Big 12 Basketball 2015 - 2016

[ljbab728]

It's no surprise that KU is the preseason pick with OU at number two. Hopefully OSU can better the expectations for them.

Big 12 men's basketball: OU second, OSU seventh in coaches preseason poll; Kansas picked first - Tulsa World: College Basketball

The national preseason coaches poll has 3 Big 12 teams in the top 10 with OU at number 8.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...kings-released

[Roger S]

Going to be fun watching KU, OU, and ISU battle for the title and I hope they can all stay healthy... Baylor might put up a fight and OSU could surprise some people... Not expecting much from the rest of the conference but it is the Big XII so every team better come to play every night.... Especially on the road!

ROCK CHALK!!!

#MoreRingsThanFingers

[okatty]

Going to be fun watching KU, OU, and ISU battle for the title and I hope they can all stay healthy... Baylor might put up a fight and OSU could surprise some people... Not expecting much from the rest of the conference but it is the Big XII so every team better come to play every night.... Especially on the road!

ROCK CHALK!!!

#MoreRingsThanFingers

Have you seen the KU promo video with Bill Self versus "short shorts" Bill Self? Pretty funny. It was shown on the sports on KOCO the other night. Good stuff.

[Roger S]

Have you seen the KU promo video with Bill Self versus "short shorts" Bill Self?

Yep... I've been to the Little Apple four times... And I get dunked over again! ... LOL

[ljbab728]

It was tight, but a win in Memphis has to be considered a positive anyway.

No. 8 Oklahoma beats Memphis 84-78

KU lost tonight to Michigan State.

[Roger S]

Seems like the Jayhawks struggle in the Classic every year.... All the 3's they hit against Northern Colorado was a bad lesson for them... Perry Ellis needs to be getting more touches and when they think he's touched the ball enough. They need to feed it to him some more.... Frustrating loss considering they lead almost the entire game but it's just a bump in the road for them.

Sooners scared me a little bit against a very young Memphis team but showed their maturity and ability to handle the pressure in the end when it counted the most..... Josh Pastner could have a beast growing there as those freshmen mature.

[Jersey Boss]

It was nice to see the Sooners show the good folks of Memphis that one team from Oklahoma can handle business there.

[ljbab728]

There have been no real surprises so far and the Big 12 is looking strong at the top, with three teams in the top seven in the latest poll.

AP Top 25 Rankings: Kentucky at No. 1, North Carolina drops - College Basketball - SI.com

[okatty]

It was nice to see the Sooners show the good folks of Memphis that one team from Oklahoma can handle business there.

Put it on the Wisconsin boys yesterday too! Couple of nice early season wins for Sooners!

[ljbab728]

After a blowout win today over a top 10 team, some national pundits are starting to think that OU has more than one national championship contending team.

Three observations: Oklahoma Sooners 78, Villanova Wildcats 55 - Men's College Basketball Blog- ESPN

[Roger S]

After a blowout win today over a top 10 team,

Wish I could have seen the second half... Nova had it back to 2 when I had to leave this evening.... Unless someone slips up this week... Big XII should have 3 of the Top 5 spots sewn up come next Monday.

[ljbab728]

At this point, I would say the biggest disappointment has to be OSU. Back to back home loses to Tulsa and Missouri State are just not acceptable, even if they didn't have great pre-season expectations. I just don't think that Travis Ford is the long term answer and expect that his days there are numbered.

[BG918]

Nice win. OU sitting at 6-0 for the first time since 2008-09 when they started 12-0 with Blake Griffin.

OU has two non-conference games in Norman the next two Saturdays (ORU and Creighton) and then goes back to Hawaii (lucky them) at the end of the month for the Diamond Head Classic before starting the Big 12 conference season. The first few weeks are brutal: Iowa State on the 2nd in Norman followed by Big Monday at KU, Kansas St in Norman on the 9th and also at OSU on the 13th and at Iowa State on the 18th. 3 games against current Top 10 teams, two on the road, the first 3 weeks of January..

[ljbab728]

The remaining non-conference schedule is not too challenging but the conference schedule will certainly test them. I haven't had season ticket for many years but still follow them closely. I'll be at the Creighton game as a guest of the OU Foundation as a Quarter-Century Club member. They offer me two complimentary tickets every year to one game.

[Roger S]

At this point, I would say the biggest disappointment has to be OSU.

Really? Between illness and injury they haven't had a lot to work with... Not sure you can lay all that on Travis Ford.... Yes, they probably should have still beat Missouri State but they aren't running on all cylinders.... Will they make a run at winning the Big XII... Definitely not but they will probably be a thorn in a few sides come conference play.

The first few weeks are brutal: Iowa State on the 2nd in Norman followed by Big Monday at KU, Kansas St in Norman on the 9th and also at OSU on the 13th and at Iowa State on the 18th. 3 games against current Top 10 teams, two on the road, the first 3 weeks of January..

Brutal may be an understatement.... Some of the cream of the Big XII could get turned to butter in the opening weeks of conference play.... Best part about it is that everyone should come into those games relatively fresh and healthy... So there will be no excuses for the losers.

[Eric]

At this point, I would say the biggest disappointment has to be OSU. Back to back home loses to Tulsa and Missouri State are just not acceptable, even if they didn't have great pre-season expectations. I just don't think that Travis Ford is the long term answer and expect that his days there are numbered.

I hope so. I've always though he (or his representation) must be the best negotiator. We were handing out a long term deal to him before we did it for Gundy I believe. And I think it would be safe to say that Gundy's resume looks infinitely more impressive than Ford's. And I just don't like him. The kind of kids he recruits are generally speaking not who I would want representing the university. OSU has been a disappointment since his appointment. Not once has he exceeded expectations (and they have been fairly low on occasion). Gundy somehow manages to do more with less, while Ford seems to be doing less with more.

[AP]

At this point, I would say the biggest disappointment has to be OSU. Back to back home loses to Tulsa and Missouri State are just not acceptable, even if they didn't have great pre-season expectations. I just don't think that Travis Ford is the long term answer and expect that his days there are numbered.

Yeah, you're not saying anything that anyone disagrees with. Absolutely everyone wants him gone. Literally no one thinks that he is the long term answer, and most OSU fans have wanted him gone for 3 years now.

[AP]

I hope so. I've always though he (or his representation) must be the best negotiator. We were handing out a long term deal to him before we did it for Gundy I believe. And I think it would be safe to say that Gundy's resume looks infinitely more impressive than Ford's. And I just don't like him. The kind of kids he recruits are generally speaking not who I would want representing the university. OSU has been a disappointment since his appointment. Not once has he exceeded expectations (and they have been fairly low on occasion). Gundy somehow manages to do more with less, while Ford seems to be doing less with more.

Wait, he's not a great coach but he is a wonderful recruiter.... I don't even understand where you could think he isn't. In the last four years, he's brought in three 5 star recruits.

[Jersey Boss]

After a blowout win today over a top 10 team, some national pundits are starting to think that OU has more than one national championship contending team.

Three observations: Oklahoma Sooners 78, Villanova Wildcats 55 - Men's College Basketball Blog- ESPN

Great game and the team is deserving of respect. I do find however that the local rag that Trammel is the so called editor of should be showing this team the respect they earned and deserve. Very disheartening to go to the sports page and find nada on the front page of the local top ten team beating another top ten team.

[Eric]

Wait, he's not a great coach but he is a wonderful recruiter.... I don't even understand where you could think he isn't. In the last four years, he's brought in three 5 star recruits.

That may be so, which only validates my point that he does less with more. He get's five star recruits and under performs with them. Gundy makes a living off of the 3 star guys and regularly competes for conference championships and sometimes flirts with a national title.

Pistols firing summed it up well for me. It's a couple of years old, but I imagine it still includes his best recruits.

Is Cobbins good? He averages 6-6-1-1-2 for his career. Fred Jonzen averaged 10-6-1-1-0 in his time at OSU. I mean, my gosh, Andre Williams averaged 5-6-1-1-2 a game for his career. Andre was a fine bit player but he wasn’t exactly Greg Monroe down low. Cobbins and Andre Williams are basically the exact same person. And Cobbins is probably the fifth-best player on Ford’s resume.

Smart? Fine. Markel and Nash have been awesome and Forte might be the fourth best guy Ford has recruited. But four good guys in five years?

That’s not going to get it done. And is also why Markel is playing 39 and 54-minute games.

You can point at injuries, you can point at academics, you can even point at people peeing out the windows of cars. But Ford is responsible for recruiting a deep, talented team and despite what everyone keeps telling me, he hasn’t done that yet.

[AP]

Well we all know everything KP says is gospel...

[Eric]

Well we all know everything KP says is gospel...

So ad hominem isn't just relegated to the political talk.

I quoted it because I would have made the same argument.

[AP]

That was mostly me airing my frustrations with KP, even though I read his blog every day.

My only point is, for all of Ford's coaching flaws, he has been a great recruiter. Kyle say "But Ford is responsible for recruiting a deep, talented team and despite what everyone keeps telling me, he hasn’t done that yet," which just isn't true. He did recruit a deep talented team. Then he failed to coach them when they got here.

Everything we're talking about is moot anyway, seeing as he'll probably be gone this year. And rightly so.

[Eric]

So there is this. Not really sure what to think of this. Overzealous ref maybe? Odd none the less. I don't believe I have ever been to a game where a fan was ejected. Coaches all the time. My high school coach my Freshman and Sophomore seasons made it a hobby. I played often but got in foul trouble one game (which never ever happened) so I was on the bench next to the coach. He turns to me and says "watch this". About 10 seconds later he was gone for the game, smiling at me as he walked by. I assume he made his point.

OSU Sports Extra - Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford ejected from son's high school game in Bixby

[ljbab728]

Ford has apologized and said what he did was completely inappropriate. With that said, I heard speculation on the radio today that the official may be reprimanded by the OSSAA for his actions.