I know there are a couple of us Big 12 women's basketball fans in here. Anyone game for starting a thread on the subject?

Iowa State played a heck of a game against Minnesota last night here in Ames. ISU won by 10. UM played a tough, physical defense that usually give ISU fits, but we somehow managed to play thru it last night. UM is playing better than they probably have any right to after losing their best players from last year to either graduation or defection.

We had a good crowd last night for the game - listed at 11,500+. The actual attendance was probably closer to 8000, but nice to see the building looking like it was full for a change. We're now 7-1 on the season and our RPI jumped from #25 to #15 this morning. It most likely will take a hit later this month with some of the teams we have coming in for a tournament on the 29th and 30th. But it's nice to see the numbers so high - it's been a while...

Ok, I know SOMEone is reading this thread, so I'll post something else myself. Iowa State won its eighth game in nine tries yesterday over St. Louis 76-48. It was pretty much over after about five minutes. This game looked like it should have been competitive on paper. The Billikens were averaging nearly 80 points a game and I believe had 4 players on their roster make at least 12 3 pointers this season already. They didn't shoot the 3 very well yesterday and couldn't defend around the basket to save their lives. Only one of our starters ended up with double-digit scoring, but the reserves played really well, which is encouraging for the future.

Obviously, OU is the cream of the crop in the Big 12 so far, being the only undefeated team left in the league. But I think there is going to be a real race to figure out who is #2. You're probably looking at Texas, Texas A&M, Kansas State, Missouri, Baylor and Iowa State all having a shot at that spot. Not to say that Oklahoma will run away with the title - they might- but it's going to be pretty hard for them to lose only one game and lose the regular season championship. No one else has been consistent enough this season to prove they can go thru the league with one or no losses. I can't wait for the conference season to start. ISU opens with Kansas in Ames, then we head down to Mizzou for the first road test. If we win that one, I think it's "game on."

CMatt...

I miss the old ISU days with Stacy Frese, Megan Taylor, Desireé Francis, Angie Welle and Tracy Gahan. That was a fun and exciting group to watch.

Who are the big names this year?

Well, Lyndsey Medders (Los Angeles) is our senior point guard. Last season, she was an All-Big 12 first team pick and made the pre-season list this year. She led the nation in assists last year. Normally she's been our top scorer, but she has not been shooting as much this year because Coach Fennelly is trying to get the inside game going a little more and make the other guards more active in the offense.

Toccara Ross (Davenport, IA) is a juco transfer this year from Kirkwood CC in Cedar Rapids. Kirkwood spent most of last year ranked #1 in the country for their division, I think ultimately losing in the national championship game - possibly final 4 (not sure about that one). She's our leading scorer so far this year averaging around 14 a game. We are NOT 8-1 without her - more likely 5-4 or worse. She's been as amazing a new player as we've had for a very long time. Tough, tough, tough girl.

Nicky Wieben (Ankeny, IA) is a sophomore who is coming off the bench the last few games after starting the first few (she seems to play better this way for some reason - last year it was the same thing). She is averaging around 10 points a game, but got 18 yesterday along with 9 boards. She led Ankeny High School to four straight state titles, so she's used to winning. She is a very quick 6'4", can handle the ball well and put it on the floor when she needs to.

There are many others without whom ISU would not be the team they are now either. Senior Megan Ronhovde is arguably our best defender and is one 3 pointer away from having 200 in her career so far. Sophomore Heather Ezell is probably the one you could argue over being the best defender. She broke Megan's freshman 3 point shooting record, knocking down 69 of them last season and is leading the team in steals this year. Redshirt freshman Rachel Pierson is playing well after sitting out last season due to back surgery. She's been a little slow out of the gate, but has proven that she has the talent to be out there "banging around with the big girls" under the basket. We also have a great freshman class this year that includes the Iowa Miss Basketball, Shellie Mosman, and Alison Lacey from Canberra, Australia, via Ballard High School in Huxley, Iowa (her team made it to the state 3A championship last year). She has proven to be a good outside threat and can play the 1, 2, 3 and 4 positions well. She's only going to get better, too.

This team reminds me a lot of the days when Taylor, Welle, Gahan, Frese and Wilson played at Hilton. We're not quite as polished yet, but I've seen improvements in chemistry and execution so far this season that makes me think we've got a good thing going here. If this year is as successful as it is shaping up to be, I'm hoping the crowds will come back. During the 2000-01 season, the ISU women's outdrew the men's team in attendance, averaging over 11,000 per game. We've been down the last few seasons and it would be great to have that kind of atmosphere in Hilton again.

http://www.cyclones.com/HomePage.dbml?DB_O...=10700&KEY=

(thanks, bobby!)

My Cyclones had a good test last night in Illinois State. It was the return to Ames of Coach Robin Pingeton, who was an associate head coach under Bill Fennelly here for three or four years. Every time we'd build up a lead, the Redbirds would come back, including coming back from 12 down in the second half to lead by 2. Iowa State ended up winning by 7, but it was a battle. Not our best game, but we played well enough to win (which at the end of the season is all that matters - the "W").

Right now, Illinois State is sitting on top of the Missouri Valley Conference, so I would consider this a good win for us (their RPI fell to the low 70s this morning). Iowa State's RPI is up to 13 and SOS is 36. These numbers will take a hit next week when we play some smaller conference teams - Utah State, Colgate, and Loyola Marymount. But we should still be in good shape going into the Kansas game to open Big 12 play.

Oklahoma lost at home last night to Ohio State. Haven't read up on it yet, but will post some details here when I get the chance unless there are some OU fans out there.

Go State!

OK (ha, ha, ironic) - anyway did a little reading on the OU game. Apparently, from what I was able to gather on the Big 12 women's message board, OU's defense wasn't up to par and OSU was able to make some easy shots and stay in it all the way to the end.

Courtney Paris fouled out, which means she was in foul trouble for at least some of the time in the second half. Her twin sister, Ashley is a capable back-up, but not quite as good. I think Jessica Davenport was probably able to take over in the paint because of this. For those of you who have not seen Paris play, she is the real deal. With the OSU game, she has passed the 1000 point mark for her career - only TEN GAMES INTO HER SOPHOMORE SEASON! I also believe I read somewhere that this was her 38th consecutive double-double game. I tried to find that again to verify, but couldn't in my quick search.

They had an attendance of 11,400+, not quite what they were thinking, but a VERY good crowd in Norman. Their numbers have been up significantly this year so far. Amazing what a superstar player can do to get butts in the seats. And, of course, the officiating was terrible. This is normal for the Big 12 women's games. We cannot seem to get officials who understand the concept of consistency in making calls. It's sad that as a conference, we fans EXPECT bad refs at all our games. We actually recognize them when they walk out on the floor and know a lot of their names - which shouldn't be the case if they were doing their jobs correctly. Going to stop this before it becomes a complete rant!

Normally, OU is going to be very tough to beat and are a lot of fun to watch. Next time they are on TV, check 'em out. You'll never believe CP3 (Courtney Paris) is as mobile around the hoop as she is.

Hey all - hope everyone had a good holiday!

Not much going on right now, but thought I'd sit and write something while I had a few minutes. We had the opportunity to see a full practice session for Iowa State. Had seen parts of some before, but not from beginning to end.

This was the first day back from the break everyone got for Christmas, so there was some (ok, a LOT) of lethargy. There were some shooting drills going on to start - some full court, some half court in nature. There was a lot of emphasis on rebounding this time. They used a special ring on one basket that is nearly the exact size of the ball, creating far more rebounding opportunities than normal. Work was done to make sure people understand to box out once a shot goes up - this concept must've got lost in the translation or something. Coach was not happy with the effort and a lot of running was done from baseline to baseline (this was something I've seen so far this season, either no boxing out was done at all, or a player allows the ball to drop right in front of them on the floor and someone else comes in a picks it up).

There were a lot of different defensive plays that were practiced. I was told that this is done when Coach doesn't feel like everyone is paying enough attention to what he needs them to do. Changing defenses every "play" keeps them thinking and focussed (in theory). There was some more shooting around, a lot more running, followed by some weight training with hand-held free weights. It was NOT one of their better practices, but I guess it happens now and then. Some days are good, some are bad - just like for everyone else. We told by one of the players towards the end of it all, "man, you guys picked a good one to come watch" (infer the sarcastic tone).

We have the first of three games back to back to back starting tomorrow. I will report more probably starting on Friday. I'll also try to find some more info on other Big 12 teams to post - probably just random stuff - to make this more about the whole conference. Thank you to everyone who is reading this thread!

Ok, took longer than I expected to get online to post again. Been a busy past few days.

ISU played three games in three days, starting on Thursday. It was originally supposed to be a four team round-robin style tournament, but one team would go over its allotment of nonconference games by participating fully. So, ISU played Colgate as an independent game on Thurday, then Utah State on Friday in the first round of the actual tournament, followed by Loyola Marymount on Saturday.

Iowa State beat Colgate 90-53. It really wasn't a close game at all. Colgate's RPI going in was around 310 and ours was around 15. Needless to say, our RPI dropped a bit after this one. All 12 Cyclones who played were on the floor for at least 7 minutes and no one played more than Lyndsey Medders' 23 minutes - and everyone scored as well. We hit 11 three point shots in this game. Our reserves were able to increase the lead after they came in the game. Was a great game for them to get some good experience and they took the opportunity to show what they could do.

Friday night, we beat Utah State in the first round of the actual tournament 70-40. Heather Ezell made five 3 point shots to help the team make 11 for the second game in a row. Freshman Alison Lacey had an awesome game with 12 points, 9 boards, 5 steals, 3 assists, and 0 turnovers. She has been running back-up at point guard for Medders, something she was not really doing in high school. You'd think there would have been some sort of learning curve (and I'm sure there will be at some point), but she has managed a 3-1 assist to turnover ratio so far on the season.

On Saturday, ISU defeated Loyola Marymount 71-55 for the tournament title and moved to 12-1 on the year. LMU played a sticky defense and managed to steal the ball away a few times for some easy points, but we managed to pull away towards the end of the second half. There were a few milestones in this game. Medders became ISU's all-time assist leader, passing Lindsey Wilson (2000-03), picking up 9 dishes to have 595 for her career so far. This also ranks 6th all-time in the Big 12 (I believe). She also scored enough points to move into a tie for 10th place in all-time scoring at ISU with 1201 points. Medders was the tournament MVP and was joined on the all-tourney team by Nicky Wieben and Toccara Ross.

This Wednesday kicks off the conference season. We host Kansas and have a bit of payback in mind. KU beat us by a point last season both in Ames and in Lawrence. Honestly, we should never have lost either game to them and it was one of the biggest reasons we missed the NCAA tournament (winning both would have moved us to 9-7 in the Big 12 and probably would have gotten us in as a 10 or 11 seed - still better than the WNIT any day). KU isn't playing well so far this season and shouldn't be too difficult to beat. But history has shown that either under Marian Washington or Bonnie Henrickson, they play us tough and usually find ways to stay in it. Their defense gives us fits, but I have liked what I've seen when we've gone up against hard, physical defenses this year.

OK, I had promised earlier that I would talk some more about some other teams in the Big 12. Not sure where to start since I won't know a lot about them until we all start playing one another. A good place to start is the RPI rankings, I suppose. As of today (12-31), these are the Big 12 RPI ratings (I know this won't format great, so I won't clutter it with tons of numbers):

Baylor 16
Oklahoma 21
Iowa State 25
Kansas State 31
Missouri 37
Nebraska 51
Texas 52
Texas Tech 64
Texas A&M 102
Oklahoma State 107
Kansas 116
Colorado 134

Baylor, OU, OSU, ISU, KSU, and Missouri all have records of 10-1 or better. Right now only Kansas has a sub-.500 record and Colorado is at .500. Baylor, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M are the only teams ranked.

Oklahoma has the biggest target on their backs after running thru the regular season and conference tournament last year at 19-0. Ohio State has shown that OU is beatable, but the question is "can anyone in this league do it?" The answer is "yes!" but it will take a near perfect game to do so (or a really bad game by the Sooners). There are probably eight teams that have a legitimate shot at beating them on a given night (all but KU, CU and OSU).

Baylor is probably the second best team in the league. They won the national title two years ago and made a good run last year. They lost their All-American in Sophia Young to graduation and the WNBA last year, but seem to be one of those teams now that simply 'reload.' They are as well-coached as any team in the country with Kim Mulkey - the first person to win a national title as a player (LA Tech), assistant coach (LA Tech) and head coach (BU).

Texas Tech seems to be in a rebuilding mode right now. Their legendary coach, Marsha Sharp, announced her retirement last year, after finishing the season NOT ranked for the first time in centuries (ok, maybe only 20 years, but it SEEMED like a lot longer!). Former Purdue coach Kristy Currie took the program over and has encountered a few growing pains so far this season. TTU is 9-5, which is rather poor by their standards. TTU regularly is in the top 3 in national attendance for women's games, generally averaging around 12,000 per game. Their new(er) building, United Spirit Arena, was basically the "house that Marsha built" and even Bobby Knight's program is lucky to draw two thirds as many fans. It is a goal for ISU this season to win in Lubbock as theirs remains the only arena in the Big 12 where we have not won. Tech has one only once in Ames since the start of the Big 12 - not even the time they came into Hilton ranked #1. I doubt it will be too long before the players adjust to Curry's style and they once again roam the top of the rankings.

Texas is sort of a darkhorse this year. Last year produced a losing record for the first time in who knows how long. They were hit by the injury bug and never were able to recover. All the key players are back and their play has been more consistent this season. But there have been rumblings that the game has passed Jody Conradt by, that she is not adapting her style of coaching to the new breed of player. She's still one of the greatest coaches ever and no doubt she will have a good season again. What remains to be seen is whether or not she will ever be able to bring UT back to the glory days it once knew, when they and Tech were two of THE powers in women's basketball.

As far as the north is concerned, there could/should be a battle between ISU, KSU, NU, and MU for supremacy in the Big 12 north. All four teams have played well to start the season and any could knock off the others on a given night. I would have to give an edge to either ISU or KSU. Ok, I'm a homer with ISU, but we've played some good teams and won a couple on the road against at least decent teams. KSU won the WNIT title last season and return a good chunk of their lineup, although a couple of key defections might make a difference in tne depth of their bench, something that ISU should not have to worry about this year. Mizzou has not played many teams that would be considered very good, so it will take until a few games into the conference season to see if they are for real or not. NU's coach has never been able to get any consistency out of her teams. She might have good players, but the question remains whether or not she knows what to do with them.

Ok, so that's probably more than people wanna know, but I promised to give some more info on other teams besides Iowa State. Hope you enjoy what I've got here and thanks again for reading.

PS - happy new year!!

Matt...

Thanks so much for keeping me up to date on Big 12 Women's bball!! This is awesome, particularly your ISU coverage :-) You've got me excited about the Cyclone season, particularly because the men will surely fail us. lol

You have a loyal fan here!

Bobby

You betcha, Bobby!

Thought I'd post Iowa State's tv appearances. These are the ones that will be available (as of right now) on satellite or cable.

Jan. 11 at Colorado on FoxSports Rocky Mountain, 9 pm CST
Feb. 4 vs. Missouri here in Ames. Should be on all FSN channels, 3 pm CST
Feb. 20 vs. Nebraska in Ames, FoxSports Midwest, 7pm CST
Feb. 24 at Kansas State on FSN, again should be nation-wide, 1 pm CST

There are a couple of games on local cable mixed in also, but those won't be available outside of Iowa. The Nebraska game will be senior night at ISU, which will mean goodbyes to Lyndsey Medders, Megan Ronhovde, and Abby Reinert. Should be a good crowd and a good game. NU hasn't won in Ames since maybe 1996 and this had better not be the year that streak ends. Do check us out if you have the chance.

Edited to note: didn't realize that the Kansas game will be televised nationally tomorrow (1/3) on CSTV. I don't know that WE get that station, so I'm not sure how available it is in general.

For those of you who happened to catch the ISU/KU game last night, please accept my whole-hearted apology! The game was absolutely FUGLY and I was embarrassed that it was on tv for all to witness. We typically have trouble with Kansas, no matter how good or bad they are. They're not especially good this year, starting four freshman (apparently because they've been working harder in practice than any of the upper classmen and earned their spots - which, good for them). But they play a very slow, methodical, physical style of ball, which we don't generally do well with. We DID manage to win the game, so I guess it wasn't as horrible as it could have been.

Some stats from the game that were interesting: ISU attempted 46 free throws to KU's 5, also meaning KU fouled 34 times to our 11. ISU had 19 turnovers to KU's 22. 12 of ours were in the first half (yikes!), so at least that improved a bit. The halftime score was 22-14, ISU. This was the lowest halftime point total for any game this year by ISU or our oppenent.

Scores from around the league last night:

Kansas 50
Iowa State 61

Kansas State 58
Oklahoma 78

Texas Tech 54
Baylor 61

Nebraska 79
Texas 75

Missouri 59
Colorado 71

We have Missouri coming up this Saturday at Columbia. I don't know if this score is good or bad for us. It could be good that Mizzou is overrated with a 12-2 record (by not having really played anyone of note) or they'll be really pissed off after losing to a team at the bottom of the conference and take it out on us. Guess we'll just have to get ready and see what happens. It does make me more optimistic that we can take advantage of some weaknesses, tho.

PS. Congrats to Nebraska for going to Austin and coming away with a win! Another surprise that shows nothing should be taken for granted this season in the Big 12.

Tough loss for my Cyclones yesterday in Columbia, Missouri. We trailed nearly the whole game, by as many as nine points on a couple different occasions. Midway thru the second half, ISU made a run and took the lead for about three or four minutes. We played really well during that stretch, but then it just fell apart.

Of course, we didn't catch any breaks from the refs (when you see them walk out and you know their names - this means you, Jeneane Pence - you know you're in for a bad day), but normally we can play thru bad officiating. We've done it for years and we've really had the talent to be able to stay on top of things when bad calls are made or blown.

Not sure what it was, but after our brief lead, mental lapse after mental lapse forced us to cough up the ball - unforced turnovers like throwing the ball to a player who should have cut left when she went right (end result: she's not where the ball is thrown), running the baseline on an inbounds play when we got possession on a turnover (big no-no), a double dribble that probably wasn't one because from out angle, the ball was tipped, among other things. The spark simply left the team at that point and they couldn't get it back. Coach Fennelly said the last seven minutes were "terrible" and there wasn't a damned thing he could do about it.

The loss wasn't for lack of trying on the part of ISU fans. We had about 100-150 who made the trip and we were LOUD - as loud as the 2000 Missouri fans who sat on their hands the whole game until the win was a sure thing with about two minutes to go. We sang our fight song (which Mizzou women's fans won't even stand up for their own), we chanted, cheered, tried to disrupt the other team, drowned out some of their fans and the in-house announcer - in all, it was a really fun game, but with an undesireable result at the end. Honestly, I had a blast with the group we had down there. The cool thing is that we know how much the girls appreciate our efforts for them. Most other women's programs don't have fans who will do all that at home, let alone on the road. Getting ready to come back from a time-out, ISU is on the floor waiting for Mizzou to get ready and we're chanting "let's go Cyclones! (clap-clap-clapclapclap)" and Lyndsey Medders is out there on the floor clapping along with us.

We face Colorado at Boulder on Wednesday. I'm hoping Fennelly finds a way to keep the intensity on an even keel so we don't have the stretch of mental gaffes we did yesterday. Since CU beat MU on opening day, we will definitely need a better game than what we brought to Columbia. Go STATE!

Saturday's league scores:

Iowa State 56
Missouri 66

Oklahoma 77
Nebraska 69

Texas A&M 45
Kansas State 48

Baylor 71
Kansas 64

Oklahoma State 49
Texas Tech 75

BOOMER SOONER!!

Forgot to mention that Texas hosts Purdue on ESPN2 this afternoon and Colorado has the weekend off. Seems kinda strange to have their open date on the first weekend of league play, tho.

PS. Feel free to offer some insight to Oklahoma, Wazzu.

Great win for Texas over Purdue, finally taking out a ranked team! Tiffany Jackson is fun to watch but the rest of her team has to step it up. They need someone else to play big this year to get ready for next year when they won't have Jackson to rely on.

Bad news for 'Horns fans, tho: Erika Arriaran torn her ACL in that game and is done for the season. It's possible to come back fairly quickly from that injury, but not always the case. Generally you will see players getting back to the point where they can start to be active again after six months (we had one player at ISU somehow do it in 3 months a few years back). I wouldn't expect to see Erika on the sidelines in anything but street clothes from here on out this season.

That's more bad luck for Texas. The win put them in the top 25 for the first time this year. Ericka is their only 3 point threat and was integral in Texas getting a lead over Purdue the first half. There's already a player on the bench on cruches. Hopefully they are both back next year.

#7 Oklahoma beat Baylor toda and it feels so good. Courtne Paris was sensational as always.

GO COUGS!

My Cyclones had their worst game of the season (well, maybe it should be tied with the Pepperdine game) last night, losing to Colorado in Boulder 81-67. The GOOD news is that they managed to cut the deficit which had grown to 27 (!) two possessions into the second half. Coach Fennelly said after the Mizzou game that this was his "worst coached team" ever in terms of getting them to remember what they need to do. They practice stuff and then forget it when they get to the floor.

Anyway, CU beat us in just about every way they could. The halftime score was 48-24 as the Buffs closed out the first period on an 18-0 run. ISU was able to chip away the lead and get it down to about 12 or 13 mid-way thru the second half, but didn't get it any closer than that.

Megan Ronhovde was the only real bright spot last night, scoring 20 points before fouling out. She went 5 of 6 from three point range. Colorado managed to hit 10 of 16 three point shots in the first half and ended up with 13 for the game. They didn't need an inside game in the first half, but were able to control the paint in the second. We got more scoring inside by then, but it didn't matter as the damage was already done.

ISU hosts Oklahoma State on Saturday. They need to figure stuff out quickly or this season is going to dissolve into a pile of dust and disappear.

League scores from last night:

Iowa State 67
Colorado 81

Oklahoma 76
Baylor 63

Oklahoma won their 22nd straight Big 12 game yesterday and 16th straight conference road game (I believe), despite being down 8 at halftime. The unstoppable Courtney Paris recorded the 1,893rd double-double of her career (ok, it just seems like it ), scoring 32 points, 16 rebounds. Bernice Mosby of Baylor led the Bears with 28 points and 11 boards.

Kansas 54
Oklahoma State 68

Texas 79 OT
Missouri 77

Texas A&M 49
Texas Tech 47

Here are the updated (as of January 11) power ratings from collegerpi.com for the Big 12:

Oklahoma 9
Baylor 19
Kansas State 25
Texas 29
Missouri 30
Iowa State 38
Nebraska 45
Texas Tech 58
Colorado 72
Texas A&M 104
Kansas 118
Oklahoma State 119

Oklahoma beat Baylor which was a great game. I'm watching A&M play Baylor right now on FSN and its looking like a good contest!

Well, I hate to say it, but the bottom is falling out from under my Cyclones. We lost our third conference game in a row to Oklahoma State here in Ames by one point, 45-44. We missed a point-blank layin to take the lead with one second remaining in the game and missed. Missing chip shots has been one of our worst areas all season for some reason.

This game was embarrassing - OSU had not won a conference road game in 26 tries and went 0-16 last year in the Big 12. Knowing this, I felt a sense of doom all day leading up to the game. It is an ISU jinx that whenever a team desperately needs a win to end some sort of bad streak and they have Iowa State coming up on their schedule, that they should start penciling in the "W." Two cases in point - Baylor football had NEVER won a Big 12 road game until the 2005 seaon when they played here in Ames (and that was a bowl season for us, no less), and the Baylor women had never defeated a ranked team until Iowa State went down to Waco in 1999 or 2000 and knocked us off.

Back to the game... Coach Fennelly has been beside himself, not being able to figure out what to do with this team. He has said that they go over stuff in practice when they seem to "get it" and then promptly FORget it when the game starts. Megan and Lyndsey are our two seniors who play tons of minutes every game and they bring it every time. Aside from them, no one else is stepping up and playing with any sense of urgency. I did not hear this myself, but heard from others that Coach Fennelly was saying on the radio last night that it may be time for him to step down.

I think that may have been some of the frustration talking, but there are other things going on that may come into play as well: aside from the inability to coach these younger players on the team, he also is facing a league that has changed dramatically from our two conference tournament championships (and one regular season title) in 2000 and 2001. This league is much more physical than it ever used to be and he has never been one to recruit players who can really compete that way. He fills holes in his system, which is built more around fundamentals, making smart decisions, and out-thinking your opponent. Well, the best we've managed to finish in the league since is a tie for 3rd (which made us the fifth seed in the tournament that year). Fennelly has also twice had cancerous nodules removed from his vocal chords in the last three years, so there are continuing health concerns. Not to mention, he may be feeling pressure from our new AD who hasn't exactly been shy about dropping the axe on a coach who is not meeting his expectations (ask McCarney, Douglas, and Morgan about that over the last year).

It will be an interesting time to watch how the rest of the season plays out, but right now, I don't have a good feeling about this at all. Stay tuned...

Scores from yesterday in the Big 12:

Oklahoma State 45
Iowa State 44

Baylor 52
Texas A&M 60

Missouri 66
Kansas State 81

Nebraska 63
Kansas 54

Colorado 49
Texas 68

Texas Tech @
Oklahoma - has been postponed until later in the month due to bad weather in Norman over the weekend.

Here is an update on the Big 12 RPI as of today (1/16):

Oklahoma 9
Kansas State 18
Baylor 22
Texas 25
Missouri 34
Nebraska 43
Iowa State 51
Texas Tech 57
Colorado 79
Texas A&M 83
Oklahoma State 101
Kansas 124

OU is in first place in the conference standings right now, with a 3-0 record. There is a 6-way tie for second place at 2-1. Baylor, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Missouri, and Kansas all have two or more Big 12 losses, with KU remaining the lone zero-win team in league play (0-4).

I have heard very little more about ISU since I read online reports, quotes, and message boards Sunday morning. I do know that Coach Fennelly said on his radio call-in show that he mean what he said when he spoke about (paraphrasing here) "stepping down." It is not imminent, but apparently it's something he will consider for the good of the program if he doesn't feel he's turned things around by the end of the season. Texas comes to town tomorrow night. Should be interesting to see how players respond to the loss against OSU.

I saw Kansas State is in the TOP 25. Good for them.

The Iowa State vs. Texas game that was supposed to happen here tonight in Ames has been postponed until tomorrow (Thursday) because an ice storm in the Austin area prevented the team from leaving town on time. Great, that leaves a whole day to prepare for Kansas...

I also saw KSU was ranked now - they earned it with what they have done so far.

Edited to note: the Colorado at Texas A&M game for tonight has also been postponed. I saw where CU's team arrived in College Station alright, but the conditions have deteriorated to the point where they (A&M officials) didn't want to risk having fans venture out in the icy conditions.

Here are the games that actually happened last night:

Kansas State 63
Nebraska 70

Oklahoma 76
Oklahoma State 60

Missouri 55
Texas Tech 63

Sacramento State 50
Kansas 69

Texas
Iowa State - ppd. to be played tonight (1/18)

Colorado
Texas A&M - ppd. to be played tonight (1/18)

The only think that really surprised me here was the Nebraska beat the Wildcats. It looked like KSU was going to get on a good roll and then got tripped up in Lincoln last night. Good job to the Huskers. Looks like Connie Yori may have FINALLY figured out how to coach her team.

I'll list tonight's scores and current RPI's in the morning.

GO CYCLONES!

OMG....Connie Yori, now that's a blast from the past. I met her and her sister Mary in the early 80's. Connie was an amazing high school basketball player and an even more amazing softball player! She's from nearby Ankeny, Matt.

Yeah, I nearly mentioned Ankeny in my post, but didn't figure anyone (besides you) would know where the hell that was!

I know CycloneMatt is happy about Iowa St beat #24 Texas in Ames hehe..

So am I! It was a decent night for the state of Iowa as Drake and UNI men's team had big wins too.

What a great game and atmosphere! ISU came out on fire from the start and I don't believe they ever trailed. We were up 18-5 to start and it was a 12 point lead at the half. Texas came back a few times to within six or seven, but for every run they made, we had an answer. The "answer" was something that had been missing from the last three games - although I don't think there was an answer to Colorado (when you're down 24 at the half, there isn't a lot you can do about it).

Lyndsey Medders had 23 points on the night to lead all scorers, breaking out of a scoring slump herself. Toccara Ross had 15, her first conference double figure performance, and Aussie Alison Lacey chipped in 12 to round out our top 3.

We held UT star Tiffany Jackson, who was averaging around 20 points per game to just 7 on 3 of 19 shooting. We double and tripple teamed her the whole night, leaving other players wide open on the perimeter. For some reason, they wouldn't take the shots. I know Texas just does not shoot the 3 much, but if we're giving you open looks like that, launch one once in a while. They might have stayed closer if they had - not that I'm complaining.

Great win for our girls. Now we go to Lawrence tomorrow to play Kansas for the second time. I'll be there to help them beat the Jayhawks (again). At least that's the plan... Go 'CLONES!!

Scores from last night:

Texas 56
Iowa State 67

Colorado 58
Texas A&M 74

Current Big 12 RPI as of this morning:

Oklahoma 7
Baylor 19
Kansas State 21
Texas 28
Nebraska 32
Iowa State 47
Texas Tech 48
Missouri 49
Texas A&M 77
Colorado 83
Oklahoma State 92
Kansas 137

Oklahoma still leads the pack at 4-0. Texas A&M and Nebraska are 3-1. Six teams are tied at 2-2. ISU, MU, and KU each have 3 or more losses.

Hey Matt…

As always, thanks for the ISU updates! I saw the score in the paper this morning and knew you’d have a nice review waiting for me. You did not disappoint.

I’m hoping this will be the big game they needed to really start to get on track now. Unlike past seasons when there were clear dominant teams, this really seems to be a year that any team can win on any given night.

Yeah, aside from OU, no one has really stepped up to stake their claim on second place yet. Nebraska might have as legitimate a shot as anyone right now. I think ultimately, A&M will claim the two spot, probably with either Baylor or NU in third. No one quote me on that, though.

There is still plenty of time for ISU to play their way into the top four, which would mean a first round bye in the Big 12 Tournament in OKC this March. Iowa State has not had a first round bye since the 2001 season when we went in as the 3 seed (defeating the great Stacey Dales-led Sooners for our second consecutive tournament title). Since then, we've been a 5, 6, 8, and 9 (twice) seed, only advancing to the semi-finals once in 2002 - although we came damned close last year, leading OU with one minute remaining in the game before Erin Higgins hit a 30 foot three pointer to go up for good. It's the first time I can remember a player from a team making it on the All-Tournament rosters when losing in the quarter finals (Brittany Wilkins, who held her own against Courntey Paris better than anyone could have asked).

I thought this was interesting from the Ames Tribune today and decided to pass it along...

"With Thursday's victory, ISU is now 19-5 against ranked teams at Hilton Coliseum in the Fennelly era, including NCAA Tournament games.

The win was the 31st overall win against a ranked team by a Fennelly team at ISU.

ISU also improved its record against Texas at Hilton to 5-1 and takes over the career series lead at 8-7."

Iowa State managed to pull off an impressive road win in Lawrence last night against Kansas, 75-48. After struggling with the Jayhawks in Ames, winning by 11 in a low scoring game, we were much better prepared this time around and didn't allow them to dictate the tempo of the game and slow things to a crawl, like last time. This was an uptempo game throughout and we managed to rack up a huge amount of points in the paint and didn't have to rely so much on long-distance shooting.

Toccara Ross was just about unstoppable with 16 points, 15 rebounds (4 offensive), 3 assists, only two turnovers, on 6 of 7 shooting, in 27 minutes. Can you say "player of the game"? Nicky Wieben had 17 points, Lyndsey Medders had 12 to go with 5 assists, and Alison Lacey had 9 points. ISU shot over 56% for the game, vs. 28% for Kansas.

One key highlight was early in the second half, Lyndsey was inbounding a ball under KU's basket. Shaquina Mosley was "guarding" her, but had her back to Lyndsey, watching everyone else when the whistle blew. Lyndsey bounced the ball off Mosley's back, caught it, took a dribble, and laid it in. I don't remember seeing us do that in a game before - hafta say it was pretty sweet to witness something like that in person.

We had a really good crowd there for a road game again. I'd say with all the people that showed up to see Anna Florzak (who is from Kansas City, a short drive to the east) play, plus everyone who would have come to support the Cyclones anyway, there must have been 200 or so Iowa Staters there. Yes, we were noisy as usual. I don't think visiting teams like it when we come into their building and kind of take over the way we do, but I guess that's too damned bad. They can cheer just as easily as we can.

Had to drive back in a snowstorm. What was a four hour drive from Ames to Lawrence, took six and a half hours to get home (at 4 a.m.). At least it was just snow and NOT ice - otherwise, I might still be in Kansas, clicking my heels like mad...

An aside note: KU has put a large addition on the front of Allen Fieldhouse which has a fan shop and tons of memorabilia, trophies, posters and other things on display. It really makes the place look nice and is a great showcase for the history and achievements of KU athletics. Before, the building just looked like an old warehouse and the entrance was almost cave-like - not very nice looking at all. The new look is really cool - check it out if you have the chance to go to Lawrence for any reason.

Scores from this weekend:

Iowa State 75
Kansas 48

Texas Tech 63
Oklahoma State 61

Nebraska 76
Missouri 66

Kansas State 70
Baylor 79

Oklahoma 82
Colorado 67
(CU lead this game at one point, 48-46, in the second half before CP3 and company put the Buffs away down the stretch.)

Texas A&M 45
Texas 64

Monday is a make-up game between Oklahoma and Tech in Norman. It was postponed due to weather. ISU goes to Norman to face OU on Wednesday. This will be OU's 4th game since the 17th.

Also, here are the current Big 12 standings and RPIs (as of Sunday, RPI not updated for UT and A&M, but the standings are current):

(Record, Team, RPI)

5-0 Oklahoma 7
4-1 Nebraska 27
3-2 Texas A&M 79
3-2 Baylor 18
3-2 Texas Tech 34
3-2 Texas 25
3-3 Iowa State 49
2-3 Kansas State 22
2-3 Oklahoma State 94
2-3 Colorado 80
1-5 Missouri 51
0-5 Kansas 138

Man, I wish we could have those games to do over with OSU and Mizzou (MU's only win so far)...

Texas Tech gave Oklahoma a scare today! YIKES!

Oklahoma beat Texas Tech in Norman in a make-up game that was delayed by icy conditions. The Sooners won 86-81 in 2OT. The chatter on the Big 12 women's basketball message boards has been crazy with heaps of praise from both sides on what a great game this was. Too bad it wasn't on tv up here, I would have loved to watch it.

Apparently, it was the back-up point guard for OU (Kendra Moore) who saved the day. She scored 13 of her 20 points in the extra periods, including all seven of Oklahoma's points in the first OT (if I remember that correctly). She had been averaging less than 4 a game up to this point in the season.

Courtney Paris was herself, snagging her 45th double double with 22 points, 17 rebounds. OU had two other players in double figures. Tech managed five players in double figures in the losing effort. Oklahoma has now won 25 consecutive Big 12 games (regular season and conference tourney combined).

They get to face my Cyclones next tomorrow night in Norman. Personally, I would have preferred a couple more overtimes... I know Fennelly has a game plan similar to what he did last year against them in the postseason. There will be some tweaking, tho, since we no longer have Britt Wilkins under the basket to offset what CP3 is able to do. But I think the game plan will be to guard the perimeter players with a man2man defense and let Paris try to beat us herself.

OU's coach has won two in a row over ISU for the first time in Sherri Coale's tenure there. Previously, Iowa State had won 9 of 10 games against OU - even when the Sooners were going to the national FINALS. I'm hoping we can get our old streak going again. I love beating Oklahoma, not because I don't like them, but because you really feel like you've accomplished something when you've beaten the best. And our wins against OU have been some of the best in Iowa State's history. Here's to a great game!

Well, it wasn't such a great game. OU beat my Cyclones last night 69-49. Iowa State simply had a poor shooting night, making only 17 of 56 shots for 30%, while the Sooners were 44% on 28-63 shooting. Actually, most everything else was fairly even. ISU had 20 turnovers, OU had 21 turnovers. Neither team shot a ton of free throws, also showing that not a lot of fouls were being called (although our play-by-play guy kept saying at the end that the refs didn't know how to call an over the back foul on Courtney Paris - not seeing the action, I cannot say if this was right or not). The one other place where we got killed was rebounds. OU got us 48-29 on the boards. We're better than that, so I don't know what the problem was.

We did manage to hold Paris to 6 first half points and 14 for the game. She finished with her 46th consecutive double double (14 points, 13 rebounds). She was the high scorer for the game. Two other Sooners were in double figures. ISU had two players with double digit scoring - Megan Ronhovde (13) and Lyndsey Medders (10). Toccara Ross had 9. Our post players were ineffective on offense. Rachel Pierson was held scoreless and Nicky Wieben only managed 3 (she had put up 18 on them as a freshman last year in the first meeting in Ames). On the plus side, Wieben did manage four blocks to move into 3rd place all-time on the ISU blocks list. She only needs two more to move into second place - and she still has over two years left to play.

(EDIT) One thing I forgot to mention was that Fennelly did NOT use the game plan I expected him to. The defense was a sagging zone, which the OU guards shredded pretty effectively. This should have been a game where they used man to man D, imo. I guess Coach decided he didn't want Paris going off for 36 points like last time we met, but that allowed far too much production from the other players on the floor. One thing I usually point the finger at when a game plan doesn't work is that Fennelly is waaaay too slow to make adjustments when things aren't working. It gets really frustrating to watch in the stands and see what needs to change, but it doesn't happen, or happens too late...

Needless to say, ISU needs to regroup before Saturday when we host Kansas State. K-State is better than people expected them to be this year with the players they lost from last season. It will take an "A" game to get a win, even at Hilton.

Scores from last night:

Iowa State 49
Oklahoma 69

Baylor 63
Texas 59

Kansas 55
Kansas State 59

Colorado 58
Oklahoma State 61

Nebraska 65
Texas A&M 66

Current Big 12 standings (record, team, rpi):

7-0 Oklahoma 7
4-2 Baylor 16
4-2 Nebraska 35
4-2 Texas A&M 68
3-3 Kansas State 21
3-3 Oklahoma State 90
3-3 Texas 24
3-3 Texas Tech 34
3-4 Iowa State 49
2-4 Colorado 87
1-5 Missouri 50
0-6 Kansas 135

Ok, normally I would talk first about my Cyclones here, but I have to start out by saying "SOMEONE FINALLY BEAT OKLAHOMA IN THE BIG 12!!!" The Sooners hosted Texas A&M yesterday and jumped out to a ten point lead in the first half. The Aggies caught up a bit and it was a six point game at halftime. In the second half, they went on a 13-0 run and took a five point lead. Every time OU would make a run at them, there was an answer on the other end. The final score was 54-52. CP3 was held to 12 points on 4-12 shooting, but grabbed 20 rebounds. Only one other Sooner was in double figures. Shooting was fairly even, but OU was far below their norm - 27% for the first half, 33% for the game. A&M didn't fare much better, but shot well enough when it mattered and forced 28 turnovers. Oklahoma hadn't lost a conference game since February of 2005. Wow - guess it makes sense that it would end against the team with arguably the best defense in the Big 12.

On to Iowa State. We managed to claim another conference win yesterday over Kansas State, 73-68 in a VERY even, hard-fought game. The paid attendance was nearly 10,900, with about 8000 actually in the building - so a good, noisy crowd. I don't think our lead was ever more than six and KSU never led by more than three or so, which would make sense since there were eight ties and 17 lead changes. KSU sank 11 3 pointers, but those came from only two players, Dietz and Coggins, who had 25 and 21 points against us, respectively. Their next highest scorer had only 10, so they got very little production from the rest of their roster.

ISU freshman Alison Lacey score a career high 25 points on 8-11 shooting (her three misses were all 3 pointers, although four of them went in). Nicky Wieben and Toccara Ross both finished in double figures for the game as well. Kansas State had very little inside presence and we were able to take advantage of that as we had 32 points from our post players - not all in the paint, but more than plenty. Again we were able to bounce back from an ugly loss on Wednesday and play the way we needed to in order to get a win. We're back to 4-4 in conference, good for 6th place. Next up is Nebraska at Lincoln on Wednesday night. We have struggled to get wins there the last couple of times, including one truly embarrassing performance where we were simply blown out of the building. It will take a very good night to win, but we need to win to be able to get above .500 in conference play for the first time since we were 1-0.

Scores from yesterday:

Texas A&M 54
Oklahoma 52

Baylor 66
Oklahoma State 55

Kansas State 68
Iowa State 73

Texas 48
Texas Tech 49

Kansas 58
Nebraska 78

Colorado plays at Missouri today on FSN at noon CST (according to the big 12 schedule).

Missouri beat Colorado yesterday 61 to 48 after both teams got off to a sloooooooow start. Literally, it was 4-2 about eight minutes into the game.

Here are the updated league standings with current RPI as of this morning (1/29):

(record, team, rpi)

7-1 Oklahoma 9
5-2 Baylor 15
5-2 Nebraska 31
5-2 Texas A&M 54
4-3 Texas Tech 25
4-4 Iowa State 37
3-4 Kansas State 22
3-4 Oklahoma State 89
3-4 Texas 26
2-5 Missouri 43
2-5 Colorado 86
0-7 Kansas 132

Ugh - now that we're half way thru the conference season, the hard part of the schedule starts. We travel to Nebraska this Wednesday, then host Missouri on Sunday, followed by a road game at Baylor, home against Texas A&M, Colorado, and Nebraska, and finish on the road against Kansas State and Texas Tech (the only place in the Big 12 where we've never won).

We're in an ok position right now for the post season, but I'd prefer to NOT have to play in the first round of the conference tournament (a top 4 finish gives a team a first round bye). The younger players are going to have to be more consistent in order to accomplish this goal. Hell, ever the veterans will have to be more consistent. We can do it, but the question is, "will we?" Eight games left to figure it out...

Score from yesterday:

Oklahoma State 63
Texas A&M 64

I guess OSU was up in College Station by 8 midway through the second half. It was back and forth all the way to the end, with it being tied at 63 when A&M ran the ball down, missed the layup, but was fouled on the offensive board by OSU with one second left of the clock. The Aggie player made the first free throw, missed the second, and the Cowgirls couldn't get a final shot off before the horn.

There was some discussion on a B-12 message board about whether this was the right thing to do - have a foul called at the very end of a game that may decide a winner instead of letting it go to overtime. Personally, a foul is a foul no matter when it happens and it should be called. But I have no idea if this was an obvious foul or something that was more ticky-tack since I didn't see it. I'm hoping it was fairly obvious, otherwise, OSU fans (or anti-Aggie fans) have a legitimate gripe. Would have been an ugly loss had the Aggies not beaten OSU at home one game after knocking off Oklahoma on the road.

Another wild night in the Big 12 last night - 2 one point games, 2 upsets, and one very near miss...

First, my Cyclones lost in Lincoln last night 62-49. They played a good 30 minutes, but fell apart at the end. Unfortunately, Lyndsey Medders was sidelined with a mild concussion. During the morning shootaround, she and Genesis Lightbourne had a collision. Lyndsey tried to shake it off and continue shooting, but it wasn't happening. Coach Fennelly made the decision to keep her out of the game. Needless to say, THAT didn't help, but what I believe hurt more is that Nicky Wieben was basically a no-show. She's the second leading scorer on the team and she only attempted 4 shots (with two of those from beyond the arc, someplace where she generally will NOT shoot), attempted no free throws, had only two rebounds, zero blocks, and zero points in 22 minutes. This could have been the reason we lost as much as not having Lyndsey suited up. Nicky's scoring average was basically the margin of victory for NU.

The Huskers played a great defense. They knew exactly how to handle us when our floor general is out - full court pressure defense the entire second half. It was taking us 15 to 20 seconds just to cross midcourt, so we had a lot of rushed shots that ended up being bricks. Not a great night to say the least.

Oklahoma lost AGAIN yesterday. They were down by as many as 18 to Texas in Austin before coming back and making a game out of it near the end. Texas probably couldn't have bricked more free throws if they tried, but still they held off the Sooners' rally. Courtney Paris finished with 25 points, 18 rebounds, but no one else scored more than nine points. UT had four players in double figures, paced by Tiffany Jackson's 22. Texas won 67-62.

Got to see the tape-delayed Texas Tech-Kansas game last night from Lawrence. Kansas is still looking for it's first conference win this year with a very young squad. They had kept the game close in the last ten minutes (when I started watching), allowing Tech to scoot out to a seven point lead, but finding a way to come back. It came down to Kansas fouling Tech, Tech making only one of two free throws to go up one point, Kansas missing a shot, Tech getting the rebound, KU fouling, Tech missing BOTH free throws, and KU missing their last chance to sink a game-winning shot. The last shot may have even been blocked - details are a little fuzzy as I was pretty tired as this game was wrapping up - ok so the only reason I was really staying up late watching was to see if the cheerleader I saw when ISU played in Lawrence was there (didn't see him...). Anyway, Tech held off the Jayhawks 66-65.

Scores from last night:

Oklahoma 62
Texas 67

Missouri 70
Baylor 71

Texas Tech 66
Kansas 65

Iowa State 49
Nebraska 62

Kansas State 55
Colorado 66

Standings and rpi as of this morning (2/1):

(record, team, rpi)

7-2 Oklahoma 13
6-2 Baylor 11
6-2 Nebraska 28
6-2 Texas A&M 39
5-3 Texas Tech 30
4-4 Texas 24
4-5 Iowa State 45
3-5 Kansas State 25
3-5 Oklahoma State 92
3-5 Colorado 83
2-6 Missouri 44
0-8 Kansas 142

Iowa State plays Missouri here in Ames at 3 p.m. today on FoxSports. Coach Fen tried to get them to change the time because of that little NFL game going on at 5, but since it was a televised game, they said, "no way." So I don't know how well attended the game will be this afternoon. It should be ok, but not like if nothing were happening otherwise.

Lyndsey Medders is listed as "questionable" for today's game as she is still trying to recover from the concussion she got before the NU game Wednesday. I hope she will be able to play, but I'm betting the minutes will be limited if she does. I'm not overly optimistic about our chances to win if she is not on the floor. If, at least, all the other starters show up and produce, we will have a shot and that's all I ask.

Looked like another wild day in the league yesterday for the games that were scheduled. Baylor went to Lincoln to face a newly fired up Nebraska team. NU has been playing like they actually believe they're good - first time this has happened literally since maybe the '98-99 season. Baylor got down big early, fought back a little, but couldn't overcome the Husker's offensive power. NU wins 76-67.

Kansas State got blown out on their home court by Texas, 61-34. This was the lowest point total for a Big 12 foe the 'Horns have ever allowed. The bottom may have fallen out from the Wildcat's season, but they still have a good team and can make something of this year yet if they regroup.

Scores from Saturday:

Baylor 67
Nebraska 76

Texas 61
Kansas State 34

Kansas 53
Texas A&M 64

Texas Tech 67
Colorado 70

I will post today's scores for the ISU/MU and OU/OSU games and current standings tomorrow. Go STATE!!

Hey Matt...

In case you missed it, here's an ESPN piece on Medders:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/columns/stor...&id=2742061

Thanks, Bobby - yeah, I had seen that article when it was posted. But good of you to post a link here for others to see. I had forgotten about it already - duh.

Iowa State managed to win their game yesterday against Missouri, 76-68 at Hilton Coliseum to improve to 17-6 overall, 5-5 in conference. Rarely have I been happier to see a team leave my building with a loss than the Tigers. What a bunch of whiners - protesting nearly every call against them, the "what did I do?" look and gesture. Fortunately, their top 3 scorers are all seniors, so they should be really bad next season - I hope. Heck, they fell to 2-7 in the league WITH their senior leadership, so hopefully that says a lot about the "talent" they have for underclassmen.

Anyway, the star for ISU was Nicky Wieben. As much as she didn't show up on Wednesday against Nebraska, she was ON for this game, right from the tip. She ended up with a career high 24 points, shooting 11-15, and a season high 11 boards. Nearly every time we needed something good to happen on the offensive end of things, we got her the ball and she produced. Great to see her play the way we all know she can play.

Lyndsey Medders DID play 23 minutes, although she didn't start the game. You could tell she was still a bit off from the concussion she got at NU on Wednesday, but she still managed to get us 10 points, 7 of which came from the free throw line. She showed up to warm-ups before the game wearing a football helmet and actually practiced with it on for a few minutes before she realised she couldn't see a thing with it on. What a kidder...

The attendance was listed at 10,018 - NOT what was there, but more than I figured the official count would be considering the Super Bowl started not long after our game ended. I would say the actual number was between 5,000 and 6,000 - REALLY good under the circumstances.

Another fun thing to note - with this game Iowa State now has the longest streak of games in the country with at least one three point shot made. We had been second to Cleveland State, but they missed all their three pointers in their last contest, leaving us in first place with 357 consecutive games. CSU had set an NCAA record with 408 straight games with at least one 3 made. This is something that is kind of special to Iowa State because Coach Fennelly's system is built around being able to shoot (and make) the 3. It's always a relief when that first three goes in for us - we get to keep the streak going.

Scores from yesterday:

Oklahoma State 63
Oklahoma 78

Missouri 68
Iowa State 76

Current standings and rpi as of this morning (2/5):

8-2 Oklahoma 13
7-2 Nebraska 25
7-2 Texas A&M 46
6-3 Baylor 19
5-4 Texas 22
5-4 Texas Tech 39
5-5 Iowa State 41
4-5 Colorado 79
3-6 Kansas State 32
3-6 Oklahoma State 93
2-7 Missouri 48
0-9 Kansas 146

There was one game in the Big 12 last night. In Lawrence, Kansas beat Colorado in overtime for their first conference win, 70-68. From what I could tell, this was close - within a few points all the way to the end. Colorado only got points from 3 starters and only 9 points from the bench. Their point guard, Whitney Houston (yes, you read that right), led all scorers with 25. But Kansas got more production from their bench and all starters contributed significantly.

As much as I am NOT a fan of Kansas, I am actually happy for them to get this win. I have watched them come close several times this season on tv and just couldn't get that last bucket.

Iowa State is off this week, but plays Saturday at Baylor - I will be going to this game and hopefully bringing some Hilton Magic to the Ferrell Center. Will have other conference results from tonight in the morning.

Scores from last night:

Texas 58
Oklahoma State 77

Texas A&M 69
Missouri 63

Baylor 80
Texas Tech 67

Nebraska 62
Kansas State 55

Current standings and records as of 2/8 (league record, overall record):

8-2, 18-3 - Oklahoma
8-2, 20-4 - Nebraska
8-2, 18-4 - Texas A&M
7-3, 20-4 - Baylor
5-5, 17-6 - Iowa State
5-5, 16-8 - Texas
5-5, 14-10 - Texas Tech
4-6, 16-7 - Oklahoma State
4-6, 10-12 - Colorado
3-7, 15-8 - Kansas State
2-8, 14-9 - Missouri
1-9, 7-16 Kansas

i am totally bummed that Texas lost, and lost badly, to Okalahoma State.

Yes, that was the only game from last night that really stood out to me as "what?!" That they lost isn't so surprising - OSU has improved dramatically from last season (I think 10 of 14 on their roster are new - Coach Budke "cleaned house" a bit after going 0-16) - but that they lost so badly is. Also that OSU managed nearly 80 points against Texas after the 'Horns allowed only 34 AT Manhattan.

I think it just shows how strong the league is this year. Even last place Kansas would be able to play well enough to compete for the top couple of spots in just about any league except for the top four (B12, B10, SEC, ACC). Hope the "strength" holds up thru tournament time, tho. Don't wanna see 8 teams get in (from the Big 12) then see them all gone by the second round.