Who's Number 1?

Just over 20 games into the college basketball season and we don't know much more about the NCAA tournament than we did in the middle of November. Sure we know some teams have been disappointments (Baylor and Kansas State, I'm looking at you), we know that one team has a better record than everyone else (Ohio State is undefeated), and that one guy can outscore everyone in the nation (Obviously The Jimmer). But other than Ohio State, we don't really have any clear cut #1 seeds. So here is the breakdown of who it might be. 

Texas- A Texas team that was ranked 25th in preseason coaches poll, and was unranked in the first AP ballot in Week 2 has taken the Big XII by storm. The Longhorns last lost was to Connecticut on January 8th (A game that provided us with this funny play), and the Longhorns only lost that game by a single point in overtime. 

Since then, the Longhorns have wins against A&M, at Kansas (breaking their 69 game home court winning streak), and at home against Missouri. The Longhorns still have to navigate a Big XII schedule that includes a trips to A&M, Baylor, and a home date with Kansas State, not to mention a potential rematch with the Jayhawks in the Big XII tournament. However the Longhorns are packed with talent in Jordan Hamilton (19 ppg), Tristan Thompson (12.9) and the occasional explosion from J'Covan Brown (23 at Kansas), and as opposed to last years Texas team have gelled and look primed for a postseason run. 

Kansas- Kansas is 20-1 on the season with their only loss at home to an uber talented Texas team. The Jayhawks remaining schedule has them set to play Missouri (Twice), and host A&M in their next to last conference game. In their first game after the passing of Thomas Robinson's mother, Kansas absolutely obliterated Kansas State hanging 90 points on the Wildcats. 

Kansas has talent down low in the Morris Twins (Who have the best chemistry of any big man combo I've ever seen), talent on the wing with freshman sensation Josh Selby, and your token white guy(s) in Tyrel Reed and Brady Morningstar. For the Jayhawks to snag a #1 seed they'll most likely need to drop at most one game and make a deep run in the conference tournament. 

Pittsburgh- The Panthers currently sit atop the very deep Big East that is very intent on beating each other up. The Panthers resume boasts wins over ranked teams (Texas, UCONN, Georgetown, and Syracuse) and their two losses have been to a very good Notre Dame team, and a very up and down Tennessee team. Pitt still must play Nova and West Virginia (twice each) and they'll host Rick Pitino and his Louisville Cardinals. 

The Panthers led by Jamie Dixon are incredibly experienced with five of their six players that average over 20 minutes being either Junior or Seniors. The Panthers are excellent defensively allowing opponents to shoot only 40% per contest and are the most efficient team in the nation scoring nearly 120 points per 100 possessions. The Panthers need to avoid any major slip ups for the rest of the season along with making it to the Final 4 of the Big East tourney if they want to snag a #1 seed. 

Connecticut- The Huskies were expected to be down as they came into this year, but Kemba Walker (24 ppg 4apg) has decided to put the team on his back and carry them through the season. UCONN has wins over Michigan State, Texas, and Villanova and all of their losses have come at the hands of good teams (Pitt, Notre Dame, and Louisville).

The Huskies are going to need to play near perfect ball which would include beating 'Cuse, Georgetown, Louisville, and Notre Dame to close out the season. If UCONN has any desire to win out they'll need to give Kemba Walker a little more support than they have so far this season as he is accounting for 31% of the Huskies points. Regardless of their seed, Jim Calhoun will have his Huskies ready to go come NCAA Tournament time. 

Duke- At one point Duke was the #1 team in the nation, with a relatively easy schedule, and had people talking about an undefeated season. Since then the Devils have lost twice (Florida State and St. John's), and found that their road to a #1 seed is near impossible. While the Blue Devils are a very good basketball team led by Kyle Singler (He gets Buckets) and Nolan Smith they really have no way to prove it.

You see, the Blue Devils came into the season as the #1 team in the nation, and were thinking that they would have marquee match-ups with Kansas State, Michigan State, Butler, and a few teams scattered among the ACC. However, what Duke wasn't counting on was Kansas State being a disaster, Michigan State being an 8 loss team, and Butler being an average team with no Gordon Hayward. But that is whats happened to Coach K and his team, and now they are stuck in a very weak ACC with no way of shaking off two losses to below average teams. (For those of you that care, Duke hasn't played a team ranked in the top 25 of the RPI.)

While certainly a handful of other teams (Villanova, San Diego State, BYU) could make a push for a #1 seed, they would all require the teams listed above to have quite the stumble. Only the rest of the season will tell us who the four best teams are come March Madness, Don't miss a second of it.

Bears Need a Change, or Five

This was supposed to be the year for the Baylor Bears. The year they cemented themselves among the Big XII powerhouses proving that their Elite 8 run in the 2010 NCAA Tournament was no fluke. The Bears were in the Pre-Season Top 25 in both polls, played a cupcake schedule until mid December, and found themselves ranked as high as Number 9 in the nation. Then IT happened.

Baylor started playing real teams, with players you've heard of, in conferences that get more than one bid per year. Gonzaga, Washington State, and Florida State all beat Baylor, and if you watched the games, they beat them convincingly. Monday night was no different for the Bears as they traveled to the "Little Apple" to play Frank Martin and his Kansas State Wildcats. 

You'd think after playing some of their best ball of the year in a home win over Oklahoma State, head coach Scott Drew would be feeling good and have his squad ready to go against another pre-season Big XII favorite that is clinging to its tournament hopes. If you thought that, you thought wrong. Baylor came out flat, letting the Wildcats jump out to a 16-4 lead, and as ugly as the game was it always belonged to Frank Martin's crew. To the Bears credit, they fought and clawed, but it wasn't to be. If this Baylor teams wants to salvage its tournament hopes, Scott Drew is going to have to make a few critical changes.

Big 12 Midweek Report

Best Team: Colorado. Yes, Colorado. There isn't a person outside of Boulder that would have thought Colorado would start 2-0 in conference, beating two ranked teams. (9) Mizzou rolled in to town on Saturday and left with their tail tucked between their legs after losing to the Buffs by 13. Colorado won that game in large part due to taking care of the ball (Only 10 Turnovers), and a spectacular night from Alec Burks (36 points on 19 shots). To put the cherry on their Sundae the Buffs traveled to Manhattan and knocked off the (20) Kansas State Wildcats by 8 points. Colorado was led by Levi Knutson who came off the bench to drop 20 points including shooting six of eight from three point land. Colorado might only be on a hot streak, but games against Oklahoma State and at Nebraska should give us an idea if they are a good team on a hot streak, or a great team that beats not only other great teams, but also the teams they SHOULD beat.

Team to Watch For: Texas A&M. The Aggies under Mark Turgeon are looking better than anyone could have imagined. They are 15-1 (2-0), with their sole loss coming to Boston College in only their fourth game of the season. The Aggies don't wow you on the offensive end (72.9 PPG), but they aren't afraid to slow down the tempo and grind out games. In the multiple times I've seen A&M play this season, they make it incredibly difficult for their opponents to get clean looks playing defense for the full 35 seconds and rebounding well to close out the possession. We'll get a gut check from the Aggies as Missouri rolls into College Station Saturday, and then A&M travels to Austin to take on the rival Longhorns on Wednesday. (Baylor is also 2-0 in conference with a game at Iowa State before they host Kansas on Big Monday. We will know exactly who this team is by the middle of next week.)

Kansas State Coach Frank Martin

Disappointing Team: Kansas State. Kansas State started the year as a Big XII favorite, and even had a voter put them as number one on their preseason ballot. However, the Wildcats are looking like they could be this years version of last years Texas Longhorns (high expectations/ranking, poor result). Kansas State has found themselves involved in off the court incidents as well as Jacob Pullen and Curtis Kelly have both served suspensions for accepting gifts from a department store. Kelly missed both the game at Oklahoma State and at home against Colorado (both of which were losses), and the Wildcats missed his production badly. However, as Frank Martin predicted they miss Denis Clemente more than most people expected. Clemente allowed Jacob Pullen (17.4 points on 42.5% shooting per game) to work primarily off the ball and gave the Wildcats another solid scoring option. With Kelly coming back to face Texas Tech the Wildcats desperately need to get their footing before going on the Big XII's version of murders row ( at Mizzou, at A&M, vs. Baylor, @Kansas). 

Games to Watch: A list of all the games to watch all the way until next Thursday

Saturday: Missouri at Texas A&M (1 PM ET, ESPN2)

Oklahoma State at Colorado (1:30 PM ET, ESPN3)

Monday: Kansas State at Missouri (5:30 PM ET, ESPN)

Kansas at Baylor (9:30 PM ET, ESPN)

Wednesday: Texas A&M at Texas (9 PM ET, ET)

Big 12 Day One Recap

Last night I started a post Power Ranking the Big XII, telling you who the best teams were, and who was going to win the conference. However, I got tired, I didn't finish it, and it was the best decision of my life. I would have absolutely butchered it going into the opening weekend of conference play. So here is a break down of the last, first weekend of the Big XII as we know it. 

Eleven of the Twelve Big XII teams were active today with the exception of the Kansas Jayhawks. Texas however did not play a Big XII opponent as they went up against the 9th ranked Connecticut Huskies. The Huskies outlasted the Longhorns in Overtime winning 82-81 on a HUGE shot by Kemba Walker. 

The Longhorns looked impressive in the first half taking a 5 point lead into the half, but in the second half learned that they had some serious issues closing. The Longhorns missed two shots with the chance to go ahead at the end of regulation, and a shot to win the game as overtime expired. The Longhorns held Walker to just 8 of 27 shooting, and while doing that they proved they'll be a matchup nightmare for some Big XII teams. Rick Barnes has a solid squad in Austin this year, and they'll definitely be near the top of the Big XII when the season ends. 

Colorado Guard Alec Burks

The Missouri Tigers who are ranked 8th in the nation traveled to Boulder to take on a Colorado team expected to finish near the bottom half of the Big XII. The Tigers however were unable to contain Buff's guard Alec Burks as he exploded for 36 points on 12 of 19 shooting. While I didn't get to see the game, it seems as if Colorado has a team that stacks up perfectly against Missouri. The Buff's have two great guards, Burk and Senior Cory Higgins who handle Mizzou's "40 Minutes of Hell" perfectly, limiting Colorado's turnover count to just 10 (Mizzou averages 10 STEALS per game). 

Don't get to down on Mizzou though, they have a solid defense and play at a speedy pace scoring over 86 points per game. Missouri will be in contention for a top spot in the Big XII, and if Colorado plays like they did today they too are capable of beating anybody. 

Iowa State played Nebraska in Lincoln today, and based off of the score it was a great game. Iowa State recovered from a 10 point half- time deficit, giving themselves a chance to win in the games waning seconds. However, Nebraska came up with a big steal, got fouled on a lay-up, and Senior guard Lance Jeter made the second of two free-throws to give the Cornhuskers the victory 63-62. 

Quite frankly, I'm not sure what this game showed us as both of these Big XII North teams are very mysterious. Both of these teams have played a fairly week schedule, and padded their win column by doing so. While their isn't much to be drawn for this game, we do know that these two are very evenly matched. 

Texas A&M kicked off conference play in Norman, beating the doormat of the Big XII South (Oklahoma) by 18 points. This game was really never close, and it reaffirmed the thought that the Oklahoma is going to struggle to compete in this tough conference. The Aggies on the other hand are looking like a very good basketball team, who surprisingly have a very good chance to compete for the Big XII championship. Texas A&M is giving up 66 points per game, which includes only .86 points per possession.  While they are somewhat challenged on the offensive end, the Aggies have proved they can win regardless having already beat Temple and Washington. Don't expect these Aggies to get blown out of many games this season. 

Texas Tech lost their opening Big XII game as the Baylor Bears came into town and kicked off their conference season the right way. Baylor jumped on the Red Raiders early and led for a large portion of the game by 8 to 10 points. Tech made a game of it though momentarily taking the lead in what became a back and forth contest. However LaceDarius Dunn led the Bears on a 15 to 0 run with just under 5 minutes remaining in the contest to put the game on ice. 

Texas Tech proved they are a team that can compete in the Big XII, making a run to stay in this game. The Red Raiders shot just 35% from the field, and as much blame should be put on their shot making as is put on Baylor's defense. Tech had uncontested shot after uncontested shot, and did a great job of finding the holes in the Baylor zone, but just couldn't put the ball in the ocean. Baylor on the other hand did a great job of involving Perry Jones III (their star Freshman) early in the game, as he scored the first six points on his way to a 20 point performance. Dunn will always be a force for the Bears, but their conference fate will lie largely on how Perry Jones and Anthony Jones score the ball, and how Sophomore point guard A.J. Walton runs the show. 

While based purely off of rankings it looks as if Oklahoma States victory over Frank Martin and his Kansas States Wildcats was an upset, it actually wasn't. The Cowboys were a 1.5 point favorite, which actually makes sense, not only because the Wildcats are missing Senior forward Curtis Kelly due to suspension, but also because Historic Gallagher Iba arena is a very difficult place to play. Oklahoma State won the game 76-62, but the game was much closer than the score indicated.

 With just over 10 minutes to play the Cowboys defense turned it up a notch not allowing a made field goal for nearly 8 minutes. That defensive stretched allowed the Cowboys to turn an 8 point deficit into a 12 point lead that they would never relinquish. The Wildcats are sorely missing Dennis Clemente who took a lot of the ball  handling duties off of Jacob Pullen, freeing him up to score the basketball. Oklahoma State on the other hand rebounded nicely after losing to Gonzaga by 21 points just 9 days ago, the Cowboys showed that they will be a competitive middle of the pack Big XII team capable of knocking off anyone if the timing is right. 

After a wild and crazy opening day of conference play in the Big XII, we really have no better idea of who is a contender than we did when the day started. The Big XII only has one sensational team this year (Kansas), but is eleven teams deep. So beware fans, your team is never truly safe in conference play.