{"id":4043,"date":"2013-03-16T10:39:49","date_gmt":"2013-03-16T14:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=4043"},"modified":"2013-03-16T10:46:37","modified_gmt":"2013-03-16T14:46:37","slug":"2013-ctc-the-big-xii-conference-313","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=4043","title":{"rendered":"2013 CTC: The Big XII Conference (3\/16)"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was a bit of a new look Big XII this year, as they have lost Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, and Texas A&M in just the past two seasons.\u00a0 They replaced them with West Virginia (nice) and TCU (not nice).\u00a0 But, the more things change, the more they stay the same, as Kansas<\/strong> wins the regular season…again.\u00a0 Bill Self now has more Big XII titles at KU than he does home losses…wow.\u00a0 Bruce Weber proved his doubters at Illinois wrong by going to K-State<\/strong> and \"\"putting himself in the discussion for National Coach of the Year (a la Frank Haith at Mizzou last year).\u00a0 And, then there\u00a0is Marcus Smart.\u00a0 The Oklahoma St. <\/strong>point guard is worth the price of cable, and he carried the Cowboys back from the depths of the past couple of years and probably single-handedly saved Travis Ford’s job.\u00a0 Another reclamation project was done cross state at Oklahoma<\/strong>, where the great Lon Kruger was destined to bring the Sooners back to relevance, but who knew it would happen so quickly?\u00a0 “The Mayor” Freddy Hoiberg has Iowa St.<\/strong> going to the tournament again (I don’t care what anyone says – that is a tournament team).\u00a0 But, it wasn’t all rosy in the Big\u00a0XII this year.\u00a0 They may\u00a0be the home of – quite possibly – the three<\/em> biggest flops of the 2012-13 season.\u00a0 Baylor<\/strong>, with\u00a0NBA talent on the bench, is a bubble team…huh? West Virginia<\/strong> finished 6-12 in its inaugural season in the Big XII – and this was the first time that a\u00a0Bobby Huggins-coached team was below .500 in conference play (amazing stat…).\u00a0 And, of course, my old buddy, Rick Barnes, who once again proves Doogan right and me wrong about his gameday coaching abilities (or lack thereof), as he finished 15-16 with a load of talent at Texas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 16th – 60 points)<\/h1>\n

#1 Kansas vs #2 Kansas St.<\/strong>
\nThese in-state rivals are only really rivals the way a hammer and a nail are rivals. \u00a0Kansas owns<\/em> K-State. \u00a0But, K-State can write a really nice chapter in this story here if they can steal the Big XII Tournament title after owning a share of the regular season title with the Jayhawks.<\/p>\n

Dave, Lazarow, Teddy, and Waters have K-State winning here, while 13 people (Alex, Bry, Caleb, Doogan, Gersh, GrossSr, J, LohseJr, Mac, PapaCim, Primm, Scoot, and Stumpf) have rock chalk Jayhawk. \u00a0If Kansas wins here, LohseJr will win the 2013 Big XII title. \u00a0If K-State wins, Lazarow will steal it.<\/p>\n

SEMIFINALS (March 15th – 40 points each)<\/h1>\n

#1 Kansas vs #5 Iowa St.<\/strong>
\nThe Cyclones picked up a HUGE win for their bubble chances on Thursday night, coming from behind to beat Oklahoma.\u00a0 Now, they can essentially cement their bid if they can knock off the\u00a0top-seeded Jayhawks in the semis.\u00a0 Kansas cruised by Texas Tech on Thursday, barely breaking a sweat.<\/p>\n

Dave (who could have a gigantic night, as he’s be on the contrarian side of most big games), GrossJr, Lohse, Lynch, and Teddy all have the big upset pick of ISU here.\u00a0 Cheryl has already lost with her Oklahoma pick.\u00a0 The other 18 all have KU, with 13 of them picking the Jayhawks to win the tournament.\u00a0 Lohse and Lynch have Iowa St. cutting down the nets in this one, so this is a huge game for their 2013 CTCs.<\/p>\n

#2 Kansas St. vs #3 Oklahoma St.<\/strong>
\nOklahoma St. survived a ferocious comeback by Baylor on Thursday night, while K-State rolled past Texas, setting up a really interesting Big XII semifinal nightcap.<\/p>\n

Gersh, J, Scoot, and Stumpf have Baylor here, so they’ve already lost, but the rest of the field is split exactly in half on this one, with ten people for K-State and ten for OSU (Alex, Alexi, Caleb, Cheryl, GrossJr, GrossSr, Lohse, Lynch, Rikey, and RDoc) in a mild upset.\u00a0 Dave, Lazarow, Teddy, and Waters have K-State winning this tournament, while Alexi, Cheryl, Grossjr, Rikey, and RDoc have OSU winning it.\u00a0 This is a pretty huge<\/em> CTC game, to say the least.<\/p>\n

QUARTERFINALS (March 14th – 20 points each)<\/h1>\n

#4 Oklahoma vs #5 Iowa St.<\/strong>
\nOklahoma is probably safely in the tournament (which is amazing considering how far new coach Lon Kruger had to go in such a short time), but, apparently, Iowa St. is not.\u00a0 To me, this is a tournament team.\u00a0 They have a ton of great wins and were completed robbed of another one against Kansas.\u00a0 Two JUCO guys, Will Clyburn (via JUCO and Utah) and Tyrus McGee have been leading Freddy Hoiberg’s team straight back to relevance after losing a lot to graduation.\u00a0 As for OU, they have a ton of talent, so it’s more of an indictment on the former Sooner coaching staff that had could never take advantage of the full talents of\u00a0a Romero Osby.\u00a0 Maybe it’s the freshman backcourt that Coach Kruger has brought in that has made the difference.\u00a0 Or, maybe it’s just Coach Kruger himself.<\/p>\n

To say ISU is a popular upset pick here is an understatement, as only Cheryl, Mac, and Waters have the Sooners in this one.\u00a0 Cheryl has OU going to the finals.\u00a0 Dave, GrossJr, Lohse, Lynch, and Teddy all have the Cyclones reaching the finals, and Lohse has them winning it.<\/p>\n

#1 Kansas vs #9 Texas Tech<\/strong>
\nThere are very few guarantees in sports, but Kansas winning the Big XII is becoming as close to a guarantee as you will find.\u00a0 It is getting ridiculous.\u00a0 This is a fantastic league with big-time programs – how can none of them EVER win this league?\u00a0 Why is Kansas never <\/em>rebuilding?\u00a0 Maybe it’s because they never lose at home.\u00a0 Maybe because Bill Self is just that good.\u00a0 I don’t know, but it’s really, really impressive.\u00a0 It is entering the Roger Federer semifinals streak territory now.\u00a0 They even lost three in a row this year, including an embarrassing loss to lowly TCU.\u00a0 This team is really, really good.\u00a0 Ben McLemore is terrific offensively and Jeff Withey is a monster on the defensive end.\u00a0 They don’t have a lot more (I like Perry Ellis, but he’s still raw), but if Elijah Johnson can play like he did in February and not like he did in the first three months, they are a legit national title contender.\u00a0 As for Texas Tech, it was cute and all that they upset West Virginia on Wednesday, but it probably stops here.<\/p>\n

No one has TT here, but Cheryl does have West Virginia, so she’ll be rooting for a Red Raider upset to zero out this game.\u00a0 More than half of the field (13) have KU winning this tournament.<\/p>\n

#2 Kansas St. vs #7 Texas<\/strong>
\nWhat a year for K-State. \u00a0The Wildcats took Frank Martin’s toughness and combined that with Bruce Weber’s offensive acumen and won a share of the Big XII with their rivals, KU. \u00a0And, there is a ton of talent here, led mostly by the overlooked superstar, Rodney McGruder. \u00a0They also have toughness at point in Angel Rodriguez and in the pivot with Jordan Henriquez. \u00a0Now, they will take on a Texas team that struggled, but beat a bad TCU team on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

GrossSr and RDoc are the only two with Texas here in the big upset pick – neither of them have the ‘Horns in the final. \u00a0Dave, Lazarow, Teddy, and Waters all have K-State winning this whole tournament.<\/p>\n

#3 Oklahoma St. vs #6 Baylor<\/strong>
\nAre we sure that \u00a0Scott Drew can coach? \u00a0He struggled last year with one of the most talented teams I’ve ever seen. \u00a0Then, this year, they have totally retooled with – again – some of the most impressive physical specimens you will ever see on a basketball court and – again – they have struggled. \u00a0They might not even make the tournament this year. \u00a0(By the way…would Kentucky-Baylor be an incredible First Four matchup or is it just me?) \u00a0As for OSU, it starts and ends with Marcus Smart – he’s unbelievable. \u00a0But, the guy whose talent just tantilizes me is LaBryan Nash. \u00a0He could be so good, and he just never really seems to care. \u00a0If someone can light a fire under Nash, watch out, because he and Smart could be an unstoppable 1-2 punch.<\/p>\n

This has serious CTC implications here. \u00a0Eleven people (Bry, Dave, Doogan, Gersh, J, Lazarow, PapaCim, Primm, Scoot, Stumpf, and Waters) have Baylor in the upset here, with Gersh, J, Scoot, and Stumpf picking the Bears to reach the finals. \u00a0The biggest Cowboy supporters are Alexi, Cheryl, GrossJr, RDoc, and Rikey, who all have OSU winning this tournament.<\/p>\n

OPENING ROUND (March 13th – 10 points each)<\/h1>\n

#9 Texas Tech vs #8 West Virginia<\/strong>
\nThe opening round is littered here with a pair of disappoinments and a pair of really bad major-conference teams.\u00a0 The opener pits the 18-loss Mountaineers (major disappoinment) against the 19-loss Red Raiders (really bad major-conference team).\u00a0 Silly me, though, I still <\/em>think West Virginia is dangerous, and I’m not sure why. \u00a0The winner here will get #1 Kansas in the quarters on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Caleb, Dave, LohseJr, and Primm went for the upset pick of Texas Tech. \u00a0Cheryl is the only one that has anything other than this game at stake, as she has the Mountaineers beating Kansas in the quarters.<\/p>\n

#10 TCU vs #7 Texas<\/strong>
\nAnd then the nightcap in the themed opening round pits Texas (major disappoinment) against TCU (really bad major-conference team).\u00a0 The Horned Frogs – complete with stunning wins over Kansas and Oklahoma on their otherwise-disgusting resume – are not fun to watch.\u00a0 But, for the viewers of this game, it is fun to watch how wrong I was (and how right Doogan was – I know, everyone’s shocked…) about Rick Barnes and his ability to coach.\u00a0 These guys are studs and look like they’re playing pickup.\u00a0 There, Doogan, you win, you happy?<\/p>\n

GrossJr and Waters are the only two to take a shot at TCU here. \u00a0GrossSr and RDoc are the only two that have Texas going any further than this game, as they have the ‘Horns in the semis.<\/p>\n

CTC UPDATE<\/h1>\n

Championship Picks<\/strong><\/p>\n