Maybe the Big 12 ain't so bad?

[vickie1ok]

Now that Baylor beat the BYU team who beat Stanford. Sounds like Mosby is the real deal. Bear fans, do I remember correctly that she only has this year as a transfer? What a nice game for her.

Now maybe these East/West coast team fans (and Tennessee) will quit ragging on the Big 12 as being so weak.

Well, probably not. A lot of them seem a little too arrogant to admit something like that! We just need to keep doing it on the court. Congrats, Baylor. Nice win.

[BearLady]

Thanks, Vickie. Yes, Bernice has only this 1 year on the court with us. She has been so much fun to watch so far. I'm reminded a lot of Sophia with some of the moves and baskets that she makes, and then I also see a little of Abi in her - what with those long arms. Anyhow I'm glad she's on our side, and it's obvious already that she's a favorite of the fans.

You're so right . . . we'll let our play on the court do the loudest talking for us. Go Big 12!

[BaylorGalMulkeyFan]

The Lady Bears looked great last night. Beat Purdue!!

[carolann]

Maybe the Big 12 ain't so bad?

Hey, I was thinking of starting a thread with a similar title.

Great win by Baylor.

Nebraska beat another Mountain West team, the New Mexico team that was ranked about 20 to start the season.

Colorado, who was in the Big 12 basement last year, was competitive with Vandy, ranked about #15 right now. (Now, that would have been a great win for CU and a good win for the conference as well.)

[brolewis]

A few of us noted before the season began that Baylor was not getting the national respect that it deserves. The same goes for the Big 12. There are a number of programs within our fine conference that will be legitimate teams this year. As it stands today, we have 3 teams in the top 15 and 4 teams either just in the polls or receiving votes. To me, this is representative of the amount of talent that we have in the Big 12 this year. I would not be surprised if we see each of those teams work there way up into the top 25. I believe that Oklahoma is a top 5 team and that both Baylor and Texas A&M are top 10 programs. Any conference that could produce those kinds of numbers "ain't so bad".

Now I recognize that I am jumping the gun on some of those comments. I will borrow a little from Chipper when I say that we need to focus on the games, the rest will take care of itself. Our teams just need to win the games.

I will say that in looking over historical information in preparing for this post, there is one area I think that the Big 12 does need to improve in order to get respect. That area is Post-season play. It seems like the Big 12 enters the tournament with a lot of fanfare (i.e., teams) but those teams to lose games that they "should" not lose, bowing out of the tournament early. In comparison, over the last 4 years (as far back as I could on the ACC), the Big 12 has had 9 Sweet 16 appearances. SEC? 13. ACC? 10. How about Elite 8? 3 for the Big 12 vs. 8 for the SEC and 7 for the ACC. Final Four? 2 for the Big 12 vs. 5 for the SEC and 4 for the ACC.* My point is that we have not advanced deep into the tournament in the past. Will this be a break-out year for the Big 12? I hope so.

* I realize that I am one year off from Oklahoma's tournament run, but even when you include that year, the abbreviated ACC stats and SEC still beat us in all categories except Final 4 appearances, at which point there is a tie.

[YCN]

The Big 12 is 3-2 in games against top 25 teams, with wins by Oklahoma over #20 DePaul, Nebraska vs. #18 New Mexico, and Baylor over #22 BYU. (I'm using AP rankings here, BYU is ranked higher in the coaches' poll.) The losses were by Nebraska at #13 Arizona State and Colorado to #16 Vanderbilt.

The Big 10 is 1-0 against the top 25, Indiana's upset at #15 Kentucky.

The SEC is 1-0 against the top 25, Georgia vs. #12 Rutgers.

The Pac-10 is 1-3 against the top 25, the win by Arizona State over #18 New Mexico, and losses by Washington State at #15 Kentucky, Stanford to #24 BYU and UCLA at #5 Tennessee.

The ACC is 0-2, with Virginia Tech losing at #10 LSU and NC State losing at #12 Purdue.

The Big East is 0-3, with Rutger's and DePaul's losses, and West Virginia losing at #10 LSU.


So the Big 12 is 3-2, and the other five high major conferences combined are 3-8. The Big 12 has one loss outside the top 25 as does the Big Ten. The Pac-10 has 3, SEC 4, ACC 5, Mountain West 6 and Big East 9.

I'd say the Big 12 is looking pretty good indeed so far. But it's a long way yet to conference play, although the trend is highly encouraging.


(Corrected Arizona State's win to #18 New Mexico.)

[YCN]

I thought that I'd mention this in this thread, since it's really based on observation of how the conference has fared thus far. When OU beat #20 DePaul, the Tennessee fans discounted the 34-point win because "DePaul really isn't very good".

Now last night, Tennessee fans were all aglow over their spectacular 23-point win over #20 UCLA, using that game as a benchmark for how superior they are this year. The only thing is, this is the same UCLA team that lost an exhibition game at home recently to Love and Basketball.

In the eyes of the beholder, I guess. Until we start dismantling the top teams on a reasonably consistent basis, both in non-conference play and the NCAA tournament, the people out there - especially east of us - will continue to say that the Big 12 is overrated, and not very good.

The more I think about Oklahoma's schedule this year, the more I wonder just exactly which and how many of those top teams ducked the opportunity to play the Sooners this year? Knowing what they undoubtedly knew about the potential of this Sooner squad, I'd bet there were a few that couldn't find space on their schedules for a home-and-home.

Or maybe, more than a few. We'll never know. I do know that I'm already getting sick of the blowouts by Duke, North Carolina, Maryland and UConn over teams that they really have no business playing. But if that's what their fans want: non-competitive basketball games against hopelessly outmatched teams; then I guess they get what they deserve.

[BaylorGalMulkeyFan]

I hope someone from the Big 12 smacks down TN sometime this year in the tourney. Their fans are very annoying.

[SportzGuy82]

I'm sure the Big 12 will be a fight with OU, Baylor, TT, A&M, and Texas.

A&M and Baylor have impressed me thus far with their place. OU is expected to do great things. I'll just be shocked if my Sooners lose a Big 12 game. :mad:

[swok34]

I hope someone from the Big 12 smacks down TN sometime this year in the tourney. Their fans are very annoying.

BaylorGal......aren't you a big Candace Parker fan?

[SportzGuy82]

I'm a fan of CP3 dunking. I'm hoping NY can dunk in a game someday!

[Row6Seat10]

So the Big 12 is 3-2, and the other five high major conferences combined are 3-8. The Big 12 has one loss outside the top 25 as does the Big Ten. The Pac-10 has 3, SEC 4, ACC 5, Mountain West 6 and Big East 9.

I'd say the Big 12 is looking pretty good indeed so far. But it's a long way yet to conference play, although the trend is highly encouraging.


This is pretty interesting. If you would why don't you periodically post the results as to where the conferences stand as the non-conference season moves along. :)

[ChipperF1]

""People always will say 'you don't play anybody'. But you know, those same people will say that even when you beat somebody or beat somebody who they think is somebody." -- Bob Devaney, 1971

[YCN]

This is pretty interesting. If you would why don't you periodically post the results as to where the conferences stand as the non-conference season moves along. :)Sure, I can do that! :)