The Big 12 men's basketball blog – Covering The Baseline – is in its sixth season in 2013-14. ......
Coaching With A Week – Fresh Legs & Fresh Minds
February 18, 2014 – Mitch Holthus, Big 12 Network, @mitchholthus
There has been a great deal of discussion about the quality of coaching in men's basketball in the Big 12 Conference. Six of the 10 coaches have led teams to the Final Four-a fact that separates the Big 12 from every other conference in America. All 10 men's basketball coaches in the Big 12 have impressive resumes.
This year a testimony to that quality of coaching is how the different coaches have handled the coveted "week off"-- the break in the conference schedule when a team has a rare six days off between Big 12 contests. There have been different approaches to that "week" by different coaches, but the results cannot be ignored.
IOWA STATE: Fred Hoiberg had six days to prepare for a home game with K-State on January 25. Moreover, the Cyclones were desperate - they had lost three straight Big 12 games before the matchup with the Wildcats. Simply put, Iowa State then played one of its best games of the year as Georges Niang re-discovered his shooting touch and Melvin Ejim recaptured his hunger to rebound and score. The Cyclones won, 81-75.
TEXAS: Rick Barnes prepared his team for six days to upset Kansas on February 1. Rick told me he didn't change much about the week, but that the extra days of work did help him with the upset of the Jayhawks. The Longhorns blocked 12 Kansas shots and bested KU in a stunning 81-69 victory in Austin. Texas captured its best win in two years.
KANSAS STATE: Texas found out what it was like to face a team that had six days to prepare for THEM when K-State had its best game of the year February 8, routing the Longhorns, 74-57. The Wildcats defense suffocated UT with fresh legs and a fresh approach. Bruce Weber told me the opposite of Rick Barnes in that he used the week to rest his team and it showed. Marcus Foster had a career-high 34 points in the contest.
OKLAHOMA STATE: The Cowboys have endured a lot in recent weeks but they used their six day period on January 25 to outlast a feisty West Virginia team, 81-75, in Stillwater. Le'Bryan Nash used the week to get rested and had one of the better games of his career with 29 points.
Now you, as an astute Big 12 basketball fan, can join me in tracking the results of the teams who have the "week" to prepare.
Oklahoma and
West Virginia have those six days to get ready for big games with K-State and Baylor, respectfully on February 22. Texas Tech has a week to get ready for a game at Baylor March 1. Kansas and Baylor actually had their "week off" the first weekend of January before they started Big 12 play and used it for non-conference games. TCU is the only team so far to lose a game following the "six days to prepare", falling in a close encounter at Texas Tech on February 1.
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