Two big things happened with the Oklahoma win over Tennessee yesterday - Pat Summit remains at 999 career wins, and OU's Courtney Paris had her streak of consecutive double-doubles stopped.

Oklahoma won 80-70 in a game that probably wasn't that close. UT got out to a large lead in the first half after a 16-0 run took the score from 18-17 Sooners, to 33-18 Vols. Then OU bagged their own 23-3 run to end the first half with a lead of 41-36. The Sooners led by as many as 18 in the second half before Tennessee closed the gap to the final margin of ten. OU simply took charge and never let the Vols get back in it.

Paris finished with 12 rebounds, but only 9 points, becoming the first game without a double-double for her in 113 games. For the record, the previous mark for most double-doubles for a female was 19 by Old Dominion's Ann Donovan in 1982-1983. The men's record was a mere 40 straight by UNC's Billy Cunningham in the 1960s. Somehow, I think the win was ultimately more important to Paris and the rest of the program than to continue the streak.

Texas Tech beat Savannah State, 80-39, in the only other Big 12 match-up for the evening.

Remember how I previously mentioned how well Florida State was doing, along with their favorable remaining schedule? Yeah, I jinxed them, too. Last night they hosted Maryland in a top 20 contest. FSU hit a basket to take a two point lead with just under five seconds to play. The Terps' Kristi Toliver hit a three that went in at the buzzer to get the win by a point. Florida State is still tied for first, but no longer undefeated in the ACC. I might just keep my mouth shut about them from now on - sorry tbbucsalstott!

Iowa State SMASHED #4/10 Texas A&M tonight in Ames, 67-50. The Cyclones had a 33-21 lead at the half on a left-handed (she's a righty), off-balance, at-the-buzzer 3 by Alison Lacey. ISU hit 10 3s and went 15 points above A&M's season points allowed, the second lowest in the Big 12 (at 52 per game). The Aggies kind of forgot to show up and once the game made it into the second half, ISU was never seriously challenged.

Aggie Takia Starks (and A&M leading scorer with 18) was quoted in the post-game press conference: "For me personally, I really am surprised on how we played as a whole. Some of us just quit. I’ve never played on a team where people just quit. We have a young team, they’re really not used to playing in this atmosphere. I am just really unhappy with our effort tonight."

Heather Ezell scored 25 for ISU on 7-13 shooting from long range, including a second half 3 that was chucked towards the basket one-handed and swished as the shot clock expired. Someone had commented elsewhere online that between that and Lacey's 3 to end the first half, if this was a men's game those shots would have been on ESPN's top ten plays. The place went apesh!t for Lacey's 3 and the volume grew with every 3 Ezell knocked down.

Honestly, I didn't expect this kind of score in this game. I thought it would be much tougher and closer than it was. A&M beat us twice last year - badly in College Station and handily (but not as thoroughly) in Kansas City in the Big 12 semi-finals. They returned most of what they had last year, but it wasn't enough once they got on the floor. The loss bumps ISU into fourth place in the Big 12 and drops A&M to fifth. ISU is just a half game out of second place right now with a game at Colorado this Saturday. Also, Bill Fennelly is just three wins away from his 300th win at Iowa State in just 14 seasons. ISU had won barely over 200 games all-time before Fennelly arrived, going back to the 1973-74 season.

Don't have a lot of time today, but here are all of the scores from last night's games.

Iowa State 67, Texas A&M 50
Kansas 65, Colorado 54
Kansas State 58, Missouri 54
Baylor 76, Nebraska 71

Both the K-State and Baylor games came down the last few minutes with the favored teams making the necessary shots to pull out the wins.

Here is the latest ESPN poll with records through Monday night (so they don't reflect last night's games):

ESPN/USA Today Poll
1. Connecticut (31) 21-0 775
2. Oklahoma 19-2 744
3. California 18-2 693
4. Texas A&M 17-3 627
5. Auburn 21-1 616
6. Stanford 17-4 611
7. Baylor 17-3 592
8. Duke 18-2 561
9. North Carolina 19-3 515
10. Louisville 20-2 512
11. Maryland 17-4 469
12. Ohio State 18-3 435
13. Florida 20-2 374
14. Kansas State 18-2 315
15. Virginia 18-4 309
16. Notre Dame 16-4 294
17. Tennessee 16-5 280
18. Texas 15-5 263
19. Florida State 18-5 209
20. South Dakota State 21-2 206
21. Xavier 19-4 175
22. Vanderbilt 17-5 160
23. Iowa State 16-4 133
24. Pittsburgh 16-4 72
25. DePaul 17-5 52
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Middle Tennessee State 19, Gonzaga 18, Bowling Green 12, Marist 7, Georgia Tech 7, New Mexico 6, Oklahoma State 5, Georgia 4, Arkansas-Little Rock 2, Boston College 2, North Carolina A&T 1,

There is the OSU/Texas match-up tonight that might shake up the standings a bit, so I won't post what the league looks like right now until after the weekend games are played. Am off to Colorado for the weekend to watch ISU play at CU (3 p.m. CST on FoxSports Rocky Mountain) and will post again after I get back on Sunday (no, I don't have a laptop to drag along with me).

Back from Colorado and am happy to report that Iowa State escaped with a win in Boulder, beating Colorado 53-47. ISU opened up an 18 point lead in the first half, 31-13, before the Buffs closed it to nine at halftime. CU then cut the lead to five before Iowa State bumped it back up to 13 mid-way through the second period. CU got it down to six with a minute or so remaining, and started fouling to for the free throw shots. ISU couldn't hit the broadside of a barn (4-13 for the game), but Colorado didn't take advantage - not only could they not hit anything at the other end of the court, THEY STOPPED FOULING WITH UNDER A MINUTE TO PLAY. Their coach said in the post-game that "it was a dumb mistake" that she forgot to tell them to keep fouling. No kidding - and you just got a contract extension until 2013? Seriously? Whatever. A win is a win and it moved ISU to 18-4, 6-2, which puts us alone in 3rd place right now heading into Wednesday's game at OU. I'm not really expecting to walk away from Norman with a win, but they play the games for a reason and anything can happen.

Baylor used a 13-0 run near the end of the game to knock off Kansas State in Waco, 59-50. BU's Jessica Morrow and KSU's Ashley Sweat both scored 17.

Missouri got a big win at home against Kansas, 74-60. MU's Jessra Johnson and KU's Danielle McCray both scored 20 points.

On Sunday, it was a day of blow-outs. Oklahoma beat OSU at Stillwater, 93-75. It was the second consecutive game where Courtney Paris did NOT have a double-double (17 points, 8 rebounds). Andrea Riley for OSU scored 25.

Texas A&M smashed Nebraska at College Station, 86-43. It was the largest margin of victory for A&M in Big 12 history. The Aggies shot 61%, while holding NU to 28%. Think they were mad after losing to Iowa State on Wednesday?

Texas avenged an upset loss earlier in the season by Texas Tech, as the 'Horns beat the Raiders, 77-46 in Austin. Texas was up 20 at halftime and never looked back.


Standings as of Monday morning, with overall record, conference record and rpi rating:

Oklahoma--20-2, 8-0 (2)
Baylor --19-3, 7-2 (6)
Iowa State--18-4, 6-2 (16)
Kansas State--19-3, 6-3 (18)
Texas A&M--18-4, 6-3 (9)
Texas--17-5, 5-3 (14)
Oklahoma State--14-7, 3-5 (38)
Texas Tech--13-9, 3-5 (39)
Kansas--13-8, 2-6 (67)
Missouri--11-11, 2-7 (92)
Colorado--10-11, 2-7 (112)
Nebraska--10-12, 1-8 (75)

The new AP poll just came out this afternoon and ISU jumped up 5 spots to #16, which is the highest we've been ranked since the '04-05 season (we made it to 14 for one week, exactly four years ago this week).

AP Top 25
1. Connecticut (45) 23-0 1125
2. Oklahoma 20-2 1080
3. California 20-2 1013
4. Duke 19-2 964
5. Auburn 23-1 924
6. Stanford 19-4 880
7. Baylor 19-3 855
8. North Carolina 20-3 831
9. Florida 22-2 759
10. Louisville 21-3 711
11. Maryland 18-4 700
12. Texas A&M 18-4 613
13. Texas 17-5 566
14. Florida State 20-5 490
15. Tennessee 17-6 445
16. Iowa State 18-4 413
17. Virginia 19-5 385
18. Ohio State 19-4 371
19. Pittsburgh 17-4 356
20. Kansas State 19-3 289
21. Xavier 20-4 219
22. Notre Dame 17-5 205
23. South Dakota State 22-2 150
24. Vanderbilt 18-6 132
25. DePaul 18-6 51
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Middle Tennessee State 34, Arizona State 18, Bowling Green 10, Rutgers 8, Michigan State 5, Georgia Tech 4, Mississippi State 4, LSU 3, Oklahoma State 3, Utah 3, Boston College 2, Wisconsin-Green Bay 2, Gonzaga 1, Minnesota 1,

Here is the schedule for tonight's games. I'll be at the Iowa State/Colorado men's game so I won't have to be glued to the radio for the women's game and stressing out all night.

Kansas @ Texas
Texas A&M @ Texas Tech
Iowa State @ Oklahoma
Baylor @ Oklahoma State

This morning's ratings at collegerpi.com show the Big 12 still have six teams in the top 18 nationally.

Iowa State nearly did the (next to) impossible last night - they went to Oklahoma and had the game within reach after the final media timeout (4 minutes remaining). ISU was down only 48-46 when the game clock passed the four minute mark, but could not hit a shot on three straight tries to tie or take the lead. ISU ended up losing to OU, 58-49, after fouling by the Cyclones allowed the Sooners to score from the line. The first half began slowly, with OU leading, 13-9 with twelve minutes gone. Oklahoma jumped ahead, 24-15 before ISU went on a 14-0 run that spanned both halves. OU retook the lead and left Iowa State to play catch-up from there.

The game plan was to slow down OU's offense and it worked brilliantly. The Sooners average scoring 80 points per game and have a prolific 3 point shooting freshman, Whitney Hand. They were held to 22 points below their season average and were not allowed to make a 3 the entire game (they were only able to get three attempts off). The idea was to allow Courtney Paris to do what she could while being guarded one-on-one and clamp down on the other four on the floor. Paris ended up with 25 points and 19 rebounds, resuming her double-double streak. Ashley Paris scored 13 and Danielle Robinson had 14 to round out the Sooners in double figures. Three other players had 2 points a piece, but no one else scored. ISU struggled getting many points, with Heather Ezell leading the way with 15. Kelsey Bolte had 8 for the second highest Cyclone total. Ezell also nailed three 3s, leaving her only 22 away from the Iowa State career three point record.

I'm not one for moral victories (they suck, actually, because you still lose the game), but this was definitely in that category. No one expected ISU to go to Norman and win and we very nearly pulled it off. The final score did NOT show how close this game really was down to the wire. But I think this game was a decent redemption for the way we played against Stanford in November and proved that we can stay with the best teams in the country. We'll have another chance to prove that on Sunday afternoon when #14 Texas, winner of four straight, comes to Ames (2:30 pm CST on ESPN2).

Speaking of Texas, they beat Kansas, 74-66, in Austin. UT broke out to a 16 point first half lead, but allowed KU to sneak back into it in the second period. Kansas had cut the gap to three at 60-57, but could pull no closer. UT's Earnesia Williams hit a wide-open three at that point to put Texas up for good.

Baylor won at Oklahoma State in overtime, 64-62, to remain undefeated on the road in Big 12 play. BU led 27-24 at the break, but OSU went on a 15-4 run to take an eight point lead with under 14 minutes to play. Baylor tied the game up at 58 with 45 seconds to play, which was the score at the end of regulation. Neither team could get the offense going in OT, with Baylor managing to come out on top.

#8 Texas A&M was upset at Texas Tech, 60-53. Tech used a modest 8-2 run mid-way through the first half to take the lead and never looked back. A&M was left to play catch-up from there, but was held off by the Raider defense. Tech had five players in double figures for the night.

All teams will take the court this weekend, with four games on Saturday and two on Sunday. More on the weekend games later in the week...

Ok, finally have time to get to posting about the games last weekend! I was bummed out for a day or so after Iowa State dropped it's first game at home to Texas, 55-52, on Sunday. ISU led nearly the entire game and held a five point lead with two minutes to play, but UT ran off an 8-0 run to end it and win by three. Iowa State literally fell apart - missing a free throw that changed the direction of the game (UT rebounded and scored), turning the ball over on two consecutive possessions after that, and not getting the ball into the hands of the person most suited to create a 3 point shot for herself (Ezell) to tie it up with under ten seconds to play. All of this in front of a season-high crowd of 12,242 (complete with hundreds of students, a rarity for most women's games here or anywhere else). It's not like we lost to a bad team, but this was a game we easily should have won, especially leading by 11 in the first half and the mere fact that this game was at home. The loss didn't hurt our rpi (16) and actually bumped our strength of schedule up to 10th. Still, it was a loss. The good news for us is that all the teams we have yet to play are below us in the league standings.

Kansas State managed to knock off Oklahoma State, 79-71, in spite of being without the services of point guard Shalee Lehning who is out indefinitely with mono. K-State was lead by Ashley Sweat with 31 points, while OSU's Andrea Riley had her (usual) 30 points.

The only other real surprise was that Nebraska beat Texas Tech in Lincoln, 62-56. Tech got down big, trailing by 19 in the second half before cutting the deficit to 4 near the end, but could get no closer. Nebraska moved themselves into a four-way tie for 9th (and last) place.

Scores from the weekend...

Nebraska 62, Texas Tech 56
Baylor 72, Missouri 43
Texas A&M 79, Colorado 50
Kansas 54, Oklahoma 69
Kansas State 79, Oklahoma State 71
Iowa State 52, Texas 55

Games mid-week...

Tuesday:
Oklahoma @ Texas Tech (7 p.m. CST on Texas Tech Television Network & Sooner Sports)

Wednesday:
Kansas State @ Missouri
Oklahoma State @ Texas
Nebraska @ Iowa State (7 p.m. CST on FoxSports Kansas City)
Kansas @ Colorado

Iowa State redeemed itself with a win over hapless Nebraska last night in Ames, 61-38. NU is still struggling to find an offense against good teams with two key players out due to injury. The ISU win marks the first season sweep of the Huskers by the Cyclones in six years. It also moves Iowa State's Coach Fennelly to 299 wins at ISU. Junior Alison Lacey joined Iowa State's 1000 point club with 20 points (her highest of the season) in front of her parents who are visiting from Australia through the Big 12 Tournament next month.

There were two unexpected upsets last night. Kansas State survived game one over the weekend without point guard Shalee Lehning (out with mono), but could not make it two in a row, losing at Missouri, 52-43. KSU went 1-18 from three point range and went 16 minutes without a field goal, spanning both halves.

Texas was upset at home by Oklahoma State, 58-52. OSU's Andrea Riley led the Cowgirls in scoring (surprise!) with 21 points, including the game-clincher - a full-court pass on an inbounds play that she caught and laid in ahead of the Texas defense to provide a five point cushion.

Colorado beat Kansas in Boulder, 69-62, to escape the Big 12 basement (leading me to believe even more that KU's Bonnie Henrickson will be looking for a new job this summer).

On Tuesday, Oklahoma moved to 11-0 in league play as they knocked off Texas Tech, 80-72, for their 19th consecutive win. Seriously, guys, would someone please beat them already?!

Standings for the Big 12 as of Thursday morning...

Oklahoma----------- 11-0, 23-2
Baylor---------------- 9-2, 21-3
Kansas State-------- 7-4, 20-4
Texas A&M----------- 7-4, 19-5
Iowa State----------- 7-4, 19-6
Texas---------------- 7-4, 19-6
Oklahoma State----- 4-7, 15-9
Texas Tech---------- 4-7, 14-11
Missouri-------------- 3-8, 12-12
Colorado------------- 3-8, 11-12
Kansas--------------- 2-9, 13-11
Nebraska------------ 2-9, 11-13

Here is the line-up of games from Saturday through Monday.

Saturday:

Texas @ Texas A&M (FSN, 11 a.m. CST)
Colorado @ Kansas State
Baylor @ Oklahoma (FSN Oklahoma, 2 p.m. CST)
Texas Tech @ Oklahoma State
Missouri @ Nebraska

Sunday:

Iowa State @ Kansas (FSN, noon CST)

Monday:

Oklahoma @ Texas A&M (ESPN2, 6:30 p.m. CST)

What a game on tv last night between OU and A&M! OU was up 42-28 in the second half before A&M went on a 25-4 run to go up 7. Then OU went on an 8-0 run to lead by a point, 54-53. It slowed down from there to the end when A&M hung on to win by one point, 57-56. Oklahoma is without freshman guard Whitney Hand who had surgery to repair damage to a broken finger. She's expected to miss the rest of the season, but might be back for the Big 12 tournament. OU was 1-5 from three point range, and out-rebounded A&M 51-22, but bricked 9 of 24 free throws and committed 29 turnovers (compared to 11 by the Aggies). There were about 7000 on hand to watch the #2 Sooners go down for the first time in conference play this season.

Iowa State managed to p!ss away their hold on third place with an embarrassing 58-47 loss at last place Kansas on Sunday. This was about the worst I've seen ISU play for a long time (not counting the Stanford game earlier in the year). There was very little energy from most of the players who saw time on the floor. Nicky Wieben scored 19, while Heather Ezell and Alison Lacey each had 10. No other Cyclone had more than 2 points. ISU went 5-30 in the second half from the floor and put KU at the line 19 times for the game (they hit 18 of those). Bad, bad, bad. Nothing much else to say about it other than I think we just helped KU coach Henrickson keep her job another year.

The only other surprise from the weekend was Tech managed to go into Stillwater and knock off Oklahoma State, 74-70. The win moved Tech ahead of OSU in the standings, improving their chances of being a 7th team from the Big 12 to make the NCAAs (but it's still only an outside shot). The loss for the Cowgirls knocks them to 4-8 in the league. Anything below .500 this year in league play won't be good enough to get their ticket punched, unlike 7-9 Texas and Iowa State last year.

Scores since Saturday:

Texas A&M 76, Texas 65
Kansas State 72, Colorado 60
Oklahoma 66, Baylor 58
Oklahoma State 70, Texas Tech 74
Nebraska 65, Missouri 52
Kansas 58, Iowa State 47
Texas A&M 57, Oklahoma 56

League standings as of Tuesday morning:

Oklahoma------------ 12-1, 24-3
Baylor----------------- 9-3, 21-4
Texas A&M------------ 9-4, 21-5
Kansas State--------- 8-4, 21-4
Iowa State------------ 7-5, 19-7
Texas----------------- 7-5, 19-7
Texas Tech----------- 5-7, 15-11
Oklahoma State------ 4-8, 15-10
Kansas---------------- 3-9, 14-11
Missouri--------------- 3-9, 12-13
Nebraska------------- 3-9, 12-13
Colorado-------------- 3-9, 11-13

Iowa State's Coach Fennelly finally got his 300th win with the Cyclones last night by beating Colorado in Ames, 76-63. ISU had three players in double figures - Bolte with 23, Lacey with 20, and Wieben with 19. CU was led by Kara Richards with 21, while Mullaney tallied 20 (17 of which came in the first half). Bolte was 5-6 from beyond the arc. Heather Ezell was scoreless for Iowa State for the first time this season (guess who CU's defense was focused on?). This was also win #20 for the season and moved us to 8-5 in the league, tied for 4th place with Texas and Kansas State.

That brings me to the help we got last night from Nebraska to force us into a tie with K-State. The Huskers beat #15 Kansas State, 52-47, in Lincoln. Wildcat guard Shalee Lehning returned for limited action (14 minutes) but did not score. Since she was diagnosed with mono, K-State has lost two of their last three games. Nebraska was led by Cory Montgomery with 21 points.

Baylor destroyed Texas Tech in Waco, 83-53. The Bears had five players in double figures, led by Jhasmin Player's 18. Kierra Mallard scored 18 for Tech, 10 of those from the line - take away the free throws and she still was Tech's leading scorer for the game.

Kansas went to Stillwater and soundly beat the Cowgirls of OSU, 67-52. Danielle McCray scored 30 points, while OSU's Andrea Riley (only) scored 18 on 7-28 shooting.

On Tuesday night, Texas won at Missouri, 66-56.

Standings as of this morning (Thursday):

Oklahoma------------ 12-1, 24-3
Baylor---------------- 10-3, 22-4
Texas A&M----------- 9-4, 21-5
Kansas State--------- 8-5, 21-5
Iowa State------------ 8-5, 20-7
Texas----------------- 8-5, 20-7
Texas Tech----------- 5-8, 15-12
Kansas--------------- 4-9, 15-11
Oklahoma State----- 4-9, 15-11
Nebraska------------ 4-9, 13-13
Missouri-------------- 3-10, 12-14
Colorado------------- 3-10, 11-14

Just a quick recap of what happened over the weekend since I seem to be having problems keeping up with things the last few weeks!

On Sunday afternoon, Texas A&M went to Manhattan and demolished Kansas State, 71-45. K-State's Shalee Lehning has been back for a couple of games now from mono, but she still does not have a lot of the strength and speed that makes her so dangerous. A&M is alone in 3rd place in the Big 12, while the loss knocked the Wildcats down to a tie for 5th place with Texas.

Saturday night, Iowa State went to Lubbock and beat Texas Tech, 59-52, for their fourth straight win over the Lady Raiders.

Kansas beat Nebraska, 70-57, in Lawrence to notch their 5th league win, tying for the most ever by a Bonnie Henrickson-coached team.

Missouri beat hapless Colorado in Boulder, 66-55, to keep the Tigers out of the Big 12 basement.

Baylor beat Texas in Austin, 66-57, avenging a loss to the 'Horns in Waco earilier in the season. Baylor may have lost leading scorer and rebounder, Danielle Wilson, to an ACL tear this past weekend. That will not be good for achieving any post-season success.

Oklahoma knocked off Oklahoma State, 73-63, in Norman, pretty much ending any chance OSU had of making the NCAA tournament this year.

Games coming up over the next two days:

Tuesday:
Iowa State @ Missouri
Colorado @ Nebraska

Wednesday:
Texas @ Kansas State (7 p.m. CST, FoxSports KC)
Texas Tech @ Oklahoma (7 p.m. CST, Sooner Sports Network, Texas Tech Television Network)
Baylor @ Kansas (7 p.m. CST, Sunflower Network)

Current standings:

Oklahoma-------------- 13-1, 25-3
Baylor------------------ 11-3, 23-4
Texas A&M------------- 10-4, 22-5
Iowa State-------------- 9-5, 21-7
Kansas State----------- 8-6, 21-6
Texas------------------- 8-6, 20-8
Kansas------------------ 5-9, 16-11
Texas Tech------------- 5-9, 15-13
Oklahoma State-------- 4-10, 15-12
Missouri----------------- 4-10, 13-14
Nebraska--------------- 4-10, 13-14
Colorado--------------- 3-11, 11-15

Well, well, well. Didn't the Big 12 race just get interesting? Ok, not for first place - Oklahoma already has that sewn up. But everything else has gone to hell with a bunch of different outcomes all being determined by this last weekend of league play. Let's start with the big game from last night (which, on paper, should NOT have been a big game).

#6 Baylor went to Lawrence and got POUNDED by Kansas, 69-45. Baylor fell behind 16-4 to start the game and trailed at one point by 30. KU's Danielle McCray scored 35 points, hitting seven 3 pointers. BU was playing their first full game without leading scorer and rebounder Danielle Wilson and clearly had no idea how to adjust to life without her on the court. The Bears went 16 of 62 from the floor for 25%, while the Jayhawks shot 25 of 52 for 48%.

Oklahoma dispatched Texas Tech in Norman last night, 61-49. OU has the #1 seed for the conference tournament and most likely a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament as well. The Big 12 tourney is in OKC this year as is one of the regional sites for the national tournament. This won't be their home court, but close enough to allow their fans to fill the place. It was senior night at OU for the Paris twins. Courtney Paris had this to say during her farewell speech (courtesy espn.com): "We're going to win a national championship this year," Paris said, bringing the crowd to its feet. "We're going to win one. And if we don't -- which is not even an option -- just to put something on the line, I will personally -- it might take me the rest of my life, but I will pay back my scholarship because I didn't do what I said I would do." Hmm. Interesting. Let's see if they can actually advance past a regional semi-final this year. Within the league, OU has been exceedingly dominant, with the only exception being last year's fifth place finish (and even then...), but the national legacy that showed promise when the Paris twins signed on never materialized. We'll see if this is the year.

Kansas State beat Texas in Manhattan, 66-50, to stay in the running for a top 4 seed and first round bye in the Big 12 tournament. The loss put UT at 8-7 for the year with a game at home against OU to wrap up the season - probably not where they'd like to be at this point.

On Tuesday night, Iowa State beat Missouri in Columbia, 62-47. ISU led by 18 in the second half before giving up a 10-0 run that narrowed the gap to 48-40. Clutch 3 point shooting and timely free throws at the end iced it for the Cyclones, who still need to win their last game to guarantee a spot in the top 4 of the league.

Also on Tuesday, Nebraska beat Colorado, 75-64, in Lincoln. The win puts NU in a tie with Texas Tech for eighth place with a chance to finish the regular season above .500 overall should they win their finale.

Ok, so 1st place is locked down for OU. Right now, BU is in 2nd, 1/2 game ahead of A&M, which they play in Waco on Saturday night. BU is also one game ahead of ISU, but they hold the tie breaker over the Cyclones. ISU holds the tie breaker over A&M. KSU holds the tie-breaker over ISU and A&M, but not BU. So about a dozen different outcomes could still change everything in deciding who finishes in spots 2 through 5. And the tie breaking rules get sticky, so I'm not even going to get into them.

Games from today through Sunday (end of regular season):

Thu, Mar 05
@Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma State (7:00 p.m. CST FoxSports)

Sat, Mar 07
@Texas Tech vs. Missouri (2:00 p.m. CST, Texas Tech Television Network)
@Colorado vs. Kansas State
@Oklahoma State vs. Nebraska
@Iowa State vs. Kansas
@Baylor vs. Texas A&M

Sun, Mar 08
@Texas vs. Oklahoma (2:30 p.m. CST FoxSports)

Hold on tight, it's going to be a bumpy ride!...

With the exception of the game between OU and Texas right now, the regular season is done. First the good news (for me, anyway) - Iowa State managed to knock off Kansas on senior night in Ames, 59-49. ISU never trailed and led by as many as 17 in front of a season-high crowd of 12,600+. The win guaranteed that Iowa State would finish no lower than 4th in the Big 12. They could tie with Texas A&M for 3rd place if A&M lost last night at Baylor (which had just gotten blown out in their last game at KU since Danielle Wilson went down with an injury). So what happens?...

...#6 Baylor beat #8 A&M 64-60 on free throws at the end, letting the Bears finish alone in 2nd place and knocking the Aggies into a tie with Iowa State. Now, guess who holds the tie-breaker between those two teams? ISU won the regular season meeting with A&M, so ISU gets the 3 seed for the tournament. This is cool for two reasons - A) that's where we were predicted to finish, we would not have to face #1 OU until the tournament finals, if at all since they would have to face A&M in the semi-finals. A semi-final match between ISU and Baylor looks far more appealing to me.

Anyway, in other games, Kansas State won at Colorado, 71-61. KSU's Shalee Lehning had a triple double with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists. Kansas State was vying for the 4th seed, which they would have gotten, had ISU lost to KU, based on tie-breakers. KSU is put in the 5th seed and will have to play the first day of the conference tournament.

A&M beat Oklahoma State on Thurday night, 79-49, effectively eliminating ISU's chance at becoming the 2 seed. Had A&M lost to OSU, but beaten Baylor, and Iowa State beat KU, ISU would have been the 2 again due to tie-breakers. They look at head-to-head records within the division and A&M would have (somehow) held this over Baylor - meaning Baylor already lost that tie-breaker, so they would automatically fall in behind Iowa State, which held the tie-breaker (still) over A&M. Confuse me? But it didn't happen - still was an interesting scenario, though.

Tech beat Missouri 63-56 in Lubbock, to stay ahead of Mizzou in the standings.

Nebraska beat OSU (yesterday), 82-74, to finish tied with Tech and Kansas at 6-10.

Ok, so here are the standings (penciling in an OU win over Texas, since they're currently leading by 20 or so and it doesn't effect the standings)...

Oklahoma---------------15-1, 27-3
Baylor-------------------12-4, 24-5
Texas A&M --------------11-5, 23-6
Iowa State --------------11-5, 23-7
Kansas State------------10-6, 23-6
Texas---------------------8-8, 20-10
Kansas-------------------6-10, 17-12
Texas Tech--------------6-10, 16-14
Nebraska----------------6-10, 15-14
Oklahoma State---------4-12, 15-14
Missouri------------------4-12, 13-16
Colorado-----------------3-13, 11-17

Now, lets look at the conference tournament seedings...

Thursday games:
8 Kansas vs 9 Nebraska
5 Kansas State vs 12 Colorado
7 Texas Tech vs 10 Oklahoma State
6 Texas vs 11 Missouri

Friday games:
8-9 winner vs 1 Oklahoma
5-12 winner vs 4 Texas A&M
7-10 winner vs 2 Baylor
6-11 winner vs 3 Iowa State

Saturday games:
two semi-finals

Sunday game:
championship

I am heading to Oklahoma City for the Big 12 tournament this week. Might have to con Tbbucsalstott into filling a couple reports since I will not have a laptop with me for this journey. Here's hoping I get to visit OKC for more than a couple of days!

This will be just a quick post until I can get more time to talk about the whole tournament.

Baylor won over Texas A&M for the automatic bid to the NCAAs. Iowa State made it to the semi-finals, defeating Texas (avenging our only home loss of the season), before dropping a close one to Baylor.

There were a lot of good, close games that I was able to see in person. Got to see Oklahoma go down to A&M in the semis also, which was fun - seemed like fans of every other team in attendance were cheering for the Aggies. You don't always get to see the top seed fall early, so it's kind of a treat when it happens.

Anyway, more later. The NCAA selection show is tonight!

At long last, the pairings have come out. The Big 12 got 6 teams in, with another 3 invited to the WNIT. Oklahoma got a #1 seed and is being send to Iowa City for their sub-regional. Baylor and A&M each received a 2 seed. Iowa State is a 4, Kansas State is a 5, and Texas is a 6 seed. Here are the first round match-ups and where they are playing...

Oklahoma (1)
Prairie View A&M (16) in Iowa City; Sunday, March 22

Texas A&M (2)
Evansville (15) in South Bend; Sunday, March 22

Baylor (2)
Texas-San Antonio (15) in Lubbock; Sunday, March 22

Iowa State (4)
East Tennessee State (13) in Bowling Green, KY; Sunday, March 22

Kansas State (5)
Drexel (12) in Albuquerque; Saturday, March 21

Texas (6)
Mississippi State (11) in Columbus, OH; Saturday, March 21

Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma State all were invited to the WNIT. KU and NU have first round byes, while OSU will host a first round game. Texas Tech announced earlier that it would not accept an invitation to play in the WNIT (a move to me that indicates Coach Curry is gone one way or another).

Ok, a little late, but thought I'd share some of what I experienced in Oklahoma City last week. Overall, it was a fun time. The weather wasn't great, but I got to see a LOT of basketball.

On day one, Kansas State beat Colorado in the 5-12 game, 68-51. Not much of a surprise there. It looked like Colorado had pretty much checked out for the season and had a look of "let's get this over with."

Kansas bumped off Nebraska in the 8-9 game, 61-56. This one was fairly close through-out and Nebraska had its chances, but KU was simply too strong for them and made their shots when it counted most.

The Mizzou-Texas game was incredible. Late in the game, Missouri was up 59-52 and in control. Then the wheels fell off. Mizzou managed to turn the ball over three times in FIVE SECONDS. They bobbled an in-bounds pass under their own basket, which Texas picked up and laid in. 59-54, Tigers. Mizzou then bobbled the in-bounds pass again which UT picked up and laid in and got fouled on the shot. They hit the free throw - 59-57, Tigers. Missouri tries to play smarter, so they lob the ball over the half court line where it's intercepted by Texas. Missouri tries to take it away, bobbles it out of bounds; Texas ball. The Horns in-bound the ball and score almost immediately. 59 all. Well, the final score was Texas 62, Missouri 59. What an awful way for Missouri's only senior, Alyssa Hollins to end her college career. I honestly felt bad for them (not to mention Iowa State would have played Mizzou in the next round).

Texas Tech jumped out to a 15-0 lead over Oklahoma State in the 7-10 game. Yeah, Oklahoma State won it, 63-57. Tech could not get it together in the second half and OSU knocked down just about everything they put towards the basket. They showed Coach Curry on the video board a few times in the second half and her face read "I'm so fired after this."

Day two was the quarterfinals. The first game had Oklahoma blasting Kansas, 76-59. Nothing particularly shocking to report with this one. KU was down only 6 at halftime, but OU blew it open as the second half progressed.

Texas A&M beat Kansas State, 65-63, in a game that either team could have won. KSU nearly got revenge for the embarrassing beating they took at home to A&M a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn't meant to be.

Oklahoma State blew a 13 point second half lead over Baylor and allowed the Bears to win, 67-62. The second half featured Andrea Riley driving out of control to the hoop and throwing up wild shots that missed badly as she tried to will her team to victory. Those drives either resulted in turnovers or defensive rebounds for Baylor. OSU ended their once promising season a single game over .500.

Iowa State got revenge over Texas for their only home loss of the season, beating the Horns 59-55. It was close from beginning to end, but a few fortunate fouls called on UT and timely free throws by ISU sealed the deal.

Saturday's semi-finals had Oklahoma taking on Texas A&M in the 1-4 game in front of over 9,000 fans, most of whom were for the local Sooners. A&M kept OU out of its offensive rhythm and got Courtney Paris into quick foul trouble. She sat much of the second half and eventually fouled out with several minutes to play. A&M nailed shot after shot and pulled away to a 74-62 win. Nearly everyone in the building who was not an Oklahoma fan was cheering for the Aggies. Who doesn't like to see the #1 team go down (well, as long as it's not YOUR team that's going down!)?

Baylor beat Iowa State in the other semi-final, 63-57. ISU led by four at 52-48 after trailing 42-30 early in the second half. But the Cyclones gave up some big baskets late and missed some open shots of their own. The number one thing for ISU to focus on was to NOT let BU's Jessica Morrow shoot the 3. She went 6-8 from long range. Oops. You want to find a reason ISU lost - it's right there. It was really too bad, because ISU had come back so easily when they made their run, but they just couldn't clamp down on Morrow.

The finals were Baylor vs Texas A&M. I had left after the semi-finals were over. By that point I just wanted to get home, so I hopped in the car and took off. Didn't get to see much of the last game, but Baylor won, 72-63, and got the Big 12's automatic berth to the NCAA tournament.

All-in-all, it was a fun tourney - definitely NOT the outcome people had expected going into it. Not that it changed anything for OU - they still got their #1 seed in the NCAAs. Baylor probably played their way UP to a 2 after their brief stumble when Danielle Wilson went down with an injury, while A&M was probably already a 2.

Good news for Iowa State's Heather Ezell! From Cyclones.com today:


AMES, Iowa – Iowa State senior Heather Ezell has been chosen to participate in ESPN’s 21st Annual College Basketball Slam Dunk and Three Point Championships. Ezell will compete in the women’s three-point contest on April 2 at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit, the site of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four.

The Springfield, Mo., native is the sixth Cyclone to compete in the three-point contest in the last nine years. Lyndsey Medders was the last Iowa State competitor during the 2006-07 season. Other former Cyclones that have competed in the three-point shooting contest include Anne O’Neil (2005), Lindsey Wilson (2003), Tracy Gahan (2002) and Stacy Frese (2000).

“It is exciting that Heather will be able to continue Iowa State's participation in the three-point contest,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. “She is a great three-point shooter and she will really enjoy the whole experience.”

The slam dunk and three-point championships will take place at 6:30 p.m. (Central) and will be shown on ESPN from 8-10 p.m. on April 2.

Ezell ranks 20th in the nation and leads the Big 12 conference with her 2.6 three-pointers per game this season. She has shot the ball at a 37 percent clip from beyond the arc, the best mark in her four seasons at Iowa State. Ezell has hit three or more treys in 17 games this season and has hit five or more three-pointers 15 times in her career.

She holds the Iowa State school record for career three-point attempts (824) and is second on ISU’s career three-point field goal list with 279. She is just eight behind the school record (Megan Taylor, 287). Last season Ezell set the Big 12 Championship records for single-game three-pointers (8) and the championship record for three-pointers with 17 treys in three games combined. Her 80 three-pointers this season rank sixth on the Iowa State single-season list.


I don't know who the others are that were invited yet. If I can find a list, I'll post the names.

Texas got knocked out in the first round today by Mississippi State. Not a great showing for the 'Horns. They could never decide which team was going to show up - the one that faded down the stretch and could only beat Missouri (twice) in their last nine games, or the one that beat five very good Big 12 teams in a row mid-season? Guess we know the answer to that now. Bet Gail can't wait to get a squad that consists of nothing but her own players.

Am heading off tonight to Kentucky to watch Iowa State play E. Tennessee State in the first round tomorrow night. Might be a while before I get a chance to update things again.

I have to say that the three games I was a part of in Kentucky were collectively probably the most exciting/fun set of games I've seen in my entire life. Ok, so it doesn't hurt that Iowa State won both their first and second round games. We played East Tennessee State on Sunday and won 85-53, hitting 16 3 point shots (which along with South Dakota State tied an NCAA tournament record).

The big story was that Ball State, making its first NCAA appearance with a first-year head coach, knocked off TENNESSEE (yes, THAT Tennessee), 71-55. It was competitive for the first 30 minutes or so, then BSU shut them down. They out-hustled, out-played, and out-coached the Vols for the final ten minutes of the game. For those who don't know, Tennessee is the only school to have made the Sweet 16 EVERY YEAR the NCAA has held its women's tournament, going back something like 27 years. Now, people thought Iowa State had a very good chance of ending that streak in the second round 4-5 game, assuming that UT would win. Yeah, that didn't happen.

But, that meant a HUGE amount of pressure was off the Iowa State players. While they didn't get to make history, they did get a better chance to simply focus on the game ahead (and figure out how to slow down BSU's guards - MAN, they were fast!). It was a pretty even game in the first half, with ISU leading by 3 at the break. Ball State had an answer for every run ISU made to jump up 7 or 8 points, except for the last run that bumped the final margin to 14 (71-57). Some Tennessee fans stayed for round two, but they cheered for neither side. They chose instead to simply sit and watch. Both BSU and ISU brought enough fans to make plenty of noise. The arena was rocking all night with every basket and rebound. It was one of the funnest games I've ever been to. I don't know if I'd say that had we lost, quite honestly. But when the Ball State players came out the player exit after the game, the ISU fans waiting gave them an ovation.

Iowa State advances to the Sweet 16 in Berkeley on Saturday night. I'll be heading out to that game also (leaving Friday afternoon). If we win against the 9 seed Michigan State (which knocked off top seeded Duke), we will move to the Elite 8 and face either Ohio State (3) or Stanford (2). It's been ten years since our last Elite 8 - time for another, I think.

Four teams total from the Big 12 advanced to the Sweet 16: Iowa State, Texas A&M, Baylor, and Oklahoma. Baylor (2) will face off against Louisville (3) in Raleigh on Saturday. A&M (2) meets Arizona State (6) in Trenton. Oklahoma (1) will play (4) Pittsburgh in Oklahoma City. Both the A&M and OU games are on Sunday.

Well, we're to the Final Four for the women and only Oklahoma remains standing. Baylor, Iowa State, and Texas A&M all lost not very close games last weekend. Baylor and A&M lost in the regional semi-finals, while Iowa State lost in the regional finals.

Oklahoma got a pretty good game out of Purdue, winning only 74-68. But the Sooners managed to advance to the national semis to face off against Louisville, which knocked off top-seeded Maryland in their region.

Iowa State made it a better game against Stanford than when they played in November in Hawaii. This time around the final was 74-53, closer than the 38 point loss earlier (but not by much). ISU simply had no answer for Jayne Appel, who scored 46 points and outscored Iowa State at halftime by herself (27-25). ISU couldn't get the shots to fall, especially the 3s. While ISU had knocked down 37 three pointers in the first three tournament games, they connected on only 7 in the last game. What also didn't help was that Iowa State was out-rebounded 45-17. That totally negates the fact that ISU only turned the ball over 5 times for the entire game. Still, it was a great run, only the second Elite 8 team in Iowa State history (and on the ten year anniversary of the first!).

Baylor got pummeled by Louisville in the Sweet 16 round, 56-39. The Cardinals went on an 18-2 run to end the otherwise close game (to that point).

A&M lost to Arizona State, 84-69. ASU shot 62% for the game and simply outplayed the Aggies. A&M Coach Gary Blair basically said "they were the better team."

Have to note that Iowa State's Sweet 16 game against Michigan State was about as much fun as I've had at a game in a looong time. The whole thing was back and forth, with neither team really taking charge and running away with it. By the time there was less than two minutes on the clock, MSU had built a 68-61 lead. Somehow, Iowa State came back with an 8-0 run over the last 87 seconds to win. Coach Fennelly said we used what he called "our once-in-a-decade-press" to get the Spartans to turn over the ball - and it worked - TWICE. The first shot we hit was a two pointer to move us to 68-63. Then Ezell banked in a 3 pointer off the glass to pull within two points. We forced a final turnover, shot, missed, got the rebound out to Lacey who put up a 3 to take a 69-68 lead. Then it was defense. I have to say that I was not impressed with the ESPN announcers in the studio griping how Michigan State was robbed because no fouls were called against ISU in that last 7 seconds of the game. If anything, the replay shows a charge against the Spartans. But I hate it when refs call something at the end of a game either way when it isn't completely obvious that someone committed a foul. Let the teams decide it. Michigan State couldn't hit a shot at the end and blew a seven point lead with under 90 seconds to play. Here's a clip of the end from ESPN.com and their recap page of the game...

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncw/recap?gameId=294000007

As always the refs were horrendously inconsistent throughout the game, so I don't know why they would be expected to call anything in the last seven seconds. Or why they didn't call FIVE fouls in the last seven seconds. Neither here nor there - it was a great battle between two very good teams. Michigan State was most likely under-seeded by at least a couple of spots for the tournament. No way they should have been a 9. Their strength of schedule is probably what held them down, in spite of finishing tied for second in the Big 10. Like I said, great game - one of the best I've seen that will go down as one of the best wins in ISU history.

I forgot to point out that Kansas is playing for a national title on Saturday afternoon. The Jayhawks host South Florida in the WNIT finals. Kansas should be favored to win the game since it's at home and considering the way they've been playing over the last six weeks or so. South Florida is 26-10, while Kansas is 22-13. The game is at 1 p.m. CDT, but won't be televised.

Oklahoma plays their NCAA national semi-final game against Louisville on Sunday at 6 p.m. CDT on ESPN. UCONN plays Stanford at 8 p.m. CDT also on ESPN.

Kansas gave a valiant effort, but could not stop South Florida in Lawrence today, losing 75-71 in the WNIT title game. More importantly (almost) than the final score was that KU set an all-time Big 12 women's attendance record with 16,113 fans in attendance for the event.

KU's Danielle McCray was her usual self scoring 24 points for a WNIT record 147 total points scored over the course of the tournament. Three other Jayhawks were in double figures, including 19 by Sade Morris, but it wasn't enough to stop the balanced attack of the Bulls. South Florida won it's third road game in three different states over a six day span to claim the title.

Louisville fell into a 16-2 hole to start the game against Oklahoma yesterday and trailed by 12 at halftime before mounting a second half comeback to beat the Sooners, 61-59, in the national semi-final game last night. The loss leaves the Paris twins without ever having played in a national title game. Courtney says she intends to follow through with the promise to pay back the $64,000 in scholarship money if they didn't win a national championship this year. They certainly had their chances. Louisville couldn't have played much worse in the first half, shooting only 22%. But they couldn't have played much better in the second, doing exactly what they needed to do while OU almost seemed like they sat back a little. OU guard Stevenson had the ball as time was ticking down and she pulled up for a 3 pointer with 2.5 second to go. It rattled around the rim before dropping to the floor. Unfortunately for Oklahoma, she had time to drive to the basket and force the OT (assuming she makes the shot). Probably not the best decision, but it looked like she thought there was less time on the clock than there was.

The loss by the Sooners means the Big 12 is done for the year. But overall, it was a decent showing in the NCAAs - 1 Final Four team, 2 Elite 8 teams, 4 Sweet 16 teams (plus KU in the WNIT title game).

More fun stuff to follow later...

Hey Matt, what can you tell us about ISU's recruiting class for next season? :-)

ISU signed four freshman for next year. I believe it's the highest ranked recruiting class Iowa State has ever had (I've seen a ranking of 25th and another of 30th for us).

The prized signee is Anna Prins from Broomfield, Colorado. She's 6'6" and was just named Colorado Miss Basketball for Class 4A. She has led her school to three straight state titles. The nice thing about her is that (aside from the obvious height) is that she is more than willing and able to step out and knock down a 3 - she should fit right in at Hilton Coliseum.

Amanda Zimmerman, from Ballard (Huxley) is just eight miles down the road and the same school where Aussie import Alison Lacey spent her senior year. She's a 6'1" (or 6'2" depending on where you look) post player that can play a more physical inside game. Ballard won the Iowa 3A state title this year and she was named Miss Iowa Basketball.

Another Iowa girl, 6'2" Chelsea Poppens from Parkersburg, will most likely see time at power forward. She was in an article that I posted in last season's thread about the day half her hometown was destroyed by a tornado last May.

The fourth signee is Jessica Schroll from Midland, Michigan. She's a 5'11" guard. I haven't heard much about her other than she was recovering from a knee injury last season and had been doing well this year. Her team was moving through the district play-offs (or whatever they call them there) towards state, but never heard anything beyond that. Would be nice if she is able to give us some points immediately.

I do know that Fennelly is looking for a juco guard to come in next year for a late addition. This past week, Claire Rockall announced her decision to return to Ireland for college and to play ball. She hadn't seen a lot of time on the court here and she wanted to be closer to home. So there is one less option for us next year, thus the searching for someone who can come in and help right away.

The outlook is pretty good for us, but the freshmen post-players will basically be thrown into the water from the git-go and will have to learn to swim on their own if Iowa State is to have any success this year. All I want is to make the NCAAs, regardless of seeding, because we're hosting 1st and 2nd round games at Hilton in 2010. We hosted and missed out on the tournament in 2002-03 and I don't want to be sitting in that building watching some other team play when we're not there. There is a lot of potential, but things will have to come together.

I will post more on other teams later. Don't have a ton of information right now, but it shouldn't be too hard to find.

The final Coaches poll was released. Five Big 12 teams were ranked in the top 25 (four in the top 11!), plus another receiving votes. Not too bad...

ESPN/USA Today Poll
1. Connecticut (31) 39-0 775
2. Louisville 34-5 736
3. Stanford 33-5 715
4. Oklahoma 32-5 687
5. Maryland 31-5 641
6. Baylor 29-6 545
7. Texas A&M 27-8 513
8. Vanderbilt 26-9 470
9. Ohio State 29-6 468
10. California 27-7 461
11. Iowa State 27-9 428
12. Arizona State 26-9 410
13. Auburn 30-4 380
14. Duke 27-6 379
15. Pittsburgh 25-8 365
16. Purdue 25-11 313
17. North Carolina 28-7 302
18. Florida State 26-8 267
19. South Dakota State 32-3 252
20. Kansas State 25-8 180
21. Rutgers 21-13 148
22. Michigan State 22-11 136
23. Florida 24-8 125
24. Virginia 24-10 98
25. Xavier 25-7 70
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Notre Dame 65, Gonzaga 37, Tennessee 25, Middle Tennessee State 24, Texas 13, Mississippi State 8, Boston College 7, Utah 7, Ball State 6, Minnesota 5, San Diego State 5, Bowling Green 4, LSU 3, North Carolina A&T 1, South Florida 1

Iowa State's depth next season took a hit earlier this week when freshmen Ashley Arlen and Alexis Yackley announced their intention to transfer at the end of the semester. Add this to Claire Rockall going back to Ireland, and the graduation of five ISU seniors, we will turn over just more than half our roster from this past season. Arlen is by far the biggest loss to ISU as she was going to be the only post player returning that saw any significant playing time. The only remaining post now is Genesis Lightbourne, who has seen little floor time in her three seasons (but did contribute meaningful minutes two years ago when both Nicky Wieben and Toccara Ross went down with ACL tears). Yackley will be transferring to a school in her home state of South Dakota and looking for more playing time.

Four freshmen (as mentioned above) will be joining Iowa State next year, which most likely will mean two freshmen starting at power forward and center. Not an ideal situation, although I will say that the last time the Cyclones were in this spot, we knocked off UCONN and went to the Elite 8 (with Tracy Gahan and Angie Welle in those positions) in 1999. Are these new players on the same level as those from ten years ago? Only time will tell. I know that Fennelly is looking at juco players to maybe find someone with some solid experience to come in and contribute immediately. No guarantees, though. Might be nice to get a transfer from another big-time university as well.

Just saw that Baylor will open next season on November 5th @ Tennessee. Should be a good game. Have not heard much else about schedules yet.

Ok, been a while since I have posted anything here (yeah, I know - lazy). Anyway, found an article from ncaa.org about women's basketball attendance this past season. As has become the norm, the Big 12 leads the way. Officially, Iowa State finished 3rd in average attendance.

Here's a piece of the article:

"The Big 12 topped the Division I conference attendance rankings for the 10th straight season and was the only league to top the 1 million mark with an all-time overall conference record of 1,073,069 fans and an average of 5,312 per game. The rest of the top five leagues were the same as for the past two seasons: Big Ten, Southeastern, Atlantic Coast and Big East.

For individual schools, Tennessee led Division I in women’s basketball attendance for the sixth straight season. The Lady Vols attracted 209,991 fans for 15 games in Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville for an average of 13,999 per contest. National champion and undefeated Connecticut was No. 2 at 10,529 fans a game while Iowa State and Oklahoma both finished above 9,000 fans per game. Tennessee has led Division I in attendance every since 1997, except for 2003 when the Connecticut held the top spot.

Tennessee also was seen by the most fans in person, including home, road and neutral site games (331,784 fans). Connecticut, Oklahoma, Iowa State and Purdue rounded out the top five in that category."

It's a bit early to talk about the upcoming 09-10 season (as there isn't much detailed info out yet), so I thought I'd resurrect last year's thread and throw some stuff out there.

Looks like Iowa State's first exhibition game will be on Sunday, November 1st against the University of Dubuque. The regular season will begin two weeks later against Florida Atlantic, while Big 12 games will start for all teams on Saturday, January 9th.

I have to say that I'm not impressed with ISU's non-conference schedule at ALL. Although, we will be a young team (four freshmen, one sophomore juco transfer and only two of our five seniors have seen many minutes over their first three seasons), we should be able to come together with the relatively light schedule. The only games against larger schools are vs. Iowa and Minnesota. Hopefully the new kids will learn quickly.

There is a lot riding on this season as Iowa State hosts NCAA 1st and 2nd round games at Hilton Coliseum in March for the first time since 2004 (when we only made the WNIT). ISU hosted those rounds two seasons ago at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. While that was certainly "in the neighborhood," it wasn't Hilton. Should we make it to the NCAAs, it will be the first true home NCAA game for Iowa State since dropping a 2nd round game to BYU in 2002 as a 3 seed. So, a light schedule should go a long way to help us make the post-season.

When the season prospectus for the conference is released, I will start a new thread for the new season. It should be out within a month, I would think. Stay tuned!!...