kirby Hocutt during a news conference at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas, Wednesday, March 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Zach Long)
That’s a stout duo to add to a 10-team league. Maybe it’s not like the early 2000s, when Kansas had Roy Williams, OSU had Eddie Sutton, OU had Kelvin Sampson, Texas had Rick Barnes, Texas Tech had Bobby Knight and Iowa State had Larrry Eustachy. But still, the current and prospective list of Big 12 coaches is getting better.
Replacing Pat Knight with Gillispie at Tech, and Mike Anderson with possibly Painter at Missouri, improves Big 12 coaching. Anderson did a good job at Mizzou, but Painter would be an absolute home run.
That increases the pressure on Joe Castiglione at OU. The Sooners don’t want to be perceived as a lesser program that takes fliers on coaches. Some of the names that have been tossed out — Buzz Williams, Lon Kruger, Dave Rose — are very good coaches. But if OU ends up with an up-and-comer, like Jeff Capel, the Sooners clearly would be behind on the coaching level. Capel quickly earned his stripes (before it fell apart), but there’s not a lot of time for the next coach to rebuild.
Kansas is Kansas and Texas is Texas. No one should think that Mark Turgeon’s program will slide at Texas A&M. Travis Ford has LaBryan Nash coming in at Oklahoma State. Frank Martin has turned Kansas State into a national player. The league is getting tougher. The next Sooner coach won’t have it easy.
NCAA Tournament: Jayhawks’ amazing defeat
Since Syracuse defeated Kansas in the 2003 NCAA championship game, here are the teams that have taken out the Jayhawks in the NCAAs:
Georgia Tech, Bucknell, Bradley, UCLA, Michigan State, Northern Iowa and Virginia Commonwealth.
Kansas has become a launching pad for dreams. The Jayhawks lost to Virginia Commonwealth 71-61 Sunday in the Southwest Regional championship game. VCU is headed for the Final Four, while Bill Self is left to figure out how his talented program keeps losing to inferior teams in March.
Kansas' Thomas Robinson leaves the floor after his team lost the Southwest regional final game against Virginia Commonwealth in the NCAA college basketball tournament on Sunday, March 27, 2011, in San Antonio. Virginia Commonwealth won 71-61. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
It’s hard to find anything bad to say about KU basketball, other than Kansas keeps getting eliminated by teams it has no business losing to. I mean, Virgina Commonwealth doesn’t even start with a B (Bucknell, Bradley), and the game wasn’t played in Oklahoma City, where in the last 13 years KU has lost NCAA Tournament games to Rhode Island, Bucknell and Northern Iowa.
It’s crazy. KU has not taken advantage of all kinds of bracket help. These top-seeded Jayhawks didn’t play a team seeded better than eighth. In the previous two NCAA Tournaments, KU played just one foe from a power conference, Michigan State, which beat the Jayhawks in the 2009 Sweet 16.
KU reached the 2008 Final Four by beating Davidson in the regional final, and Davidson missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer that would have won the game. KU played mid-majors in the Sweet 16 in both 2007 (Southern Illinois) and 2004 (Alabama-Birmingham).
Few teams have been given such cushy brackets over the years. Yet the Jayhawks have just the one Final Four to show for Self’s eight seasons. Give Kansas credit for taking advantage and winning that 2008 NCAA title.
But this has got to be exasperating if you’re a KU fan. Roy Williams kept losing to big-time programs: Carmelo and Syracuse in 2003, Maryland in 2002, Illinois and Self in 2001, Duke in 2000, Kentucky in 1999, Arizona in 1997, Syracuse in 1996, Virginia (work with me, here) in 1995, Purdue in 1994, North Carolina in 1993, Duke in the 1991 title game, UCLA in 1990.
In 14 NCAA Tournaments, Williams lost to mid-majors UTEP in 1992 and Rhode Island in 1998. Now Kansas is making it a regular occurence, and it’s hurting the Big 12.
Texas has become an annual March disappointment. OSU and OU have slipped from their national perches of earlier in the 2000s. Missouri is Missouri.
Kansas carries the Big 12 banner, and if the Jayhawks don’t stand tall, the conference withers.
The new-look Big 12, with 10 schools, appears to be a big-time basketball force, but there’s not a lot of NCAA Tournament evidence to support that. Eddie Sutton and Kelvin Sampson are gone. Rick Barnes can’t seem to get it together in the post-season. And now Kansas can’t beat the little guy.
NCAA Tournament: Butler’s remarkable rise
Butler’s return to the Final Four is remarkable. Two straight trips to college basketball’s mecca for a school from the Horizon League.
Think of it this way. Butler has nine NCAA Tournament wins the previous 13 months. That’s as many NCAA wins as Arizona has had since 2003.
We can do this by state. Nine wins is as many NCAA Tournament wins as Notre Dame has since 1985. More NCAA Tournament wins than Purdue (eight) has since 2000. More than Indiana (eight) has since 1999.
Nine NCAA Tournament wins is more than Oklahoma (eight) has had since 2002. More NCAA wins than Oklahoma State (eight) has had since 2000. More NCAA wins than Tulsa (seven) has had since 1995.
Nine NCAA Tournament wins is many as Gonzaga has had since 2001. More NCAA wins than Washington (eight) has had since 1998. More than Washington State (six) has had in its history.
We can do this by conference. Nine NCAA Tournament wins is as many as Georgetown has since 1996 and Marquette has since 1994. More NCAA wins than Syracuse (seven) has since 2003. More NCAA wins than DePaul (eight) has since 1979.
Nine NCAA Tournament since is as many as Florida State has had since 1980. More NCAA wins than Virginia (eight) has had since 1989. More NCAA wins than Wake Forest (seven) has had since 1996. More NCAA wins than Boston College (eight) has since 1994.
Butler out Tulsa-ed Tulsa and out Gonzaga-ed Gonzaga. Butler reached the Final Four after becoming a mid-major force. George Mason actually got to the 2006 Final Four, but that was out of the blue. Tulsa in the ’90s and Gonzaga in the 2000s were consistent mid-major forces in the NCAA Tournament but never quite reached a Final Four.
But Butler made the Final Four last season and now has double trumped that achievement. First, the Bulldogs made the NCAA title game — and darn near took out Duke for the championship. Now, Butler has returned to the Final Four.
It’s a stunning ascension which rewrites the playbook for mid-majors. Suddenly, the script doesn’t have to include a clock striking midnight. Suddenly, Butler is no underdog. They are America’s team and Brad Stevens is America’s coach.
The idea that Oklahoma could make a run at Stevens now seems silly. Nothing against the Sooners, but Stevens has built a program that no longer is stepping stone. It’s destination.
If someone lures away Stevens, it will be a Kansas, a Kentucky, an Indiana. A college basketball blueblood. One Final Four is a magic carpet ride. Two Final Fours, the second without the star of the first trip (Gordan Hayward), is a proclamation that Butler has done more than crash the party. Butler has come to stay.
OU football meets Indiana basketball
We’re in Dayton, Ohio, for the NCAA women’s basketball regional. Me and Mike Baldwin. We flew into Indianapolis — Southwest doesn’t fly to Dayton or Cincinnati; I’m a Southwest loyalist, although if their fares don’t get under control, that might end — and drove over Friday.
We stopped in New Castle, Ind. Baldwin never had been there. I wanted to show him the New Castle Fieldhouse, the nation’s largest (in seating capacity) high school gym. New Castle Fieldhouse seats 9,325 and is old school, a huge bowl that you enter from the top, at street level, and flows down into a cavernous sea of bleachers surrounding a classic parquet wooden floor, lined with New Castle’s classic green.
New Castle is where Kent Benson played high school basketball. Steve Alford, too. Both were Indiana schoolboy legends.
Before we stopped off at the gym, we toured the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, which sits next to the New Castle High School campus. It’s really a museum of Indiana high school hoops, heavy not so much on “Hoosiers” or the real-life story that inspired the movie, Milan High’s historic 1952 upset if mighty Muncie Central, but on the culture that begat such a tale.
Anyway, it was worth the $5 admission. They’ve done a nice job of celebrating Indiana hoops. Made me wish Oklahoma had something similar. The Oklahoma culture in the small schools is very much the same; Indiana has the edge in the bigger schools when it comes to basketball passion. But one thing I learned: Indiana didn’t start sponsoring a girls state championship until 1976. By then, Oklahoma had been playing girls state championships for almost half a century.
Anyway, the hall of fame put us in the mood to really appreciate the New Castle Field House. And as we circled the top of the fieldhouse, looking at New Castle memorabilia, I searched for a particular picture.
And found it. On a wall with photos of all kinds of New Castle sports teams, there was a picture of New Castle’s 1993 sectional tennis championship team. Including a certain player named Toby Rowland.
Yep, OU’s new radio voice. Toby grew up mostly in Oklahoma but moved to Indiana during his high school days and went to New Castle High School. He came back to Oklahoma to attend Southern Nazarene University, but he was an athlete at New Castle.
And think of the irony if somehow Steve Alford ends up as the Oklahoma basketball coach. I think he’s pretty far down the list, but he wouldn’t be a bad selection. Now the head coach at New Mexico, Alford has done well at Missouri State and New Mexico, with a mediocre stop in between at Iowa.
But should OU hire Alford, his games would be called by a guy who joins him on the wall of the most famous high school gym in America.
Buzz Williams, Thunder, OU football: Leftovers from the online chat
When we ended my online chat Thursday, we still had a bunch of questions in the queue. So our man Dane Beavers saved them, sent them to me and I’m ready now to answer:
Larry: Have you heard anything lately regarding Mike Stoops status at Arizona? Do you know if he is under the gun or not?
Yes, I think Mike Stoops is sort of under the gun. He had such a good start last season, 7-1 with the only loss by two points to Oregon State. Then the Wildcats finished with five straight defeats and looked awful in the Alamo Bowl against Oklahoma State. The Cowboys rolled 36-10. Stoops’ 7-year record is 40-45. His staff has had quite a bit of rollover. I think 2011 is a huge year for Stoops.
Emerson: I’m excited to see all three Oklahoma schools play each other in football next season. Especially with all three returning their key players and expected to do well. What are your thoughts on the games?
Well, the Sooners should roll over Tulsa in Norman, but the other two games are very interesting for where they’re being played. OSU goes to Tulsa; in the last 47 years, OSU is 4-7 in Tulsa. In the last 25 years, OSU is 2-5 in Tulsa. The Cowboys haven’t been to the former Skelly Stadium since 2000, so TU will be fired up. And Bedlam in Stillwater has become the state’s top sporting event. Guaranteed instant classic. 47-41. 61-41. 27-21. 38-35. 38-28. 12-7. Those are the scores in the 2000s, all OU victories except 38-28 in 2002.
Tlokc: Can OU beat Notre Dame in anything, even women’s basketball?
I think OU can beat Notre Dame in everything, except football. The Irish’s gridiron success against the Sooners is well-documented – though we’re only a year away from resumption of the series; Notre Dame comes to Owen Field in 2012. But as for women’s hoops, what a great series, too. Irish win in overtime in the 2008 NCAA Tournament, OU wins last year in the Sweet 16 on Nyeshia Stevenson’s last-minute 3-pointer. Great game. Great rivalry. I give Notre Dame a slight edge for the game Saturday, but OU could win.
Pat: How much will the loss of Fleming at corner affect the OU defense?
I can’t believe it will be a huge loss, or a loss at all. Else OU would not have moved Aaron Colvin from corner to safety. Sounds like some in Norman believe Fleming will be back, though Bob Stoops was non-committal this week.
Matt: Was Buzz Williams in Oklahoma that long to begin with? Does he feel any sense of Oklahoma being a place he’s called home?
As far as I know, Buzz was in Oklahoma only to attend Oklahoma City U. Whether that’s enough to call a place home, I don’t know. Depends on his college experience. But I’m told he married an Oklahoma girl, which changes the whole dynamic. That definitely makes Oklahoma a place to call home.
Soonerdb1: Hey, Berry, I’m really hoping Buzz Williams is the next head coach at OU, but if he leads OU back to the Sweet 16/Elite Eight, does another search happen? Is OU a stepping-stone job?
Oh, I suppose, on some level. But that’s the least of anyone’s worries. Get back to deep runs in the NCAAs, and who cares if the coach leaves? Billy Tubbs coached OU for 14 years, Kelvin Sampson for 12. The successful coaches have stayed long-term – Billy, Kelvin, Bruce Drake. The guys who have done OK but not great, Dave Bliss and John MacLeod, are the ones who jumped. And Capel of course was fired. But I wouldn’t worry about that kind of thing. If a guy leaves, he leaves. Hire a good coach, give him the tools to win and then don’t play games. Don’t be like Missouri and beg a guy to stay and watch him leave anyway.
Tigerhater: Seems about time Mizzou hired an incompetent or a cheater. When is Kelvin able to get another college job?
If you’re labeling Kelvin a cheater, can’t argue. If you’re labeling Kelvin incompetent, you’re off base. Sampson has another couple of years of personal NCAA probation, that show-cause deal. He might be an NBA head coach by then.
Mike: Would you rank Durant the second or third best small forward in the league? 1. LeBron and then who’s better in your opinion, Melo or KD? I’m talking about right now. Not in the future.
If you polled the 30 coaches, the 30 general managers and the 30 owners, asking them that question, the answer would be 88-2 in Durant’s favor. A couple of owners – the Clips’ Donald Sterling and the Knickerbockers’ James Dolan – are goofballs who don’t know a good ballplayer from a diesel mechanic – would vote for Carmelo. It’s not close. One is someone you can trust to build a franchise around. The other is not.
TW: When should we as Oklahoma City Thunder fans start expecting a championship ring? This year? Next year? Never? Also, Do you know the number of years on average an NBA team is expected to win the big one?
I don’t think this season or even next season. I think the 2013 NBA title is realistic. The Thunder will be mature, experienced and hungry. Here’s the problem – those things are hard to win. In the last 30 years, only eight franchises have won an NBA title: Lakers, Philly, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, Miami. And the Sixers go off that list in two years. Dallas has won at least 50 games 11 straight years and has reached the Finals only once, without a title.
Tlokc: How can fans of the team SWEPT BY TORONTO think about a second-round playoff matchup?
With optimism. It’s a fluke. The Raptors are not a great matchup for the Thunder; no way does OKC lose at home to Toronto, if it still has Jeff Green. But the Thunder got better by trading Green for Perkins. OKC’s playoff hopes are much brighter now than ever before.
Emerson: What do you think of Tulsa’s basketball situation? Is next year it for Wojcik? NCAA or move on?
I don’t know enough to comment. But I know that Tulsa can’t be happy with Wojcik. He seemed like such a good hire back in 2005. But Tulsa has ceded the throne. Ten years ago, TU was where Gonzaga and Butler are now. The nation’s premier mid-major. Now, TU basketball is an afterthought.
Josh: Am I crazy to think that we look better without Perk on the floor? I know he’s a solid body, but we often to seem to flow better with the smaller lineup. Sometimes watching Perk get up and down the floor is like watching women’s basketball.
Yes, you’re crazy. NBA success is not a beauty contest. Lots of teams – the Knicks come to mind – think it is a beauty contest, but it’s not. You can’t win without guys who do the dirty work. Guys who defend and foul and rebound and screen. Durant and Westbrook will make the offense flow enough. Perkins is a huge boost to the Thunder.
Matt Hackler: From my perspective as an Okstate alum, I think Ford better not only make the NCAA tourney next year, but go deeper than the first round….or it’s time for a change!
I think that’s a little severe. The NCAA Tournament, yes. But anything can happen once you get there, including a first-round defeat. So be careful putting too many demands on Ford. His landscape is tougher than what OSU faced 10 years ago. Tougher league, fractured fan base. With that said, the NCAA Tournament is the baseline requirement. You’ve got to keep going. One missed year is no big deal. Two probably would be.
NCAA Tournament: Big 12 has company
The Big 12 is having a miserable NCAA Tournament. But the Big 12 has some company. The Big East is gasping, too.
Among the major conferences, the Big 12 has the worst NCAA record this season — 4-4. But the Big 12 is matched by, yes, the Big East, which is 9-9.
Think about that. The Big East had 11 teams placed into the 68-team bracket but has pushed fewer teams into the Sweet 16 than has the ACC, which had just four teams in the tournament. The Big East has Marquette and Connecticut; the ACC has Duke, North Carolina and Florida State.
Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen reacts to their loss to Wisconsin during a Southeast Regional NCAA college basketball tournament third round game Tucson, Ariz., Saturday, March 19, 2011. Wisconsin won 70-65. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Ironically, the Big East’s two regional semifinalists had to beat fellow Big East teams to advance — Marquette over Syracuse, UConn over Cincinnati. You could argue that such a packed bracket kept the Big East from perhaps having four in the Sweet 16. Or you could argue that such a packed bracket is what helped the Big East get any into the second weekend.
Here are the conference records: ACC 7-1 (three in the Sweet 16); Big Ten 7-5 (two); SEC 4-3 (two); Pac-10 4-3 (one); Big East 9-9 (two); Big 12 4-4 (one). Among the mid-majors, the Mountain West is 4-1 (two), the Colonial 4-2 (one) and the Atlantic-10 3-2 (one).
The Big 12 came close to having a stellar Sweet 16 field. But Texas and Kansas State lost last-second games to Arizona and Wisconsin, respectively. Such is life in the NCAA Tournament.
And as usual, the ACC’s reputation soared when March arrived. The ACC was billed as a down conference, but Duke and North Carolina did its usual heavy lifting, then Florida State and Leonard Hamilton added its spirited run, and the ACC is back on top.
Meanwhile, the Big 12 pulled its usual March slump. It’s getting a little tiresome hearing how great the league is. Conference prowess is proved in March. Not in November and December. Not in January and February, when all the teams just play each other. You prove it in March, on neutral courts against opponents someone else scheduled for you.
Kansas does the Big 12 proud, just like UNC and Duke do for the ACC. But the Jayhawks don’t get a lot of help from the rest of the Big 12. Texas has become an annual disappointment. OSU and OU have suspended their big-time hoop dreams. Missouri will break your heart every time. Give credit to Kansas State; Frank Martin has the Wildcats in there fighting.
But until multiple Big 12 programs start winning big again in March, let’s hear no more about this conference’s basketball status.
NCAA Tournament: Big 12 ranks fifth
Disappointing first round of the NCAA Tournament for the Big 12. Big 12 schools went 3-2, which ranks it fifth among the major conferences, whether you go by winning percentage or victories.
Big East 7-4, Big Ten 5-2, ACC 4-1, Pac-10 3-1, Big 12 3-2, SEC 2-3.
Texas A&M’s loss to Florida State was particularly galling. The Aggies looked inept early and late, getting outdefensed by Leonard Hamilton’s Seminoles. Also, Missouri’s loss to Cincinnati was disappointing. Though that was a tossup game, Mizzou was thoroughly outclassed.
So now the Big 12 has to forge ahead in the regional quarterfinals, where conference supremacy usually is determined. Many of the mid-majors have been dispatched; lots of major conference showdowns brew Saturday and Sunday.
Kansas-Illinois. Texas-Arizona. Kansas State-Wisconsin. West Virginia-Kentucky. North Carolina-Washington. Duke-Michigan (oh the irony, Jalen Rose). Notre Dame-Florida State. Florida-UCLA. And that’s not counting two historic games: all-Big East showdowns, which by rule are prohibited — no teams from the same conference meeting before the regional final. But since the Big East had 11 teams in the tournament, the rule was not just relaxed, but smashed. Connecticut-Cincinnati and Marquette-Syracuse will play this weekend.
The mid-major games this weekend include Ohio State-George Mason, Temple-San Diego State, Richmond-Morehead State, Purdue-Virginia Commonwealth, Pittsburgh-Butler, Gonzaga-BYU. Which means we’re guaranteed three mid-majors in the Sweet 16 and maybe more.
After the Thursday theatrics, the mid-majors fell back to Earth. On Thursday, the power conferences were just 7-5 against non-power conference opponents. That changed Friday, when the big boys went 10-2 against the little guys. The only winners were George Mason (over Villanova) and VCU (over Georgetown). Still, 7-17 was a solid showing by the mid-majors.
By the way, I don’t use mid-major as a term for every conference below the power leagues. There are some low majors. Bucknell, which beat Kansas in Oklahoma City six years ago, was not a mid-major. Bucknell only gave out 4-5 scholarships. Despite the success of Princeton and Cornell in the NCAAs, the Ivy League is not mid-major.
But the Mountain West, the Atlantic 10, Conference USA, the Colonial, the Missouri Valley, the WAC, the West Coast Conference, the Mid-American, those are mid-majors.
NCAA Tournament: Rousing opening day
The buzzer-beaters took center stage in the opening session of the first (real) day of the NCAA Tournament. Morehead State over Louisville. Temple over Penn State. Kentucky over Princeton. Butler over Old Dominion.
But the real story was the little guy, winning not just at the buzzer, but winning in a variety of ways.
The tournament so far has provided 12 matchups of BCS conference teams vs. mid-majors or lower. The big boys went just 7-5 in those games.
Two of those games were in the pig-tail games at Dayton, where the little guy forged a split. Virginia Commonwealth beat Southern Cal, but Alabama-Birmingham lost to Clemson.
Then came Thursday. Morehead State over Louisville, Temple over Penn State, Richmond over Vandy, Gonzaga over St. John’s.
The hero of the day was not a player, but an official. When Louisville’s Mike Marra collided with Morehead State’s Kenneth Faried on a jumper just before the buzzer, you knew the whistle was coming. It always comes against the likes of Morehead State.
But referee LaMar Simpson didn’t blow the whistle or a magic moment. He motioned that Faried had all ball, and the replays proved him right. Marra jumped into Faried, who stood his ground, raised his arms and made Marra try to shoot over him.
You’ve seen a thousand games end at the foul line on an iffy call. This one could have easily, but it didn’t.
Anyway, today we get more big guy-little guy matchups: Ohio State vs. Texas-San Antonio, Villanova vs. George Mason, North Carolina vs. Long Island, Marquette vs. Xavier (sort of like Penn State-Temple, not a real culture clash), Syracuse-Indiana State, Duke-Hampton, Arizona-Memphis (again, doesn’t really fit the model), Texas-Oakland, Kansas-Boston U., Illinois-UNLV, Notre Dame-Akron, Georgetown-VCU and Purdue-St. Peter’s.
That’s 13 games. If we get four wins by the little guys, I’ll be happy. Get six and I’ll be esctatic.
The big upsets are the best thing about the NCAAs. Sorry, but North Carolina-Kentucky or Duke-Ohio State doesn’t do much for me. Give me Morehead State-Louisville.
Power Lunch Chat Recap: Berry Tramel
OSU basketball: Gary Flowers’ college career ends
Gary Flowers’ collegiate career ended last week. Remember him?
Yep, it’s the same Gary Flowers who was part of Oklahoma State’s 2006-07 freshman class and graduated high school, Dallas Lincoln, with Byron Eaton in 2005.
Coming out of high school, Flowers didn’t qualify academically for the NCAA. So he attended Genesis One Christian Academy in Mississippi, playing basically a fifth year of high school. While there, he signed with OSU.
But a few weeks into his OSU academic career, in September 2006, Flowers was arrested and charged with marijuana possession. He eventually was dismissed from the team by then-coach Sean Sutton.
Flowers landed a year later at Chipola Community College, and in summer 2009 Flowers arrived at Southern Mississippi. In two seasons at Southern Miss, Flowers averaged 15.0 and 18.8 points a game. He’s considered a likely second-round pick in the NBA Draft this summer.
Flowers represents another lost talent for OSU. Remember Gerald Green signed with OSU in the Eaton/Terrel Harris class, but Green opted for the NBA Draft. Center Kenneth Cooper arrived with Eaton and Harris and had a promising freshman season but soon transferred to Louisiana Tech.
Sean and Eddie Sutton recruited some phenomenal talent in the years following their 2004 Final Four. The above mentioned players. JamesOn Curry. Obi Muonelo. James Anderson. Unfortunately for OSU, some of those players left school early and some never played. Gary Flowers among them.
