OSU, MU, AM, Baylor, Tech, OU

[pnkranger]

I get the feeling these teams are going to all be within a 2 games of each other by year's end. Is this the most balanced the league has ever been?

 

[SoonerfanTU]

You say balanced, I say down after KU and UT. There is no team in the conference as good as those OU teams that routinely finished 3rd. There are no teams as good as the teams that were finishing fourth back a few years ago. I think what has happened is the middle of the pack has stayed about the same, but OU and to some degree, OSU have fallen off a bit. You could argue aTm is down from what they were 3-4 years ago as well.

 

[Dave4OU]

You say balanced, I say down after KU and UT. There is no team in the conference as good as those OU teams that routinely finished 3rd. There are no teams as good as the teams that were finishing fourth back a few years ago. I think what has happened is the middle of the pack has stayed about the same, but OU and to some degree, OSU have fallen off a bit. You could argue aTm is down from what they were 3-4 years ago as well.

Soonerfan I agree with that completely, right on

 

[oSuJeff97]

There is no team in the conference as good as those OU teams that routinely finished 3rd.

I think Kansas State is.

They just beat Baylor in Waco, which will be tough for anyone this year.

Had they beaten OSU in Manhattan last Saturday, they would probably be ranked in the top 5.

My opinion of the quality of teams in the league currently*:

* Note that this can and will change as the season progresses

KU/Texas

[small gap]

Kansas State

[small gap]

Baylor

[bigger gap]

OSU/Texas A&M/Missouri

---------------- NCAA Tournament teams above this line

[small gap]

OU/Texas Tech

[gap]

Colorado/Iowa State/Nebraska

 

[campbest]

I think Kansas State is.

They just beat Baylor in Waco, which will be tough for anyone this year.

Had they beaten OSU in Manhattan last Saturday, they would probably be ranked in the top 5.

My opinion of the quality of teams in the league currently*:

* Note that this can and will change as the season progresses

KU/Texas

[small gap]

Kansas State

[small gap]

Baylor

[bigger gap]

OSU/Texas A&M/Missouri

---------------- NCAA Tournament teams above this line

[small gap]

OU/Texas Tech

[gap]

Colorado/Iowa State/Nebraska

My thoughts exactly...K-State is a quality team, Baylor a step below and then three teams fighting it out for 2-3 NCAA berths.

 

[SoonerfanTU]

Let's let the season play out. I don't think KSU will end the year with nearly the hype they have now. I think they are primed to fall.

 

[pnkranger]

I think OU fits on the same line as OSU, Missouri, AM...

We beat two of those teams and almost beat AM at home...

 

[campbest]

I think OU fits on the same line as OSU, Missouri, AM...

We beat two of those teams and almost beat AM at home...

Yeah but OSU and Mizzou have road conference victories....we can't get it done.

 

[CarlWeathers]

are we talking about the baylor team that lost at colorado.

Watching them last night showed again why drew can't coach. I'd be surprised to see them finish higher than 6th.

 

[oSuJeff97]

Let's let the season play out. I don't think KSU will end the year with nearly the hype they have now. I think they are primed to fall.

I'm curious what about them makes you think they are primed to fall?

They've played a pretty good schedule to date and done exceedingly well against it.

They've already beaten six RPI top 50 teams, with three of those wins being on the road or at neutral sites.

They're also ranked in the top 10 of Ken Pomeroy's ratings, which are a pretty good indicator of team strength, IMO.

I personally think Frank Martin is a lunatic, but I think we should give him some props for a job well done this year.

are we talking about the baylor team that lost at colorado.

When you look at their body of work on the season, that game is clearly the outlier. I'm willing to give any team a pass for a conference road loss. Some night the ball just isn't going in the hoop.

Outside of that game, Baylor has played pretty well.

 

[CarlWeathers]

right but at this point it is going to be very important what the south teams do against the north. If they are losing at colorado, then what are the chances they win at OSU, at A&M, at OU, at Tech, at nebraska? Not too good.

 

[DFWHoopster]

are we talking about the baylor team that lost at colorado.

Watching them last night showed again why drew can't coach. I'd be surprised to see them finish higher than 6th.

you obviously didn't watch the game or don't know a whole lot about basketball. I don't mean to be confrontational, but how in the world would you draw the conclusion that Drew can't coach from last nights Kansas State versus Baylor game?

Because Drew didn't call a timeout with 8 seconds left? He chose instead to let Lace Dunn go one on one for the last shot? If you surveyed 10 really good coaches how many of them would have inbounded the ball and called a timeout at half-court with less than 5 seconds left? You let KSt set their defense at that point and lose some potential advantage.

Is Drew a bad coach because he didn't extend the zone to 30 feet? When Baylor extended their defense KSU brought Kelly in to the top of the key to hit open 12 footers. There comes a point when you say if a guy is going to hit contested 25+ foot jump shots, then he's going to hit them. Pullen was just in a zone last night and I don't think Drew could have coached any better than he did.

Pullen goes 8 over his average. Dunn is 10 under his average. And Baylor still has a chance to win the game at the end. Sorry for the rant but I think some people just get this idea that Drew can't coach in their mind and then ignore all evidence to the contrary. And that includes many Baylor fans who kneejerk over losses to good teams.

 

[campbest]

You love some Scott Drew.

Not sure if it just happened or part of the play call with a ball-screen being set for Dunn. Personally, I think that is a terrible decision because you're just bringing another defender to the area of the ball. Might work if you have a quick guard who can beat the hedge and turn the corner, but not for someone like Dunn.

Not saying Drew called that play, just saying it was a really dumb offensive set given the circumstances.

 

[BigTime]

you obviously didn't watch the game or don't know a whole lot about basketball. I don't mean to be confrontational, but how in the world would you draw the conclusion that Drew can't coach from last nights Kansas State versus Baylor game?

Because Drew didn't call a timeout with 8 seconds left? He chose instead to let Lace Dunn go one on one for the last shot? If you surveyed 10 really good coaches how many of them would have inbounded the ball and called a timeout at half-court with less than 5 seconds left? You let KSt set their defense at that point and lose some potential advantage.

Is Drew a bad coach because he didn't extend the zone to 30 feet? When Baylor extended their defense KSU brought Kelly in to the top of the key to hit open 12 footers. There comes a point when you say if a guy is going to hit contested 25+ foot jump shots, then he's going to hit them. Pullen was just in a zone last night and I don't think Drew could have coached any better than he did.

Pullen goes 8 over his average. Dunn is 10 under his average. And Baylor still has a chance to win the game at the end. Sorry for the rant but I think some people just get this idea that Drew can't coach in their mind and then ignore all evidence to the contrary. And that includes many Baylor fans who kneejerk over losses to good teams.

Bottom line is that you guys should have won that game at home. That is not debatable.

 

[DFWHoopster]

Dunn should have passed the ball to Anthony Jones on the wing. He was open. The play was designed to get the ball to Tweety. But Kansas State doubled Tweety. You have one of the best scorers in college basketball with the ball in his hands. He probably should have pulled up and shot a 3 but instead tried to get in the lane and send the game in OT or get to the line. Easy to 2nd guess but I don't fault Drew.

BT- no doubt Baylor should have protected their homecourt and that loss will hurt them either in seeding or possibly putting them on the bubble for the NCAAs.

Every team outside of UT and KU in this league is likely to have 2-4 disappointing losses of games that they will feel like they should have won. Baylor was a 2 point favorite against a good Kansas State team so I'm not overly distraught about this one.

 

[sys]

agree with dfw. bu was killing kstate on ball screens with carter all game long. and they more then held their own on the o boards, which is kstate's big thing.

they def. had some big gaps in the zone (saw some 25 footers, but not contested, saw quite a few open 20 footers too), but overall bu controlled the game style and played better. kstate was fortunate to win.

 

[oubjjr1]

I believe the Big 12 is better and much deeper than its ever been...OU an Mizzou are down from last year..Texass and OSu about the same but every other team is better...The Big 12 had the best winning percentage in non-conference games this year...

 

[CarlWeathers]

I was referring mostly to the last play of the game.