I will be (positively) surprised if the Big 12 gets more than 6 teams into the Dance. Seven could happen, but 8 will be a joke.

I see the Big 4 ... Oklahoma, A&M, Baylor and Nebraska in easily. After that ... Iowa State, Texas Tech and Texas are going to fight out for the last, persumably two, spots. Iowa State has gotten their game back together and Texas Tech holds an important win over Texas. Personally, I think that Texas could be the odd team out. *shrug* They beat Purdue and A&M at home, however ... they've also lost to "bubble" teams like Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Iowa State. They could get into the dance, but I think that they have to beat Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. I don't think that Oklahoma State has any sort of a shot, win against Texas aside.

Even I will admit that eight teams from the B12 is unlikely, but not impossible. We are the #2 rpi conference (collegerpi.com) and have 7 of our teams in the top 40 rpi. At this point, anything can still happen. A lot will depend on who finishes at .500 in the league (which should get just about any one of our teams in this year) and who manages to win a game or two in Oklahoma City when the beginning of March rolls around. This conference is strong enough to get eight in if things fall the right way. If they don't, then we don't deserve that many. Simple as that.

Both ESPN.com and collegerpi.com have the Big 12 listed with 8 teams in on their latest bracket projections. Again, this is all certain to change as the season winds down, but it is not impossible - an not without near precedent. For the 2001-2002 season, SEVEN Big 12 teams were top 4 seeds and all hosted first and second round NCAA games (back when the home sites were awarded on merit and given to the top 16 seeds, and were not pre-determined as they are today).

I just can't see Eight teams in the dance. OSU played NOBODY in their non-conference schedule. They are a team on the rise, but they shouldn't get a berth due to that fact alone.

Texas, Texas Tech and Iowa State really need to upset a Top 4 team otherwise, they are going to be fighting each other to stay at .500 in the conference.

Long story short ... the 3 .500 conference record "bubble teams" (Texas, Texas Tech and Iowa State) are each playing 3 Top 4 squads in their last 6 games, so unless upsets occur, they're going to have 8 losses each.

Then, Iowa State is playing Texas Tech.
Texas Tech is playing Texas and Iowa State.
Texas is going to play Texas Tech.

Again ... Unless upsets occur, one of these 3 teams is going to finish with a sub .500 record in conference. I think that it could be tough for a sub-.500 Big 12 team to get into the dance since they're beating each other up in conference.

I think that 6 teams will be in easily, 7 teams could be tough, but there is no way that 8 teams will get into the dance or I will travel to Stillwater and run around town butt-ass nekkid.

Of course, if upsets occur ... LOL, most of this will be moot, but ... if no upsets occur and the follow scenario presents itself, I can see 7 teams in the dance.

IMO, since Texas has the best resume of the "bubble teams", if they lose to Texas Tech and Iowa State beats Texas Tech ... Iowa State would be 9-7, Texas Tech would be 8-8, and Texas would be 7-9 in conference. I can't see the committee leaving a 7-9 Texas squad out of the dance due to their wins against Purdue, A&M, and Oklahoma. Hell, Texas even at 7-9 could easily be at least a 6 seed because of their great wins.

Nick

What a wild weekend in the Big 12! Oklahoma got swept for the season by Texas A&M, losing in College Station, Kansas (of all teams) beat Texas in Austin, both on Saturday, and Kansas State went to Lubbock and beat Texas Tech. Of course, Iowa State couldn't manage anything of the sort against Baylor...

We had a good, if very brief, trip to Waco, Texas, over the weekend to watch ISU play at Baylor. We started slow, didn't guard the perimeter and the Bears hit 9 3s in the first half (averaging 3 3s per GAME over the course of the season). Their point guard, Angela Tisdale, hit 6 in the first half by herself. We just weren't getting over to even get a hand in her face. Of course, as our defense is prone to do, we didn't make adjustments to slow them down until the second half. By halftime, the damage had been done and Baylor led 49-26.

It was nearly the same result as in the Colorado game at Boulder - down by 24 at the half, mount an ok comeback to start the second half, but never get it closer than 12 or 14 points. We played hard and never gave up on trying, but it just wasn't enough. Lyndsey Medders sat out for the second time in three games because of the concussion from a week and a half ago. Don't know if she will play on Wednesday against A&M or not. She looked so miserable not being able to play on Saturday. There simply isn't any reason to risk further injury with her head. She probably shouldn't have played at all last Wednesday against Missouri.

Scores from the weekend:

Oklahoma 68
Texas A&M 78

Nebraska 54
Colorado 44

Kansas 50
Texas 49

Oklahoma State 83
Missouri 57

Iowa State 64
Baylor 81

Kansas State 66
Texas Tech 59

Conference records, rpi as of today 2/12:

9-2 Nebraska 23
9-2 Texas A&M 26
8-3 Baylor 13
8-3 Oklahoma 17
5-6 Iowa State 38
5-6 Oklahoma State 76
5-6 Texas 27
5-6 Texas Tech 42
4-7 Kansas State 31
4-7 Colorado 93
2-9 Missouri 60
2-9 Kansas 119

This weekend really messed things up concerning who is on track for the NCAAs. A 4-way tie for 5th place doesn't help any. OSU can greatly improve their rpi if they manage to win a couple of games down the stretch, but with facing A&M, NU, Baylor, and Texas, it won't be easy. But they'll have to get the rpi # up if they wanna have a shot, and that means winning a few more times.

Same goes for ISU, as far as games are concerned. If we don't get to .500 in conference, we're not getting in the big tournament. Texas is the only school I see as having any shot if they should finish 7-9. No one else with that record should get in this year. The bottom three teams are out, barring a run thru the Big 12 Tournament. #s 5-9 are all wild cards and could all play their way in or out depending on what happens. Should be a VERY interesting run to the end of the season. Personally, I NEVER thought I'd see Oklahoma NOT in first place at this point.

There was one game last night - Oklahoma beat up on Texas in Norman, 78-58, before a crowd of over 11,000. OU was up 48-22 at the half and never looked back. Texas is definitely trying to play their way out of the NCAAs. The 'Horn's remaining games are at Baylor and A&M, and hosting OSU and Tech. They could conceivably lose out (or, less likely, win out) and finish 5-11 in conference. Yikes.

Both Paris twins started last night and finished with double-doubles, Ashley with 13 points, 11 boards; Courtney with 27 points, 15 boards. I guess Sherri Coale was unhappy with the way the last few games had turned out and shuffled the starting line-up a bit. I'd say it worked pretty well.

Iowa State got a HUGE win last night over #13 Texas A&M here in Ames, 61-54. I have to admit I am a little surprised that we were able pull this one off over a team that was tied for the conference lead, had completed a season sweep of OU for the first time in school history, and possessed arguably the best, most physical defense in the Big 12. If I remember right, A&M only led once, and that was by a point. Until seven minutes remaining in the game, ISU had not led by more than five points. We managed to get up by 12 or 13 with a couple of minutes to go, but A&M made a small run and cut the lead to the final margin.

IMO their defense didn't look as aggressive or as quick as it has when I've watched them in other games this season. They only had two players in double figures, Takia Starks with 23 (who had 16 at the half), and Gant with 13. They racked up 22 fouls and put us at the line 27 times vs. 6 attempts for them. But that's the style they play - dare the officials to call something and see what you can get away with. BTW, the WORST officiating crew of the season, by far. It's been a long time since we've booed the refs off the court at halftime. These guys were awful. Thought Fennelly was going to get T'd up in the first half. He was about to blow a gasket over all the mad calls, missed calls, inconsistent calls, overturned calls (from right to wrong), etc. But, whatever- we won!

Nebraska managed to lose at home to Texas Tech by a single point, 70-69. Haven't seen any write-ups on it, but that keeps NU from taking sole possession of first place - they fall back into a tie with A&M, Baylor and Oklahoma at 9-3. Our senior night is this coming Tuesday against the Huskers - we WILL NOT LOSE to them. We simply cannot - end of story. Not on Lyndsey, Megan, and Abby's final home game. Not to a team that hasn't won in Ames in nearly a decade.

Final note - Lyndsey Medders played 32 minutes last night, even started. Her tests from her concussions came back negative and she was cleared to play. This is what we need to finish the season - her on the floor to run the show. She may not have tons of points, but we need her calming effect when she's running point. The rest of the team seemed much more relaxed knowing she was out there with them - a good sign.

Scores from last night:

Oklahoma State 66
Baylor 75

Colorado 60
Kansas State 58

Texas A&M 54
Iowa State 61

Missouri 67
Kansas 57

Texas Tech 70
Nebraska 69


Current league standings and rpi as of 2/15:

9-3 Baylor 9
9-3 Oklahoma 15
9-3 Nebraska 24
9-3 Texas A&M 26
6-6 Iowa State 35
6-6 Texas Tech 36
5-7 Oklahoma State 75
5-7 Texas 27
5-7 Colorado 87
4-8 Kansas State 41
3-9 Missouri 60
2-10 Kansas 129

Iowa State managed another win in Hilton Coliseum yesterday and also managed another game of "payback" to Colorado. Earlier in the season we lost in Boulder 81-67 after trailing 48-24 at the half. We played terribly, they played great - not a good result for ISU. The game was markedly different this time. We hit our shots and defended very well against their best players, notching the win 74-55 before a crowd of 10,300 (again, paid attendance).

We started out on a 7-0 run but CU answered with a 9-0 run of their own, eventually taking a 16-12 lead, their largest of the game. That was as good as it would get for the Buffs, though, as we built a 13 point lead going into the break and expanded it from there. ISU led by as many as 21 and kept the final margin near 20 point ever after we put in our third stringers and CU didn't pull theirs and started full-court pressing us with three minutes to go. Tacky, tacky, tacky. (UNC's Sylvia Hatchel did this to us in Ames with a few minutes left back in 2000 or 2001 at Hilton when we were blowing them out of the building by 34 or so points. They cut it to maybe 17 before Fennelly said enough is enough and put ALL FIVE of our starters back in the game to finish out the last minute and a half or so. I've never seen him so mad at another coach before or since.)

Nicky Wieben led us again with 18 points on 7-9 shooting, while Alison Lacey chipped in 13 points with 5 boards and 3 assists. Lyndsey Medders led the team with 7 rebounds along with 9 points and 7 assists. We held CU's leading scorer, Jackie McFarland, to 12 points (averages 18+). But the big difference maker was our perimeter defense, allowing the Buffs to go only 2-12 from three point range after they managed to be 13-23 when we played them in Boulder.

The Cyclones are now 19-7, 7-6 on the season, alone in 5th place in the conference. We host Nebraska Tuesday night for our senior night. The Huskers got the best of us in Lincoln, without Lyndsey Medders on the court at all. I believe it will be much different here in Ames in two days. FoxSportsNet will be broadcasting this game. Not sure if it's on the whole network or just regionally, but check it out if you get the chance - Tuesday, Feb 20th, 7 pm central time. Nebraska is coming off a home loss yesterday to Missouri (thanks, Mizzou), that will not do us any real favors, but there is no reason they can't lose two in a row.

Scores from yesterday:

Oklahoma 70
Texas Tech 67

Colorado 55
Iowa State 74

Texas A&M 62
Oklahoma State 60

Missouri 65
Nebraska 53


Games played today:

Kansas State at
Kansas (on tv - hope they show my Jayhawk cheerleader!)

Texas at
Baylor

Will post standings and rpi tomorrow (Monday). Collegerpi.com had not yet updated their information from yesterday's games.

Ok, my cheerleader was on tv, so that made my day - only got a couple of quick glimpses of him - they kept showing some ugly dude in the foreground. Camera men have no taste, apparently - at least the straight ones, anyway.

BTW, Kansas won over Kansas State 82-74 in double overtime in Lawrence. It was a really fun game to watch - total battle down to the end when KU finally got a couple of stops in the 2nd OT.

Scores from yesterday:

Texas 56
Baylor 71

Kansas State 74
Kansas 82 2OT

Standings as of 2/19 (conf. record, overall, team, rpi):

10-3, 23-4 Baylor 9
10-3, 20-4 Oklahoma 15
10-3, 20-5 Texas A&M 27
9-4, 21-6 Nebraska 29
7-6, 19-7 Iowa State 34
6-7, 15-12 Texas Tech 38
5-8, 17-9 Oklahoma State 72
5-8, 16-11 Texas 30
5-8, 11-14 Colorado 91
4-9, 16-10 Kansas State 58
4-9, 16-10 Missouri 45
3-10, 9-17 Kansas 122

The Iowa State/Nebraska game will be televised on FoxSports Midwest tonight at 7 central time, for those who are interested in watching - and who get FSN Midwest. There is also a free internet broadcast of the game from www.cyclones.com as well.

Go Clones!

Wow, big win for the Cyclones tonight! ISU could find themselves with a bye in the conference tournament if this keeps up and Nebraska continues the freefall.

Yes, this WAS a big win for Iowa State. ISU won 64-53, after leading by 19 with about 7 minutes to play. Most of the first half was close - we were tied with Nebraska four times, but we never trailed. Lyndsey Medders hit two shots (including a 3) in the last minute that put us up 26-19 at the half. This was NU's lowest first half output all season.

We struggled to find our shot in the first half, but so did the Huskers. Both teams missed their first 5 3 point attempts and didn't hit much else from the floor either. ISU heated up in the second half, sinking 7 treys to total 9 (of 21) for the game.

Our defense worked very well last night. We were collapsing on Kelsey Griffin in the paint, holding her to 4 points (she averages 15.5), forcing them to shoot outside shots, which weren't falling. Two Huskers made it to double figures - Kiera Hardy, their leading scorer, had 12 (averages 15.8) and reserve Danielle Page had 12.

For ISU, Lyndsey had pushed a triple-double with 13 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists. Megan had 15 points, 8 rebounds; Toccara Ross had 10 points, 9 rebounds; and Nicky Wieben had 9 points, 10 boards. It was a very balanced performance for us, which is great.

Iowa State moved up to 28 in the rpi list, NU dropped to 29. We are now one game out of 4th place in the Big 12 - ISU is 8-6, NU is 9-5 with two games remaining each. The other teams play tonight - I will have results and standings tomorrow at some point.

Happy Wednesday!

It was pretty much business as usual last night in the Big 12. Only one game could really be considered an upset, Oklahoma State winning at Texas 64-52. Considering the way UT has played lately, it's probably NOT that big of an upset.

I watched a little of the Baylor at Colorado and Kansas State at Missouri games on tv last night. Neither was terribly exciting. CU made it closer than they probably had any right to, though I believe Baylor led nearly the entire way - it WAS a two point game late in the second half.

Missouri played just well enough to hold off K-State 69-61 in Columbia. Kansas State has had a horrible conference season this year, falling to 4-10. Expectations were reasonably high for the season after winning the post-season WNIT last year and starting the non-conference slate this season 12-1. Their guard play has been mostly solid, but they have huge holes in the paint. Shana Wheeler is decent, but can't do it by herself. They had a good freshman post player transfer to Iowa after last season, which left them very thin in that area. Guess they weren't able to rebound from the losses due to the defections and graduation.

Oklahoma got a game out of Kansas, winning only 76-70 in Lawrence. Courtney Paris had 32 points and 13 rebounds. This was a two point game at the half, with OU leading. Overall, it would not have been that close had OU made its free throws - they were 18 of 32. KU committed 23 fouls vs. 13 for the Sooners.

Thought it was interesting that after winning Big 12 Player and Newcomer of the Week this week, ISU's Nicky Wieben and OU's Jenna Plumley both had sub-par games their next time on the court. Wieben was held to 9 points against Nebraska (although she only averages 12, she had averaged 19 the previous week) and Plumley was held to 3 points vs. Kansas. Wieben has always struggled against Nebraska for some reason. This was the most points she has ever scored against them, if I'm not mistaken.

Scores from last night:

Oklahoma 76
Kansas 70

Oklahoma State 64
Texas 52

Texas Tech 51
Texas A&M 67

Baylor 75
Colorado 67

Kansas State 61
Missouri 69


Standings, rpi as of today, 2/22:

11-3 Baylor 11
11-3 Oklahoma 16
11-3 Texas A&M 25
9-5 Nebraska 29
8-6 Iowa State 28
6-8 Oklahoma State 62
6-8 Texas Tech 37
5-9 Missouri 45
5-9 Texas 34
5-9 Colorado 91
4-10 Kansas State 65
3-11 Kansas 119

The Big 12 is still the #2 overall conference according to collegerpi.com. Interesting to note that we still have 8 of the top 45 teams in the country and 6 of the top 35, in spite of some stumbles since the first of the year.

Iowa State will be on national television this Saturday at Kansas State on FoxSports Net at 1 p.m. central time. Texas Tech will be at Texas on FoxSports Net at 3 central. At 8 pm central, Kansas will be at Colorado on FoxSports Rocky Mountain - unfortunately, I doubt Kansas will bring their cheerleaders.

Sorry I was not able to post sooner that today about the games over the weekend. We travelled back from Manhattan, Kansas through a "fun" snow and icestorm Saturday night and didn't venture out Sunday (no internet access at home at the moment) to get online.

Good news! - Iowa State managed to win it's second conference road game of the year at Kansas State on Saturday, 64-61. We did not take our first lead until :27 in the game. KSU was up 14 in the first half, up 5 at halftime, and up 10 at different points in the second half. ISU kept plugging away and making runs, but not able to cut the margin closer than three until the last couple of minutes. The win was even better because it was senior night for K-State - one game early, as their next (and last) game was also at home. We're thinking they changed it to motivate the team to get a rare win against a streaking team (us, now winners of four straight).

Our seniors came up huge again for us. Lyndsey had 16 points and Megan Ronhovde had 12, all on 3 pointers. Four other players scored at least 7. Most categories were really close, except for free throws - where KSU lost the game. We were 13-16 from the line. KSU was 6-16. Ashley Sweat and Shana Wheeler combined to go 1-8 on free throws for the Wildcats, including brick after brick near the end when it might have made a huge difference.

The shot that put us ahead came when Lyndsey drove into the paint, drew the defense, dished it to a WIDE open Megan in the left corner who swished a 3 (after missing her last two). She said in the postgame interview that she knew it was going in as soon as she released it. =)

This win puts ISU at 21-7, 9-6 for the season, good for a tie with Nebraska for 4th place. NU lost AGAIN on Saturday, at Oklahoma State, 63-60. That was their fourth straight loss. If NU loses their last game to Colorado and we manage to beat Texas Tech, we will win sole possession of 4th place and a first round bye in the conference tournament. This win was also an ISU "first": it marked the first time that Iowa State has ever swept the season series from both Kansas and K-State in the same year

Scores from the weekend:

Iowa State 64
Kansas State 61

Texas Tech 47
Texas 59

Nebraska 60
Oklahoma State 63

Kansas 50
Colorado 59

Texas A&M 63
Baylor 58

Missouri 57
Oklahoma 72


Current standings and rpi as of 2/26 (conference record, overall record, team, rpi):

12-3, 22-4 Oklahoma - 14
12-3, 22-5 Texas A&M - 22
11-4, 24-5 Baylor - 12
9-6, 21-7 Iowa State - 27
9-6, 21-8 Nebraska - 33
7-8, 19-9 Oklahoma State - 54
6-9, 17-12 Texas - 31
6-9, 15-14 Texas Tech - 42
6-9, 12-15 Colorado - 91
5-10, 17-11 Missouri - 44
4-11, 16-12 Kansas State - 71
3-12, 9-19 Kansas - 141

Colorado failed to beat Nebraska last night, losing 90-70. So, regardless of what Iowa State does on Thursday, we are locked into the 5th seed for the Big 12 Tournament. We will open against Kansas (the 12 seed) this Tuesday at 2:30 central time. The first round games are not televised, but the quarterfinals through finals will be on FoxSports.

Thanks a lot, Buffs - all you had to do was beat NU and we were the 4 seed... At least I will get to see my KU cheerleader again.

Edited to note that I guess it IS still possible that Kansas might be able to move up to the 11 seed - but I hope not!

Scores from last night:

Oklahoma State 64
Kansas State 55

Texas 60
Texas A&M 67

Baylor 61
Oklahoma 88

Tonight's games:

ISU @
Tech

Kansas @
Mizzou


Thoughts at this point - Texas A&M is the #1 seed for the conference tournament with the win over UT last night. It's their first conference championship in women's basketball. OU will be the 2 seed, while Baylor will be the 3.

Oklahoma State finishes their conference season with an 8-8 record and is 20-9 overall. Their rpi has steadily moved up all season long, but is it enough to get in the NCAAs? I think one win in OKC does the trick.

Iowa State did last night what they have never done before - win at Texas Tech, 72-68 on Tech's senior night. ISU led by as many as nine points early on, but Tech kept making runs and keeping it close. Our seniors led the team in scoring for the third straight game. Megan Ronhovde had 18 points and Lyndsey Medders had 16, each hitting four 3 pointers (ISU had 11 on the night). We were outrebounded and out-shot at the free throw line, but somehow managed to hang on for the win.

We were already locked into the 5 seed for the tournament before this game, but it will hopefully improve our resume for the NCAAs. ISU will play Kansas State as the 12 seed on Tuesday in OKC. Kansas beat Missouri at Columbia, 70-66, to move up to an 11 seed.

For the tournament, these are the first round pairings:

#8 Colorado
#9 Texas Tech

#5 Iowa State
#12 Kansas State

#7 Texas
#10 Missouri

#6 Oklahoma State
#11 Kansas

The 8/9 winner will play #1 Texas A&M on Wednesday, the 5/12 winner will play #4 Nebraska, the 7-10 winner will play #2 Oklahoma, and the 6-11 winner will play #3 Baylor in the quarterfinals.

The Big 12 has 8 teams in the top 50 rpi, with another (Mizzou) at 56. The top six teams SHOULD all get an invitation to dance, but I still think OSU has to win at least a game in our tourney to get it's ticket punched. Unless Texas, Tech, or any other team in the bottom six wins out, they're looking at WNIT or nothing. Texas has a great rpi (33), but with ten league losses there's no way they're getting in without four wins in five days.

This is my favorite time of year!!!

Am back from the first two rounds of play in the Big 12 tournament in Oklahoma City. Iowa State won on Tuesday and Wednesday (last night), first beating Kansas State 57-45, then Nebraska 79-76 in overtime. We will face top seed Texas A&M tonight in the semi-finals for the right to play either Baylor or Oklahoma on Saturday for the championship. Believe me, I wish I was going to be there tonight, but the amount of vacation I have built up right now does not allow me to take the rest of the week off.

Iowa State got off to a slow start on Tuesday, scoring only 8 points in the first seven and a half minutes of the game. However, this was better than the 0 K-State scored in the same amount of time. The Wildcats caught up 8-7, but never took the lead. In the second half, ISU was able to pull away to the final margin of 12 points. K-State bricked a bunch of free throws again (me screaming "REBOUND, REBOUND!!" every time they shot wasn't helping, I'm sure). We had 3 players in double figures, while they only had two. Not a pretty game, but a win is a win. This time of year, it's only important that you move on.

Yesterday, Nebraska built a ten point first half lead. ISU cut it to 2, then it grew to nine again by halftime, 45-36. Once we caught up fairly early in the second half, it was back and forth the rest of the way, which led to the overtime period. We were down three with around 12 seconds to go. Lyndsey had the ball, but couldn't get an open look. Nicky managed to set a great screen and Lyndsey literally heaved up a shot that sailed through the net with 1.7 second remaining to send the game to overtime. The ISU side of the building was going absolutely ape-shit. The 70 or so NU fans stood there stunned and silent. If anyone saw the look on Lyndsey's face after that shot, you just KNEW there was no way we were NOT going to win this game. Nebraska made the first shot to take the lead, but ISU answered with a 3 pointer and never trailed again.

Lyndsey finished with 27 points, a season high, and was 5-7 from 3 point range. Alison Lacey and Nicky Wieben each had 14 points, three more players had either 7 or 8 points each. Four Cyclones had five rebounds apiece. Nebraska started shooting nearly 65% in the first half, going 18-28. In the second half, they cooled off only going 7-25 for 28%.

Iowa State an Texas A&M face off in the first semi-final tonight on FoxSports at 6 pm central time.

In other games so far, Kansas, the 11 seed, managed to upset the 6 seed, Oklahoma State by 9 on Tuesday. The Jayhawks got their butts handed to them by Baylor last night, losing by 17 in a game that wasn't really that close. The Cowgirl loss might be enough to push them off the bubble for the NCAAs. I will be surprised at this point if they make it in.

The only other "upset" was Colorado over Tech, sending the Raiders to a 15-16 record and assurance they will be going nowhere this month except home. CU won 71-67 in a game that was close through-out.

Texas won their first round game over Missouri, but lost to OU last night. I'm not sure they did enough to get in this time. I think they needed to win two games in OKC. Their record is 18-14, 6-10, rpi of 30, sos of 8. Their record over the last ten games is weak and they finished a very disappointing 7th (3 way tie with Tech and Colorado). Only five teams are assured of an invitation - OU, A&M, BU, ISU, and NU.

Matt, you must be thrilled! Cyclones in the BIG 12 final. I'm hoping they face Baylor, otherwise Oklahoma will have the home court advantage.

I know!! We never expected to be in this position going into the tournament. I thought we'd win a couple of games, but not advance this far. Man, I wish I could have stayed to watch last night's game in person instead of at home on tv. Iowa State played like the #1 seed, while A&M was trying to solve us all night long. They started out strong, but we kept coming at them again and again. Odd that A&M can sweep OU, while we lose to OU by 20, but we can beat A&M twice.

Anyway, on to the game - the main threat from ISU last night was the 3 point shot again. For a long stretch, it was all the offense we needed. Spanning the two halves, ISU made 8 CONSECUTIVE 3 pointers by five different players. We didn't even attempt a two point shot in the second half until about seven minutes had passed. Finally, the 3s stopped falling and we took it back inside to finish them off.

Lyndsey Medders had gotten herself into foul trouble and was sitting for a while in the second half. In the past, this would have sent the other players into a tailspin. But lately Heather Ezell and Alison Lacey have been able to handle any kind of pressure defense and keep things running smoothly. Assistant Coach Harris told the other players towards the end, "Medders got us this far, it's time for you help get her to the championship game."

Iowa State has now won eight in a row dating back to a February 14th upset of Texas A&M in Ames, the longest winning streak against conference teams ever. Our record improves to 25-7 on the year, while the rpi jumped to #22 this morning with an SOS in the 40s. Charlie Creme from ESPN has ISU moved up to a 6 seed in the NCAA tournament, which seems about right.

Unfortunately, we now face Oklahoma for the championship on Saturday evening in Oklahoma City - in front of 12,000 or so Sooner fans. Hafta say that it's only fair to play on a "neutral" court with a home crowd when it's ISU fans and we're playing in Kansas City. We have lost three straight to OU (after winning 9 of the previous 10), although we came damned close to beating them in the tournament last year in Dallas.

We'll be there for the game tomorrow, so look for us behind the ISU bench. We'll be the ones wearing red...

#2 Oklahoma vs.
#5 Iowa State

Big 12 Championship game
Saturday, March 10th, 6 p.m. central time, FoxSports Net

Congratulations to the University of Oklahoma for winning the Big 12 Championship 67-60. This was a real battle and a game of HUGE runs. OU got off to an 11-0 start before we outscored them 26-12 going into halftime, leading 26-23. ISU started out hot in the second half and managed to get up 33-25. OU then went on a run that would eventually put them up 57-42 with seven minutes left to play. Iowa State made one last valiant run to close the gap to 57-51 with just over three minutes remaining, but could get no closer.

We managed to contain Courtney Paris for the first half, but had difficulty slowing her down in the second period. We also failed to provide an answer for Leah Rush. CP3 finished with 23 points, 21 rebounds. Rush had 18 points. No other Sooner scored more than 8. We stopped either one in the second half and we might very well have taken this one.

For ISU, both Lyndsey Medders and Alison Lacey scored 18 points. Megan Ronhovde had 8 points and 9 rebounds. Iowa State hit 11 3 pointers in this game, making it three straight games with 10 or more 3s. We have made 247 3s for the season, a good clip for us, but well short of our record of 300 makes set in 1999 and tied in 2000.

So we wait for tonight to discover our fate in the NCAA Tournament. Most projections have us as a 6 seed now. One has us playing in Minneapolis this weekend, which would be great so our fans can travel. I don't think we'll be that lucky to stay so close to home. Am personally just hoping for a decent draw for first and second round match-ups.

Iowa State is a #6 seed in the Dallas Region. We play #11 Washington in the first round in Minneapolis on Saturday morning. Minneapolis is GREAT because it will allow our fans to travel up there easier than any other place that was hosting this year. When we played Minnesota there last season, ISU brought about 1500 people to the game. There should be at LEAST double that for an NCAA game.

The Big 12 fared reasonably well. Some people thought Oklahoma got shafted with a 3 seed. They probably have a good argument, but it didn't happen, so we need to deal with it and move on. These are the Big 12 teams that got in with their seeds and first round opponents:

3 Oklahoma vs.
14 SE Missouri State

4 Texas A&M vs.
13 UT-Arlington

5 Baylor vs.
12 Chattanooga

6 Iowa State vs.
11 Washington

9 Nebraska vs.
8 Temple

10 Oklahoma State vs.
7 Bowling Green

There is only one of these that really makes me think we can't go 6-0 in the first round. I don't see NU beating Temple if the Huskers play the way they have played lately. Temple didn't lose their first conference game until the last regular season game of the year.

I know BGU is good - they've been ranked all season, but I don't think they have played tough games night in and night out in their conference like OSU. I AM surprised OSU made it, but now that they are in, they need to pull off a win or two. Don't choke like you did against Kansas in OKC, Cowgirls.

I have already seen people calling Washington over ISU for an early upset. While we lost to them the last two times we've played U-Dub, I don't see it happening again. They beat us in Ames by 20 points when our seniors were freshmen - don't think they don't remember.

Texas got left out, as I expected. By the end of the selection show last night, Jody Conradt announced her retirement from coaching. UT turned down a WNIT invitation also. People who have payed attention to the last couple of seasons could see this one coming sooner rather than later. Will be interesting to see who Texas finds to replace Jody. I am happy to say that I was able to personally witness Jody's 900th career coaching victory last Tuesday in OKC when Texas beat Missouri.

One final note this morning - Iowa State finally got ranked for the first time all season in both polls that came out yesterday. ISU is #25 in the coach's poll and #24 in the final AP poll. Hooray! Someone finally noticed we won a couple of good games this year!!

Click here for full women's NCAA bracket: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/ncaatourney07/bracket

We had a great time at a fun game in Minneapolis yesterday. Iowa State took it to Washington, winning 79-60. We got off to a slow start, with U-Dub up 15-6, but we figured out how to slow them down from that point and led 39-26 at the half.

ISU was led by Nicky Wieben with 18 points, 7 rebounds. Lyndsey Medders, Toccara Ross, and Alison Lacey all had 12 points apiece. Megan Ronhovde had eight rebounds in what was her second to last game in her home state. ISU was 9-22 on 3 pointers for the day, including 2-2 shooting by Wieben, and 2-3 by Lacey and Heather Ezell. Washington was led by their season leading scorer, Cameo Hicks, with 19 points.

One cool thing for one of our players: little used reserve, Genesis Lightbourne, scored her first field goal of the season in this game after Coach Fennelly cleared the bench at the end. It was great to see her get a bucket. Gen had made three free throws at various points during the season to get some points, but had not made any shots until yesterday.

One other thing that was funny, but 'not' at the same time. The in-house announcer referred to us as the "Hawkeyes" when announcing a foul (I believe) that was committed. He corrected himself quickly, but not before the building erupted in a chorus of "Boo!"s. In his defense, he IS used to only seeing Iowa play there, NOT Iowa State. Bobby, you would have thought it was hilarious...

We had an AWESOME crowd there yesterday. The University organized a bus trip for fans and they filled seven charters, plus the thousands who drove up on their own (like we did). Attendance for the session, which included Georgia in the second game, was listed at 5300. Since they track attendance by session and not by individual game, I am guessing there weren't many people at the Georgia/Belmont game at all, unless some ISU fans stuck around for it. Iowa State probably accounted for at least 4000 of the people that were in the building for our game, if not more. Washington had around 50 people, if you included their band. There were probably 500 or so Gopher fans who bought tickets well ahead of time, hoping their team was going to be playing there this year, but they sat and watched without doing much of anything.

Monday night, Iowa State will face off against 3 seed Georgia. Georgia is the team that kept ISU out of the Final Four in 1999 in Cincinnati after we beat top seed UCONN in the third round. This should be an interesting match-up, just to see how we can play with a team as big and physical as the Bulldogs. If we play as well as we did against Washington, it will be on to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2001! GO CYCLONES!!


Big 12 scores from yesterday:

Iowa State 79
Washington 60

Oklahoma 74
SE Missouri State 60

Texas A&M 58
UT Arlington 50

WNIT:
Kansas State 72
Southern Illinois 46

Sounds like you had a blast Matt. I read that many of the Minnesota fans were cheering for Iowa State as well. It would be great if the Cyclones could win on Monday and advance to the sweet 16.

I'm hoping Drake doesn't get crushed too badly tonight!! Yikes.

Well, I hope the Gopher fans were cheering for us - I guess I didn't see it much from my viewpoint. We'll need them tonight for sure. No one is giving Iowa State any respect - they didn't even mention us when reviewing the brackets after round one. Basically, it was "yeah, Georgia will move on." Nice. Like we need any more motivation to keep going. The only reason Georgia beat Belmont as badly as they did Saturday is that Belmont couldn't hit themselves in the head with a baseball bat. They had one field goal over the last 15+ minutes of the game.

Maybe ESPN will actually show BOTH halves of our game tonight also (ESPN2 at 6 pm central). We taped it and watched Sunday morning only to find that after halftime, they showed the Oklahoma/SEMO game. Not sure who was responsible for the screw-up (ESPN or DirecTV), but the entire state of Iowa was supposed to be shown this game without interruption. Needless to say, I'm not happy, but am not sure who to be pissed at.

Anyway, we will head up again this afternoon and yell like hell for our team. Noticed on ESPN.com that their preview sidebar notes that ISU was founded in 1788, 15 years before the Louisiana Purchase - interesting...


Scores from yesterday:

Baylor 68
Chattanooga 55

Oklahoma State 66
Bowling Green 70

Nebraska 61
Temple 64


WNIT scores:

Missouri 67
Wyoming 73


Big 12 teams still playing in the post-season after one game: Iowa State, Oklahoma, Baylor, Texas A&M, and Kansas State

What ended up being a really great season and a thrilling end-of-the-year run has ended for Iowa State. The Cyclones were throttled by Georgia Monday night in Minneapolis, 76-56. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 20-2 lead and never looked back. It was 40-13 with just over five minutes left in the first half before ISU found its shot and closed the gap to 43-25. Georgia ended the half on a run of their own, taking a 51-27 lead into the lockerroom.

The second half went no better for Iowa State. We were pretty much trading baskets until the end, with little runs on each side until the final margin of 20 points. UGA led by as many as 32 and as little as 17 in the second half.

It was hard to watch Fennelly pull Lyndsey and Megan (two of our three seniors) off the court at the end of the game so the crowd could recognize them properly. Lyndsey was in tears. Megan seemed to hold it together a little better. I can't even imagine what it must feel like to know you just played your last game as a member of the team you've been on for four years.

Lyndsey will most likely get signed by a WNBA team this spring, which would be awesome for her. Megan is getting married at the end of the year and is looking for in Chicago. I'm not sure if she ever had aspirations to play after college or not, but she has not chosen to pursue the idea. Abby (the third senior, a former walk-on who earned a scholarship this year) is also engaged and will join the workforce shortly. Lyndsey has said that she wants to continue to play as long as her body lets her. Otherwise, she is interested in coaching or broadcasting, both of which she would be a natural, IMO.

Back to the game: there was a great article in the St. Paul paper the day after we lost. It talked about no matter how far down ISU was, the fans never stopped cheering and supporting their team. It was something that I was very proud of as a fan. Even down 32, we let our girls know that we were there for them. Even on a Monday night, there were probably 3000 Cyclone fans there in Minneapolis. Here is a link to the story:

http://www.startribune.com/10073/story/1066366.html

So the season ends with a thud, but not before having as good a one-month stretch as the program has had over the course of one season under Fennelly. ISU finished 26-9, good for the third most wins in school history, winning 10 of their final 12 games, and 10-6 in the Big 12, good for a tie for 4th place. Lyndsey and Megan are both members of the 1000 point club at ISU. Nicky Wieben will join them as a junior next season, and the list will most likely include Heather Ezell and Alison Lacey before their careers are over as well.

We had four players make at LEAST 45 3 pointers this year, with Lyndsey leading the way with 67. The team made 262 for the season, shooting 34% from beyond the arc. Overall shooting % was 42, while free throw % was over 74. Nicky had 62 blocks, setting a record for blocks in a single season. ISU made 20 more free throws than our opponents ATTEMPTED (465 to 445). They out-assisted their foes 525-408, with Lyndsey taking over the #1 spot for career assists at ISU and moving into 4th all-time in the Big 12. We also averaged nearly 9000 in attendance for the season, putting us in the top 11 nationally every year since 1998.

This season has been a memorable one for Cyclone fans. The connection with this team has been amazing - there are no words to describe it. You've either been here and understand it or you don't. I hope those who have been reading the all season have enjoyed what I've posted, following this team from game to game. I'll continue to put updates here for the rest of the conference as long as we have teams still playing - down to OU and KSU now. Thanks again!

The (mostly) unpleaseant second round scores from earlier in the week for Big 12 teams:

Iowa State 56
Georgia 76

Texas A&M 47
George Washington 59

Oklahoma 78
Marquette 47

Baylor 72
North Carolina State 78 (OT)


Tonights WNIT matchup:

Illinois (19-11) @
Kansas State (17-14)


BTW, I'm now offically the biggest Purdue fan EVER. Beat Georgia!!!!

WNIT score from last night:

Illinois 51
Kansas State 66

Looks like K-State figured out how to win again now that they're not playing conference competition. Illinois was the 4th place team in the Big 10 this year, while KSU was the 12th place team in the Big 12.

Oklahoma went down today, meaning there are no Big 12 teams left in the postseason. With as strong as the conference was, I am honestly very surprised we didn't advance anyone further than what we did.

It was the Courtney Paris show and little else today as Mississippi won 90-82 in Dayton. Paris scored 31 points with 20 rebounds to lead the Sooners, but no one else from OU scored more than 11. The surprising Rebels were led by Armintie Price with 31 and Ashley Awkward with 25. Ole Miss forced 26 turnovers, including getting 16 steals and threw everything they had at OU, forcing the Sooners out of their normal rhythm. They will face top seed Tennessee for the right to go to the Final Four in Cleveland.

Kinda funny that now the only team from the Big 12 left playing is Kansas State, the 12th seed from the Big 12 tournament. They beat Auburn 67-54 in Manhattan today for a spot in the WNIT Final Four for the second year in a row (they won it last year).


Mississippi 90
Oklahoma 82

Auburn 54
Kansas State 67

I'm sad to report that one of my favorite Cyclones has announced her intention to transfer to another school after this semester is over. Rachel Pierson is a redshirt freshman and was starting to come along nicely over the course of the season. There was no reason given for the departure, but I'm guessing it has to do with being one of four players competing for the 5 spot on the floor - with Nicky Wieben, Toccara Ross, and Jocelyn Anderson a juco transfer for next year.

Here is a link to the brief news release:

http://www.cyclones.com/ViewArticle.dbml?D...p;ATCLID=834220

The last Big 12 team playing this year, Kansas State, lost last night at Wyoming in TRIPLE OVERTIME, 89-79 in the WNIT semi-finals. The Cowgirls drew a crowd of over 12,000 for the game in Laramie.

Kansas State was led by freshman Ashley Sweat with 31 points. Three other Wildcats were in double figures. Wyoming outshot KSU at the line 52-18, making 37 of those free throws. Three Wildcats fouled out, while four more had four fouls each. Wyoming put five players in double digits. The Cowgirls will face Wisconsin for the WNIT finals.

An observation that was made on another board was that while the Big 12 was probably the best from top to bottom (meaning your bottom tier teams could knock off your top teams on a given night), the conference didn't have enough strength at the top to compete with the other large conferences come tournament time. This much was clear from the ISU/UGA game and the fact that while OU, Baylor, Texas, Tech, Kansas State, ISU, Nebraska and A&M were all ranked at one point or another this year, only one team advanced to the Sweet 16.

Still, I think it was a fun year, with a TON of great games, surprise wins (surprise losses), and fantastic arena atmospheres. I'm excited for next season, though I will be a little nervous that we will have a lot to fill from the (now) three losses from this season. Des Moines is hosting a sub-regional for next year's NCAA tournament, so ISU will be automatically placed there as long as we get an invitation to dance. Plus the Big 12 tournament comes back to Kansas City. If things develop well and ISU gets a couple of reserves to step up, we could be in very good shape for the 2007-08 season.

matt, you seem more tuned into women's hoops than most. have you heard any scuttlebutt about the UT position? i know gail goestenkors is supposedly the favorite. it will be interesting to see if she can be persuaded to leave duke. if she doesn't...where else do they look? kim mulkey robertson was rumored at one time...

I haven't heard anything beyond the rumors everyone else knows about Texas and Goestenkors. Although I WILL say this: I'm surprised that UT is actually getting her attention the way it has. It was my understanding that she was going to be looking for something a little further away from North Carolina. Again, what I heard was from a few weeks ago and nothing was set in stone. Not sure where UT will look if Gail decides Austin isn't for her. It will almost certainly be a name coach, tho.

Had heard about Coach Kim as a possibility for Texas as well, but I don't think she would leave a Texas school for another Texas school. I wouldn't be a big surprised to see her jump to the SEC. Personally, I hope she stays at Baylor. Now that she has toned down her sideline antics from her first few years on the job, I really like her as a coach and have liked watching her teams compete (except against us).

It looks like Big 12 schools have their coaches locked in pretty well for right now. Fennelly received what amounts to a lifetime contract that will take him to the year 2019 and earn him nearly $11 million with incentives. Kansas signed Bonnie Henrickson to a nice contract extension. I believe OU has Coale locked in for a good number of years. The only one I would worry about right now would be Cindy Stein at Mizzou. She seems to get less out of more talent than anyone else in the league. I'd say the next couple of years look pretty stable unless someone decides to jump ship - which always seems to happen when you least expect it.

Goestenkors interviewed with Texas and returned to NC to "take a few days" to think about it and discuss her options with the Duke players. I would imagine she'll make an announcement either right before or right after the championship game coming up.

Honestly, I think she would be better off going someplace where she WASN'T following in the footsteps of a legend and could create a new power out of a new school. On the flip side of that, there probably aren't many coaches that COULD follow in Conradt's footsteps and survive the scrutiny and immediate expectations. Should be interesting to see what happens - and who UT goes after if Gail decides not to go to Austin.

I would expect an announcement from Goestenkors either tomorrow or Wednesday morning about going to Texas. Word has it that she will take the job in Austin - the assumption being that if she were not interested, she wouldn't keep the 'Horns hanging on this long just to be told "no."

Ultimately, I think if she does end up at Texas, it will strengthen the rest of the league. She will bring in a different type of player and the rest of us will have to adapt to that style. Maybe that's what has been holding this league back, competition-wise, nationally.

It appears that Goestenkors WILL be announced as the new coach at Texas later today. Yahoo news is reporting that an unidentified person has confirmed that she is leaving Duke, but the official announcement is still to come. Once this is confirmed, it will be interesting to see who Duke will get to take over their program... Congrats to Texas, I didn't think they'd be able to pull this one off. The Big 12 just got a lot more interesting for next year.

Five Big 12 seniors were drafted today in the WNBA draft.

1st round draftees:

#5 Tiffany Jackson (Texas)by New York Liberty
#6 Bernice Mosby (Baylor) by Washington Mystics

2nd round draftee:

#22 Lyndsey Medders (Iowa State) by Indiana Fever

3rd round draftees:

#28 Leah Rush (Oklahoma) by Phoenix Mercury
#39 Kiera Hardy (Nebraska) by Connecticut Sun


http://www.wnba.com/draft2007/draft_board.html


Was a little surprised not to see a couple more names like Missouri's N'Garsenet and Brooks or Tech's Robertson. But with only 39 spots, I guess you can't draft everyone.

it'll be interesting to see how long it takes the horns to be back among the conference elite. losing tiffany jackson will hurt for next year, but i would expect them to again be competitive in recruiting the top players in the state and even nationally.

Sometimes all it takes is some fresh blood to run the show to get more out of who is still there playing. Jackson will be a huge loss next year, but they certainly return the talent to do some real damage. Honestly, I felt all along that UT could have competed for the top four in the Big 12 this past year - and they SHOULD have with who they had on the floor, Erika Arriaran's knee injury aside. There should be a couple of fresh faces that will no doubt help the lineup, but I would expect much more from the returning players simply by virtue of having Goestenkors as head coach now. That might make all the difference.

Rachel made the decision to transfer to DePaul. She'll have to sit out another year (she sat out a medical redshirt season the year before last when she had back surgery), but will play for them in the 2008-09 season. She'll have to petition the NCAA for a sixth season of eligibility. Best of luck to her - I hope it ends up being a good move.

Iowa State signed a juco point guard from the Kansas City area to help run the show this coming season. She will transfer in as a sophomore (must've had college credits in high school). This could be HUGE for ISU - until now, we were not going to have a true point guard on the roster for the first time in over ten years (four years of Lyndsey Medders, four years of Lindsey Wilson, three years of Stacy Frese - Maryland coach Brenda Frese's youngest sister - although Lindsey and Stacy played one year together). It will take a ton of pressure off both Heather Ezell and Alison Lacey who were otherwise going to be asked to run point if Fennelly did not find someone to bring in. Here's the article from the Des Moines paper:

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll...wEgc8geH1u4g%3D

After reading the boards for a while I have decided it is time to chime in myself. I'm a huge wcbb fan and an even bigger fan of the Lady Raiders of Texas Tech.

Thought I'd post my list, feel free to add/subtract/etc., of newcomers to the Big 12 conference. I've added two transfers that will be able to suit up and play next year for Coach Curry, not sure about other transfers around the conference.

BAYLOR

Melissa Jones 5-11

Kelli Griffin 5-8


Kendrea Walker 6-2 (Juco)

COLORADO

Britney Blythe 5-9

Chelsea Dale 6-1

Brittany Spears 6-1



IOWA STATE

Kelsey Bolte 6-1

Jocelyn Anderson 6-4 (Juco)

Denae Stuckey 5-8 (Juco - 3 years of eligibility)


KANSAS

Nicollete Smith 6-2

Krysten Boogaard 6-4 (published articles list her at 6-3, 6-4 or 6-5)

Chakeitha Weldon 5-8


KANSAS STATE

Jackie Stanley 6-2

Shalin Spani 5-11

Kelsey Hill 5-7

Kelsey Nelson 5-9 (Juco)



MISSOURI

Danelle Adams 6-1

Heidi Brandenburg 6-3

Shakara Jones 6-2

Rebekah Mills 5-9

Jasmyn Otote 5-9

RaeShara' Brown 5-8



NEBRASKA

Dominique Kelley 5-7

Kaitlyn Burke 5-7

Jessica Periago 6-4

Catheryn Redmon 6-3

Monique Whitaker 5-10

Tay Hester 5-10 (Juco)



OKLAHOMA

Danielle Robinson 5-7

Jenny Vining 5-9

Carlee Roethlisberger 6-0



OKLAHOMA STATE

Taylor Booze 5-6

Kristin Hernandez 5-10

Alex Richardson 6-3


Shyvon Spears 6-1 (Juco)

Chontaye Walter 5-8 (Juco - three years of eligibility)

Megan Byford 6-2 (Juco – three years of eligibility)



TEXAS

Kathleen Nash 6-1

Rachel Rentschler 6-2



A&M

Sydney Colson 5-8

Maryann Baker 5-10



TEXAS TECH

Dominic Seals 6-2 (Juco)

Alana Rumph 5-9 (Juco)

Keisha Walker 5-8 (Juco)

Stanecia Graham 6-1 (Juco)

Maria Moore 5-5 (Juco)

Ashlee Roberson 5-11 (Juco - three years of eligibility)

Kaylan Talley 6-5 (Juco - three years of eligibility)


Maddy Brown 5-10 (transfer)

Kalee Davidson 6-0 (transfer)

Wow - thanks, Austech! That's kinda cool that you took the time to come up with that list for this thread. Hope to see your comments in the future, too - especially once basketball season starts up again!

So, I'm guessing Curry is looking for some immediate help from the juco ranks for next season. That should buy her some time to get a few recruits out of high school up and running over the next couple of years.

Brittany Spears? For real?!

Yes, she'll be playing with Whitney Houston. Seriously.

Thanks, I'm already excited about next season! Coach Curry realized after this last year that Tech just didn't have the personnel to compete at the highest level...which is the only level acceptable at Tech. This group of Jucos, assuming they come together quickly, could put us back into the Sweet 16 next year. That is a big if though. Recruiting is picking up in the high school ranks and as she continues to build relationships with high school coaches it'll get easier and easier.
The conference is really developing some great depth and that is exciting to me as a Big 12 wcbb fan, I'm just excited about Tech returning to that high level.

Not much happening with Big 12 players in the WNBA, except getting cut by teams. So far, I have seen Dionnah Jackson, Christelle N'Garsanet, Chelsi Welch, Cisti Greenwalt, and Lyndsey Medders be waived by the teams that signed them. Have not seen any of these five sign with a new team (yet). The only one I know of that has had interest from other teams is Lyndsey. She just got waived on Monday by Indiana, so it is early enough to get interest from other teams - and was expecting to hear something as early as this afternoon. I will post when I find out where (if anyplace) she ends up going to play. Hope to have good news.

These former Big 12 players have also been waived from the WNBA teams they signed with for the pre-season: Leah Rush, Sheila Lambert, Kiera Hardy, and Latoya Bond. I didn't see anyone else from the conference sign with another team after being waived, including Lyndsey Medders. She was supposed to have a good shot at getting on with a couple different teams in the league, but nothing ever materialized from the talks (I'm bummed out completely, but can't even imagine how it feels for her). Today is the final day teams have to make their final roster cuts before the start of the season tomorrow.

It looks real good that Iowa State's Brittany Wilkins will make the Sacramento Monarchs roster for the second year in a row - the first time ever any Cyclone has been with a WNBA team for more than one season. She has started both preseason games for Sac'to, so I think that is a plus. They will be on tv tomorrow, so I'm excited to see her play again. =) I just hope now that I've said this that she doesn't find herself not with a team tonight! This is not a jinx, this is not a jinx, this is not a jinx!

Ok, so Britt made the Monarchs roster, but I found out late yesterday that she would NOT travel with the team for their first road trip of the season (ie. the game that was on tv today). Something about them only being allowed to travel with 11 players. Not sure what's up with that - maybe she drew the short straw. Either way, she IS on the roster and will be playing this season.

I was thrilled to see Erin Grant's name on the Houston roster today. She has a golden opportunity to build a great career there. She's not flashy, but she's as consistent as they come.

That's good she made a team in her home state. Always helps to draw some extra fans who followed her career and might not otherwise pay attention to pro ball and keep familiar names in the public eye.