I am so pumped that basketball is officially here! Let me start by saying "thank you" to everyone who read last season's thread on this subject. The number of people who took an interest in what I had to say last season was/is very encouraging to me. I hope to give everyone another good taste of what this league is like for women's hoops. Anyhoo, the Iowa State women had their first official practice of the season last night at Hilton Coliseum. We went to watch for a little while and see how everyone looked on the court (minus two players - one who has been working out with the cross-country team, and another who is out of the country for her sister's wedding).

The Big XII is going to be uber-competitive again this year. A lot of teams return either everyone or all but one or two players. The last couple of years have shown that the last place team can knock off the top team in this league on any given night.

First, I'll start off with copying the article and poll results from www.cyclones.com about the picks of the Big XII coaches:

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State women’s basketball team is picked to finish third in the 2008-09 Big 12 preseason poll, voted on by the league’s coaches. It is the highest preseason pick for the Cyclones since 2001-02 when Iowa State was also chosen third.

Oklahoma was picked as the preseason favorite by the league coaches, but five different teams received first-place votes, including two for the Cyclones. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team. Texas was picked to finish second, just two points ahead of Iowa State and Baylor was chosen fourth, just four points behind ISU.

“The preseason ranking from the Big 12 coaches is flattering and I think it is a reflection of the respect the coaches have for our program,” ISU head coach Bill Fennelly said. “The vote is close and many teams have a great opportunity in what will again be the best conference in the nation.”

Iowa State returns 100 percent of its scoring and rebounding from a season ago. Iowa State returns seven starters from last season. In addition to the individuals who started for Iowa State late in the season, post players Toccara Ross and Nicky Wieben return. Ross and Wieben were starters before mid-season knee injuries ended their 2007-08 seasons.

ISU is not the only team to return a large percentage of scoring and starters. Big 12 squads return 41 starters from last season and 26 of the league’s top 30 scorers.

Eight league teams made the NCAA Championship in 2007-08 and the Big 12 became the first conference in the history of the championship to compile an 8-0 record in first round games. Three other squads made WNIT appearances last season.

2008-09 Big 12 Conference Women’s Basketball Preseason Poll
1. Oklahoma (7) 124
2. Texas (1) 95
3. Iowa State (2) 93
4. Baylor (1) 89
5. Texas A&M 85
6. Oklahoma State (1) 79
7. Kansas State 71
8. Nebraska 56
9. Kansas 41
10. Texas Tech 36
11. Colorado 18
12. Missouri 15
(first place votes in parentheses; coaches not allowed to vote for their own team)

Aside from Oklahoma being the runaway favorite to win the title, notice how close the points are for teams 2-7. Personally, I am not sure OU has what it takes to win it all this year, but they would certainly be in the mix. One could make a legitimate argument for any of the top seven teams here to end up on top of the standings. The funny/unfortunate thing about this situation is that one of those seven teams won't even end up in the top half of the league's final standings.

Here's what to expect from teams this year (in order of predicted finish)...

OKLAHOMA

OU was to return everyone from last year's team that seriously underperformed (finishing 5th in the league, becoming the first 5 seed in the Big 12 Tournament to lose in the first round to a 12 seed, and losing in the second round of the NCAAs that kept them from playing in the Sweet 16 in Oklahoma City). Jenna Plumley changed their plans when she was caught shoplifting makeup from WalMart. Coach Sherri Coale had suspended her indefinitely from the team, but Plumley didn't want to lose a season of eligibility prompting her transfer to Lamar.

The Sooners will forge ahead with the rest of their line-up intact, including All-Everything Courtney Paris who averaged 18.6 points and 15 rebounds per game as a junior. Her sister Ashley Paris stepped out of Courtney's shadow to tally 11.3 points and 7.9 boards. Also returning is last season's Big 12 Freshman of the Year, Danielle Robinson. There are two additions to the Sooners' roster, including Whitney Hand of Fort Worth, Texas - one of two players named preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year this season.

The question to be answered for the Sooners will be if they can regain the team chemistry that seemed to desert them late last year. If they can, they most certainly can notch another league title. OU will participate in the preseason WNIT and face non-conference teams that include UCONN, California, and Creighton.

Texas

Texas returns four of five starters, including three that averaged over 10 points per game - Carla Cortijo, Ashley Lindsey, and Brittainey Raven. Also returning is sharp-shooter Erika Arriaran, who will be trying to come back from a knee injury, and Kathleen Nash, who put up 8.3 points/6.3 boards per game.

Coach Goestenkors helped Texas improve over the course of last season, her first in Austin after coming from a successful stint at Duke. Her hopes of returning the Longhorns to their glory days seem to be on track as the team's 22 wins were the most in four seasons. Even more improvement should be expected this year now that the players know what to expect from their coach.

Non-conference teams that UT will face this year include Old Dominion, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, UTEP, and Purdue.

Iowa State

The Cyclones return all but one player from last year, little used reserve Brittany Lange, who is now a student manager due to health issues. The team suffered ACL tears from the top two post players last year, Toccara Ross and Nicky Wieben, but both are back, healthy, and ready to contribute. ISU's top scorer from last year, Alison Lacey, was selected to the Big 12 preseason Honorable Mention list. She played point guard out of necessity last year, but will be moving back to her natural position, shooting guard.

ISU brings in four freshman, one of which, Whitney Williams will be starting at point. Williams can knock down long range shots with ease, making 198 3 pointers her junior year of high school. Back-up at point will be Miss South Dakota Basketball for last season, Alexis Yackley. The Cyclones have depth at every position for the first time in recent memory, which will allow Coach Fennelly more options on the floor. Although every player has the green light to shoot the 3 in Fennelly's system, there will (only!) be five main threats to each put up as many as 30-40 treys this year (Ezell and Lacey each made over 75 last year).

Key non-conference match-ups for Iowa State include Stanford, Iowa, Minnesota, and Vanderbilt. Coach Fennelly calls this the toughest schedule they've ever had at ISU. A successful trip through the season should put ISU in a great position for the NCAAs in the spring, hopefully bettering the 2nd round trip of last season and making the program's first Sweet 16 since 2001.

Baylor

Baylor and Coach Kim Mulkey are looking to build on a successful 25 win campaign from last season. They return four starters, but lose their point guard, Angela Tisdale and her 16 points per game. All returning starters, Rachel Allison, Jessica Morrow, Jhasmin Player, and Danielle Wilson averaged double-digit scoring. Seven newcomers will greet Bears fans this year, giving Baylor some much needed depth - a key ingredient to greater success that was missing last season.

Under Mulkey, Baylor has only missed the NCAAs once - but still making it to the WNIT finals that season. There is a history (and expectation) of success in Waco, averaging 26 wins per season since Mulkey arrived in 2001, so expect a big challenge for the top spot from this team.

Baylor's non-conference foes include Stanford, Villanova, Wisconsin, Oregon, and California.

Texas A&M

A&M loses two key contributors from last season in A'Quonesia Franklin and Morenike Atunrase, along with Patrice Reado. But they return Takia Starks and Danielle Gant, bolstered by a solid bench and (7) newcomers, including co-preseason Freshman of the Year, Tyra White. The Aggies most likely are not higher in the rankings because of the personnel losses, but should be able to to stay in just about any game with the stifling defense Coach Gary Blair uses.

The Aggies were one of only two teams from the Big 12 that advanced past the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament, thanks in part to that defense, falling to Tennessee in a regional final that could easily have gone their way with a couple of breaks. Look for A&M to return to the Big Dance, but probably they won't be advancing as far this season.

Texas A&M's slate of non-conference opponents includes Pittsburgh, Michigan, Arizona, Penn State, TCU, and New Mexico.

Oklahoma State

OSU was the other Big 12 team that advanced past the NCAA Sweet 16 last season. This is a team that has made incredible strides in the three seasons under Coach Kurt Budke - going from 0-16 in league play three seasons ago to 11-5 and a third place finish last year.

The Cowgirls will look to replace departing seniors Danielle Green and Maria Cordero, who averaged nearly 24 points and 14 rebounds between them. But they return a solid core, featuring Andrea Riley, the spitfire point guard who can single-handedly take over games (just ask OU about the 45 points she hung on them last season). Also returning for OSU are starters Shaunte' Smith and Taylor Hardeman. Other returning players didn't contribute much stats-wise last year (because they didn't have to, honestly), so it will be interesting to see who contributes for this season. There are four newcomers to Stillwater.

Key non-conference games for Oklahoma State include Duke, TCU, Eastern Kentucky, and Southern Miss - not exactly a schedule that will build a great RPI before conference games begin, but it should help build confidence for the new line-up adjustments.

Kansas State

The last of the teams of the Big 12 that I believe have a shot at first place, the Wildcats return most of their line-up from last season. The only major exception is Kimberly Dietz, a senior shooting guard from last season who went down with a knee injury in the Big 12 Tournament game against Iowa State. Also gone of note is Shana Wheeler, who had stepped in for Marlies Gipson two years ago, while Gipson was injured. KSU returns three starters who averaged double-digit scoring last year - Shalee Lehning, Ashley Sweat, and Gipson. Other returnees include Kari Kincaid and Danielle Zanotti. Kansas State welcomes four freshman to Bramlage Coliseum.

KSU exited the NCAA Tournament in the 2nd round last season after winning the Big 12 regular season title. The stumble is possibly attributed to the departure of Dietz (because of the injury), and a lack of time to figure out how to adjust the line-up to compensate. Providing Coach Deb Patterson can integrate some of last year's bench warmers and new faces into the game, the Wildcats should be primed to challenge for 1st place once again. Do NOT assume that a 7th place prediction for this team means they will not be as good as they were last year. They, after all, did become the first conference team to go from worst to first over the course of one off season last year.

KSU's major-conference games include UTEP, Creighton, Washington, and Washington State. Like OSU, the Wildcats don't have a stellar slate to start the year, but they should have momentum going into league play.

Nebraska

Nebraska is yet another team that returns nearly everyone, losing only forward Danielle Page, who averaged 12 points, 6.5 rebounds per game last year. The returning starters are Kelsey Griffin, Yvonne Turner, Tay Hester, and Dominique Kelley, with only Griffin averaging double-figure scoring (15.3). Another returning scoring threat is junior Cory Montgomery (9.4/game). The Huskers add only two new faces this season.

UNL has had a bad habit of fading at the end of the season over the last few years, so it will be interesting to see how they hold up this year with essentially the same personnel. I believe this may be why they are only picked 8th in the league - that fatigue factor that takes them out of the chase every year. Coach Connie Yori somehow lets the energy leak out of her squad's chemistry over time and doesn't seem be able to figure out how to get it back. Although, in the 2nd round of the NCAAs last year, the Huskers gave Maryland everything it could handle, staying even with the Terps well into the second half before Maryland pulled away for a 12 point win. They have as good a shot as anyone to make the Big Dance again this year, but with all the talent ahead of them, they may have to squeak in or settle for the WNIT.

Big non-league match-ups for Nebraska include Creighton, New Mexico (possibly, in a 2nd round meeting at an Albuquerque tournament), UTEP, Arizona State, and LSU.

I decided to go ahead and post the remaining four previews on a new post so people could more easily tell there's been activity here. These teams make up the bottom third of the pre-season predictions by the coaches. There isn't much reason to think any of these four will finish any higher than 9th, though one or two could slide up if the injury bug hits someone in the middle of the pack. I can almost guarantee that at least one of the coaches for these teams will not be back next season. Each has had time to do something beyond simply fielding a team and none has shown much beyond that. Even women's basketball isn't forgiving anymore - ADs want to win and they want it to happen yesterday.

Kansas

Speaking of the injury bug, Kansas was putting much hope in the play of freshman, Angel Goodrich. It was reported that on Sunday, Goodrich suffered a season-ending ACL tear while practicing. While this isn't the end of the season for KU, it certainly isn't going to do them any favors as they will begin the season without a true point guard. My guess is that junior Kelly Kohn might be tabbed to step in. There may be others able to play in the 1 spot, but this situation could limit the Jayhawk's ability to move the ball up the court.

Bonnie Henrickson has struggled in her four years in Lawrence after a successful stint at Virginia Tech. Kansas has never finished better than 8th place in the Big 12 and never won more than 5 conference games. KU returns four starters from last season, but only one who averaged double-digit scoring (Danielle McCray at 14.9 points per game). Two reserves averaged between 5 and 7 points per game, but no others were very helpful last season. Only one newcomer will join the team (aside from Goodrich). Look for sophomore center Krysten Boogaard (6'5") to improve her numbers.

Key pre-Big 12 match-ups include Iowa, Marquette, Creighton, Houston, and UCLA.

Texas Tech

Red Raiders fans are getting antsy in Lubbock. They have a good coach with a good track record (from Purdue) and a great tradition of overshadowing the men's basketball program there. So what's going on? Kristy Curry wasn't left with much to work with, so she has relied on shoring up the roster with jucos and so many newcomers each of her two seasons, there hasn't been a lot of chemistry - yet. Tech returns four starters, including last season's Newcomer of the Year, senior Dominic Seals, who averaged nearly 14 points a game. Five new players will join the Raiders this season, adding some depth in the post, where Tech has not had a presence lately.

Tech managed to make the WNIT last season, winning in the first round before falling to TCU at home, resulting in a 17-16 record. The new faces will have to gel quickly with returning players if they want to improve from the past couple of seasons.

Tech faces teams like Iowa, California, South Florida, New Mexico, UCLA, and Arkansas this season before Big 12 play begins.

Colorado

Colorado started off last season with a bang, winning all but two non-conference games, beating two ranked teams, and ending up ranked in the top 25 themselves. Then the wheels came off and CU finished in 9th place in the league, losing nine of their first eleven games. The Buffs return only two starters, Brittany Spears and Bianca Smith, and don't return a whole lot else. They have lost the services of guard Whitney Houston for the season because of the dreaded knee injury. Three new faces will greet Buffs fans - two freshmen and a sophomore who sat out last year after transferring.

CU managed to finish fairly strong, going 6-3 before ending their season at home against Marquette in the WNIT, resulting in a 19 win season. Kathy McConnell-Miller will be looking to regain some of the winning ways they found early last year, but without former All-Big 12 first-teamer Jackie McFarland, that will be a tall task. At best, Colorado will be looking at another WNIT bid, but not the NCAAs.

Major-conference early opponents include Virginia, Pepperdine, and Hawaii, so that portion of the schedule is pretty favorable.

Missouri

Missouri's coach, Cindy Stein, has been in Columbia for ten years, but has very little to show for it, having finished over .500 in the Big 12 only three times. Mizzou returns all starters, so experience should not be a question this season. The offense is there (Alyssa Hollins made 90 3 pointers last season) for the most part, but the defense was terrible last season, allowing more points on average than the Tigers could score themselves.

The Tigers add some much-needed height under the basket with three of the five newcomers at 6'2" or taller. If the defense does not improve to help the situation, it could be another long season for Mizzou - one that will probably lead to a new coach next season.

Missouri's non-conference schedule includes Arkansas, Indiana, and Toledo.

Already some bad news for Iowa State - Toccara Ross, who tore her ACL last season, had the same knee scoped today because there was sudden swelling and something was "catching." Depending on what exactly they find, she could be out three to six weeks - more if it's serious enough. Not how I wanted to start this season (before it even began!)...


Edited to add... the scope showed nothing serious, fortunately. Don't know the exact details off-hand, but the issue that was giving her problems was taken care of and hopefully Toccara will only miss a month or so. Considering all that it could have been, it's been called "the best case scenario" given the situation.

Here is the list of Pre-season awards for the Big XII...


Preseason All-Big 12 Team

Name/School/Position/Height/Class-Experience (letters won)/ PPG/RPG;Hometown/Previous School

Shalee Lehning, Kansas State Guard, 5-9, Sr-3L, 11.3, 7.6; Sublette, Kan./Sublette
Kelsey Griffin, Nebraska Forward, 6-2, Sr-3L , 15.3, 7.2; Eagle River, Alaska/Chugiak
Courtney Paris, Oklahoma Center, 6-4, Sr-3L, 18.6, 15.0; Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont
Andrea Riley, Oklahoma State Guard, 5-5, Jr-2L, 23.1, 3.7; Dallas, Texas/Lincoln
Takia Starks, Texas A&M Guard, 5-8, Sr-3L, 16.3, 4.3; Houston, Texas/Westfield


Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically by school)

Rachel Allison and Jessica Morrow (Baylor), Alison Lacey (Iowa State), Brittainey Raven (Texas) and Danielle Gant (Texas A&M)


Preseason Player of the Year
Courtney Paris, Oklahoma Center, 6-4, Sr, Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont

Preseason Newcomer of the Year
Tanisha Smith, Texas A&M Guard/Forward, 6-0, Jr, Kansas City, Mo./Lincoln Prep/Arkansas/Arkansas-Fort Smith

Preseason Co-Freshmen of the Year
Whitney Hand, Oklahoma Guard, 6-1, Fr, Fort Worth, Texas/Liberty Christian School
Tyra White, Texas A&M Guard, 6-0, RSFr, Kansas City, Mo./Hickman Mills

The first AP women's college basektball poll has been released. This is the article that was posted at Big12sports.com:

The Big 12 placed five women’s basketball teams in the 2008-09 Associated Press Preseason Top 25 Poll. Oklahoma led the conference contingent at No. 4 followed by No. 11 Texas A&M, No. 13 Texas, No. 14 Oklahoma State and No. 19 Baylor. In addition, Iowa State and Kansas State received votes.

Conference squads return 108 letterwinners, including 41 starters to this season’s rosters. Twenty-four of the Top 30 leading scorers and 16 of the Top 20 rebounders from last season are also back in the fold.

The Big 12 finished 2007-08 ranked No. 1 in conference RPI and became the first league in the history of the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship to post an 8-0 record in first round games.

The 2008-09 regular season gets underway on Friday, Nov. 14 with a full slate of non-conference games.

2008-09 Associated Press Preseason Top 25 Poll

1. Connecticut (44)
2. Stanford (1)
3. Maryland
4. Oklahoma
5. Rutgers
6. North Carolina
7. Tennessee
8. Duke
9. Cal
10. Louisville
11. Texas A&M
12. Vanderbilt
13. Texas
14. Oklahoma State
15. Virginia
16. Notre Dame
17. Arizona State
18. Ohio State
19. Baylor
20. Auburn
21. Florida State
22. Xavier
23. Purdue
24. LSU
25. Old Dominion

Others Receiving Votes: Pittsburgh 116; Michigan State 67; Iowa State 66; Marist 58; Marquette 56; Utah 50; Georgia 37; Kansas State 25; Syracuse 20; DePaul 8; George Washington 7; Illinois State 7; Southern California 5; West Virginia 5; Arkansas 3; Texas-El Paso 2; Montana 2; Georgia Tech 2; Iowa 1; Gonzaga 1; Liberty 1; South Dakota State 1; Southern Methodist 1

The exhibition games have begun. I know at least a few teams have started playing, but the conference website does not track these games until they actually count - even just for a score. So I don't have any information other than what happened at Iowa State today - just don't have the time to go to every single team's website to find out if they've played any exhibition games yet. Sorry!

Iowa State played Buena Vista today, a D-III school from northwestern Iowa, in it's first exhibition game. There was a lot of rust to shake off, but they started off pretty well. ISU led 40-9 at the half, holding BVU to 1-24 field goals in the first twenty minutes. Eight Cyclones finished with 5 or more points, including ISU senior Heather Ezell with a game-high 12. The final score was 74-37, but BVU somehow stayed with ISU on the boards, only trailing 40-41 by the end of the game. ISU plays again this Sunday (the 9th) in their final exhibition game against Missouri Western State (don't ask - I've never heard of it before).

Ok - I have scores from all the exhibition games that have taken place so far. There are still a few left to play here and there, but these scores will give you an idea of what's been happening around the league up to this point.

Baylor 123
Houston Jaguars 70

Baylor 94
Dallas Diesel 63

Colorado 86
Regis 44

Iowa State 74
Buena Vista U. 37

Iowa State 80
Missouri Western St. 55

Kansas 93
Ft. Hayes St. 37

Kansas 67
Washburn 51

Kansas State 66
Washburn 47

Kansas State 89
Emporia St. 57

Missouri 80
Southwest Baptist 50

Nebraska 80
Nebraska-Kearney 69

Nebraska 102
Chadron St. 30

Oklahoma 132
Western St. 36

Oklahoma State 105
East Central 40

Oklahoma State 126
Oklahoma Flyers 60

Texas 86
Houston Jaguars 45

Texas A&M 86
Houston Jaguars 43

Texas Tech 109
Melbourne Roos 27

Texas Tech 94
Houston Jaguars 68

So, in other words, no one has lost an exhibition game yet. The closest loss so far was the Nebraska game as the Huskers were trailing 54-43 in the second half before closing it out in Grand Island to win by 11.

The games that actually count began last night (Friday). Thought I would post the scores of who has played so far. Iowa State does not play until tomorrow afternoon (against UMKC).

Idaho 55
Texas Tech 90

Oklahoma State 68
Duke 77
(OSU was up 9 at halftime. Andrea Riley scored 29, shooting 6 of 19 from long range.)

South Dakota St. 55
Missouri 50
(Mizzou was 0-4 from long range, with last year's Big 12 leading 3 point shooter, Hollins, going 0-3.)

Kansas State 65
UTEP 44

Florida Atlantic 45
Baylor 90

Sacred Heart 64
Kansas 106

Weber St. 47
Nebraska 90

Mercer 45
Texas A&M 73

There are only two games today - UC Riverside @ Oklahoma and Dayton @ Texas.

Sunday will see six teams in action, including #2 Stanford @ Baylor. Should be a great early test for the Bears and a chance to see how we might fare against the Cardinal in Hawaii on the 29th.

Here are the scores from the rest of the first weekend in Big 12 women's hoops. Most notable is that #2 Stanford LOST at Baylor on Sunday.

UC Riverside 57
Oklahoma 88 (Saturday, WNIT)

Dayton 40
Texas 66 (Saturday)

UMKC 45
Iowa State 77

Stanford 65
Baylor 81
(Baylor's Rachel Allison had 20 points at halftime. BU held Stanford's 6'4" Jayne Appel to 7 points and allowed only one Cardinal player in double figures. Baylor had five players with double digit scoring.)

Washington State 69
Texas Tech 82

Central Florida 59
Colorado 86

Pittsburgh 50
Texas A&M 56 (State Farm Tip-Off Classic, Baton Rouge)

St. Mary's (Cal.) 76
Texas 110 (Sunday)

In an odd time of day to be on ESPN (plus an odd day), the Iowa women played at Kansas at 11 a.m. central time this morning. The game started off fairly even, with KU slowly pulling away for an 8 point lead at the half. Then the lid blew off Allen Field House. Kansas led by as many as 25 points in the second half, before claiming a 76-55 win over the Hawkeyes. Iowa's only scorer with more than 7 points was Megan Skouby (skoh-bee) with 33. The Hawks were 1-9 from long range while KU was 8-19 and had three players with 15 or more points. A nice, embarrassing loss for Iowa on national television. Kansas looked much tougher than I would have expected, while Iowa looked absolutely lost in the second half. I would imagine some of that squad will be doing some extra running in practice this week...

Scores from yesterday and today among Big 12 teams...

Nebraska 72
Creighton 67

Old Dominion 44
Texas 78

Kansas State 57
Northwestern 52
(Northwestern led most of this game until the very end. Kansas State had to gut one out.)

Iowa 55
Kansas 76

Woohoo! My Cyclones are ranked for the first time in what seems like forever - tied at #24!

ESPN/USA Today Poll

rank/team (1st place votes)/record/points
1. Connecticut (31),1-0, 775
2. Rutgers, 1-0, 707
3. North Carolina, 3-0, 692
4. Oklahoma, 1-0, 671
5. Duke, 2-0, 611
6. California, 2-0, 574
7. Texas A&M, 2-0, 531
8. Stanford, 1-1, 498
9. Baylor, 2-0, 489
10. Louisville, 2-0, 484
11. Virginia, 2-0, 452
12. Vanderbilt, 2-0, 445
13. Tennessee, 1-1, 422
14. Texas, 3-0, 419
15. Notre Dame, 1-0, 367
16. Maryland, 1-1, 331
17. Arizona State, 2-0, 263
18. Ohio State, 2-0, 209
19. Oklahoma State, 0-1, 208
20. Auburn, 2-0, 190
21. Florida State, 1-0, 128
22. Xavier, 2-0, 77
23. Georgia, 1-0, 73
24. Iowa State, 1-0, 52
24. Old Dominion, 2-1, 52

OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Purdue 48, LSU 46, Pittsburgh 40, TCU 37, Kansas State 31, Syracuse 31, Marist 27, Utah 24, Marquette 22, Georgia Tech 10, Hartford 7, Nebraska 7, East Carolina 4, Gonzaga 4, Iowa 3, Michigan State 3, Texas Tech 3, Minnesota 2, Montana 2, New Mexico 2, Liberty 1, Southern Miss 1,
Complete Rankings

Woohoo! Iowa State won 79-54 last night over Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. ISU got 17 points (all in the first half) from Kelsey Bolte on 5-7 shooting from long range. She had 11 points by the first media time-out. Freshman Ashley Arlen had 11 rebounds on the game. She's not afraid to dive in and knock some people down to go for the ball - which is great! Overall, it was a good game for ISU, but we clearly outmatched out opponent. UNI was down three starters (one had two broken feet - don't ask, one had a turned ankle, and one had a torn MCL), so they were not going to be working on all cylinders as it was. From a halftime score of ISU leading 39-19, it went to 51-19, and kept growning from there. It eventually reached 37, I believe, before falling back to the final margin. We get to go to Creighton in Omaha on Sunday afternoon before leaving for the Hawaii games next week.

Here are scores from the last couple of days...

McNeese State 56
Oklahoma State 89

Middle Tennessee 65
Oklahoma 85

Colorado St. 63
Colorado 93

Missouri 55
Illinois 65

Texas A&M 59
Michigan 56
(Will try to find and post info on this game since it was so close later today when time permits.)

Texas A&M Corpus Christi 36
Texas 87

Iowa State 79
Northern Iowa 54

Scores from Friday:

Arizona St. 57
Oklahoma 70 (preseason WNIT semi-finals)

Lamar 50
Texas Tech 59

Stephen F. Austin 42
Baylor 77


From AP via ESPN.com on the OU/ASU game:

NORMAN, Okla. -- The basket, like hundreds before, was vintage Courtney Paris. She took an entry pass, pivoted around a defender and scored off the backboard.

And just like that, Paris became Oklahoma's career scoring leader on Friday night, just three games into her senior season. For added measure, the 6-foot-4 preseason All-America center also had her 100th career double-double, finishing with 19 points, 20 rebounds and six blocked shots as Oklahoma (No. 4 ESPN/USA Today, No. 2 AP) beat Arizona State (No. 17 ESPN/USA Today, No. 18 AP) 70-57 in the semifinals of the Preseason Women's NIT.

Oklahoma (3-0) will host No. 4 North Carolina on Sunday (2 p.m. CST) in the tournament title game.

"It wasn't the prettiest basketball game I've ever been a part of," Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said, "but it was a win against a very talented team. Here we are 3-0 and we've won in three completely different ways, so I think that bodes well for our future and for our versatility."

Neither Coale nor Paris claimed to have noticed as Arizona State (2-1) held Paris without a shot or a point for the first 15 minutes and 50 seconds. But once the Sooners figured out they could dominate using their inside game, Paris began racking up the points en route to her 95th straight double-double, extending her NCAA record.

Paris' final basket, with 2:02 left, raised her career point total to 2,189 in 103 games at Oklahoma, eclipsing Phylesha Whaley's 2,187 points from 1996-2000 in Coale's first four seasons with the Sooners. Coale praised Whaley again Friday, calling her the "foundation" of the Oklahoma program.

"Her spirit, her work ethic, everything that she had embodied what's good about college athletics," Coale said. "...For Courtney to surpass her with this much time left in her senior season is amazing."
After the game, Paris -- who went 8-of-11 from the field -- received a game ball from Coale and a standing ovation from the crowd at Lloyd Noble Center, then answered questions about her feat in a self-depreciating manner.

"It is a great honor," Paris said, "but I couldn't have done it without my teammates getting me the ball, and also myself for missing so many shots and getting the rebound and putting it back in."
Whaley, who now serves as a U.S. Army nurse stationed at Fort Gordon, Ga., said she's happy someone like Paris broke the record.

"She is a good kid," Whaley told The Associated Press by phone from Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where she's on a temporary assignment. "She works hard and she has so much fun playing. She's fun to watch because she's so good at it. ... I'm surprised she didn't do it sooner."

Paris' twin sister, Ashley Paris, also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Oklahoma won despite committing 21 turnovers. The Sooners limited Arizona State to 34 percent field-goal shooting. Dymond Simon scored 14 points for Arizona State, while Briann January and Lauren Lacey had 12 each.

"I'm disappointed in our team," Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "We were extremely undisciplined and that is not representative of Sun Devil basketball. We really don't practice those shots."
Despite Courtney Paris' lack of early scoring, Oklahoma never trailed thanks in good part to sophomore Carlee Roethlisberger, who for the second straight game set a career high, scoring 12 points, all in the first 13 minutes. Roethlisberger scored seven points during a 10-0 spurt midway through the half that put Oklahoma ahead 22-12.

The Sooners beat Arizona State last season 69-57 in the Caribbean Challenge in Cancun, Mexico, in a game played in a hotel ballroom. Arizona State is 21-6 in its last 27 road games, dating to the second half of the 2005-06 season.

Iowa State barely escaped Omaha and Creighton yesterday, winning 63-59. ISU played... umm... not well, but well enough to eek out a win. My Cyclones could not pull away, in spite of going up by 8 in the first half and 7 in the second half. The Bluejays did not lead by more than a single point, but were in a position to tie the game with under five seconds left and force overtime. But the girl shooting the free throw bricked both, ISU got the rebound, was fouled, and hit both shots at the other end providing the final margin. A win is a win is a win (3-0), so I'm not complaining.

There were a bunch ranked teams that lost over the weekend. These aren't Big 12 teams (most of them), but thought it would be interesting to point these scores out (especially #2 Rutgers getting their asses handed to them twice in three days)...

#2 Rutgers 47
#8 Stanford 81

#3 North Carolina 80
#4 Oklahoma 79

#12 Vanderbilt 42
Michigan 50

#18 Ohio State 80
#20 Auburn 87

Florida 72
#21 Florida State 57

#23 Georgia 66
Detroit 70

#2 Rutgers 52
#6 California 66 (Friday)

Hartford 53
#5 Duke 51 (Friday)

#11 Virginia 70
#24 ODU 78 (Friday)

Ok, it's been a while since I made a post here. Thought I'd have time to keep up with stuff while we were in Hawaii watching the ISU women play some games out there, but the wireless connection in the hotel was hopelessly slow, so figured I'd just wait and take care of it when we got back. My internal clock is all messed up (CST is 4 hours ahead of Hawaii), so I fell asleep this evening after getting home (and flying from midnight until 4 p.m.) and now can't sleep at all (2 a.m.). Work should be a blast.

Anyhoo - a quick update to get some people by. ISU went 2-1 in Hawaii, beating Prairie View A&M and San Diego State by decent margins, but lost to Stanford 83-45, the worst loss by an ISU team since before Coach Fennelly arrived (1995). Our starting five scored a total of 10 points in that game, while our four freshmen scored 24. Not pretty.

Oklahoma got crushed by Connecticut, 106-78 in a battle of top 5 teams. Baylor lost to struggling Wisconsin by a single point over the weekend as well. More details later in the day when I have time to gather information.

Ok, finally back with some more details from weekend games. Iowa State played games on Friday (Prairie View A&M), Saturday (Stanford), and Sunday (San Diego State) in Honolulu, Hawaii. They went 2-1, losing to Stanford (by 38), but beating PV A&M 75-59 and SDSU 87-71. Alison Lacey was all over the map during these three games, scoring 18 the first day, 0 the second, and 17 the third (all of those in the second half). PV was much tougher than I had anticipated, even though they went to the NCAA tournament last season with coach Cynthia Cooper. They were quite athletic and physical, able to muscle their way into the lane and score. Would not be surprised to see them make a repeat visit to the Big Dance.

Stanford just embarrassed us, plain and simple. They couldn't miss and ISU couldn't hit anything. The halftime score was 37-15, Stanford. It seemed like the Cardinal had no players under six feet tall, but after checking their roster, I saw they actually did. Just not very many. ISU wasn't able to guard the perimeter well enough to keep Stanford from hitting 13 three pointers - even the non-three point shooters were knocking them down, so it was hard to figure out who to guard. Needless to say, the loss was demoralizing for Iowa State. As I mentioned before, the starters combined for ten points on the day. The high scorer for the Cyclones was freshman Whitney Williams with 10. I don't think Stanford is necessarily that good, nor is Iowa State that bad, but the two came together to create the worst loss for Coach Fennelly ever at ISU.

But, the good news was that the team was highly motivated to come out and beat SDSU on Sunday. It was back and forth in the early going, with SDSU holding a 22-20 lead before Iowa State went on a run to close out the half on a 23-13 run. ISU led by as many as 18 in the game before the final margin of 17 was decided. ISU's Heather Ezell scored 21 in the win, going 5-7 from long range. The Aztec's Jene Morris had 34 points in the loss. Like PV, SDSU was big and physical. Fortunately, we're usually able to compensate by playing smarter ball. But the 'Clones stepped it up and got physical right back, pushing their way to the basket and drawing fouls along the way. Ezell and Lacey were both named to the all-tournament squad.

As for Oklahoma's 106-78 loss to UCONN, all of OU's starters scored in double figures, but they only got four points from the bench. Courtney Paris picked up her 98th consecutive double-double, with 14 points and 14 rebounds. UCONN's Rene Montgomery scored 30 points to go with 13 asists. OU had cut the lead to 59-50 early in the second half after trailing 48-26 late in the first period, but they would get no closer and UCONN domintated down the stretch. OU fell to 4-2 with the loss, but dropped only to #6 in the AP poll this week.

Baylor led Wisconsin 58-53 with 2:43 to play before the Badgers scored the game's final six points to win 59-58 in the Virgin Islands. Baylor's Melissa Jones was fouled at the buzzer going for an offensive rebound. UW called timeout and Jones missed both free throws that might have forced OT or won the game. It was Baylor's first loss of the year and Wisconsin improved to 5-1.

Here are the league standings thru Tuesday:

Texas-------------7-0
Texas A&M -------7-0
Kansas State-----5-0
Kansas------------4-0
Baylor-------------6-1
Nebraska---------6-1
Iowa State -------5-1
Oklahoma State--3-1
Oklahoma---------4-2
Texas Tech-------5-3
Colorado----------3-3
Missouri-----------2-4

(This is really CycloneMatt on this post - didn't pay attention that hubby was logged into his screen name. Oops!) This weekend has a game for ISU that I always look forward to every year - Iowa State vs. Iowa. This year the game is in Iowa City. Cyclone fans have filled ten (possibly twelve, depending on the source) charter busses to make the trip to Carver Hawkeye Arena tomorrow morning. Typically, ISU will bring anywhere between 1000 and 3000 fans to this game - either by bus or by making the trip on their own. When they play here in Ames, Iowa usually brings about four car-loads of fans. Normally our attendance in "the IC" has been kept lower because Iowa tends to schedule us on a weekday (one year on Thanksgiving EVE) to prevent more fans from showing up. But it never works.

Anyway, ISU comes into the game with a 5-1 record, while Iowa is at 4-4 after losing at Duke 71-47 this past Thursday. Iowa's losses have all come to good teams, so you can't judge their abilities simply by looking at the record. No matter what, should be a good game. If anyone is interested, it will be broadcast on the Big 10 Network tomorrow, Sunday, December 7th at 1 pm CST.

There are nine Big 12 teams in action this weekend. Here's the schedule:

Sat, Dec 06:
Ohio State @ Nebraska
Arkansas @ Kansas State
St. John's @ Baylor
Oklahoma State @ Arkansas-Little Rock
Southern Methodist @ Texas A&M

Sun, Dec 07:
Iowa State @ Iowa
Oklahoma @ Arkansas State
Texas @ Ole Miss
Kansas @ Marquette

Will be back tomorrow with a run-down of how things went. Go Cyclones!

Frack.

Well, there were four Big 12 teams that did not win over the weekend and Iowa State was one of them. ISU lost to Iowa 66-46 yesterday in Iowa City. The first ten minutes were close, but after that, most of our team decided to mentally check out for some reason. The score was 38-27, Iowa, at the half and it got worse from there. To grudgingly give credit, Iowa played hard non-stop on both sides of the court and was clearly ready for this game. Not going to go into much more detail on this particular game, but suffice to say that unless Iowa State figures out what the hell is going on with the team, wins will become few and far between this year. On paper, ISU should have been far superior to the Hawks, but we didn't play like it. We'll lose to a lot more mediocre teams like Iowa if the girls don't pull their heads out and play like they actually want to win.

Oklahoma State lost on Saturday to Arkansas-Little Rock, 65-51. A sub-par game from Andrea Riley and OSU allowing 11 steals (17 TOs overall), helped ALR to what looked like a pretty easy win in Little Rock.

Kansas lost 67-57 to Marquette in Milwaukee on Sunday. Only two Jayhawks hit double figures in scoring, with Danielle McCray notching 22 points with 6-8 shooting from behind the arc. Marquette's Krystal Ellis did most of the damage for the Golden Eagles, scoring 32 points.

Nebraska lost at home to Ohio State, 69-65, after being up ten at the half. This game was quite even in terms of rebounds, fouls, and field goals. Both teams had three players each in double figures.

Baylor plays Lamar tonight, while four more teams play on Tuesday. Iowa State will play Drake in Ames on Thursday evening. I'm hoping we've got things a little figured out by then.

the lady longhorns were impressive at ole miss this weekend. looks like we might be "back".

I think you are right - Texas is undefeated and in the top 10 right now, so it wouldn't surprise me to see them be right at the top of the conference and fighting for an NCAA berth beyond the sweet 16. You know Coach G was going to get it done, but I would think she must be happy with how quickly her girls bought into her system last season and how well this one is beginning.

Here are some scores from last night:

Seton Hall 77, Colorado 40
Missouri 83, Bradley 54
(23) Kansas St 64, Creighton 55
Nebraska 70, CS Bakersfield 57

Am kind of surprised about the Colorado score - don't know anything about Seton Hall, but a 37 point win? Wow. CU only had 13 points at halftime and only one player in double figures. Again, wow. I think Coach Kathy might be polishing up her resume' by season's end...

Here are the league standings as of this morning:

Kansas State------- 8-0
Texas--------------- 8-0
Texas A&M---------- 8-0
Baylor--------------- 8-1
Kansas-------------- 5-1
Nebraska----------- 7-2
Oklahoma---------- 6-2
Iowa State--------- 5-2
Texas Tech--------- 5-3
Oklahoma State--- 3-2
Missouri------------ 4-4
Colorado----------- 3-4

On a regional note, Minnesota got ranked at #25 for the first time this season and promptly lost at home to South Dakota State, 65-55. The Jackrabbits are 9-1 with an RPI of 16 - and that doesn't include the win over the Gophers. This is also the first year SDSU will be eligible for the NCAA tournament after recently moving to the Division 1 ranks.

Seems as though all is right in the universe once again. ISU beat Drake 65-52 last night at Hilton Coliseum. Things started out rather rocky, but the team calmed down and figured stuff out. As the first half was winding down, Drake jumped out to a 29-19 lead, but had only a 29-25 lead at the half. That was just the beginning as the Cyclones used a 31-4 run spanning both halves that put the game away. ISU led by as many as 18 points in the second half. Coach Fennelly shook up the starting five after the debacle that was the game in Iowa City on Sunday. The result was two starters didn't score, but the bench ended up with 50 out of 65 points. Amanda Nisleit has a career high 18 points and shot a perfect 6-6 from the floor coming off the bench. Heather Ezell scored 9 on three 3 pointers to become the 19th Cyclone to pass 1000 career points (she now has 1005). ISU improves to 6-2 and heads into Sunday's home game against Detroit. Drake fell to 5-3.

This weekend has some interesting match-ups for the Big 12. The headliner would be Tennessee heading to Austin to play Texas. We'll see if Goestenkor's Long Horns are ready for prime-time. It woud not surprise me to see Texas win, if only because the Vols lost all five starters from last year to graduation and are a much younger, inexperienced team. Texas has many veteran players and should be ready for the challenge. Plus, the game being in Austin doesn't hurt either. UT vs UT is on Sunday, December 14th at 1 p.m. CST and will be televised on FoxSports nationally.

Other good match-ups over the weekend include:

Kansas @ Creighton (Sat)
Texas Tech @ New Mexico (Sat) (MWSN - I'm guessing that's "Mountain West Sports Network")
Oklahoma vs. California at San Jose (Sat) - a game between top ten teams, but not televised
Tennessee @ Texas (Sun) - that other game between top ten teams (FSN)
TCU @ Oklahoma State (Sun)

Was a pretty good weekend for the Big 12, with a couple of HUGE wins for the league. Oklahoma came back from a 26 point deficit at halftime to beat California in San Jose, 86-75. Cal's lead was 52-26 at the break, as they kept OU off the scoreboard early. OU started the game 5-21 from the floor before finding their rhythm in the second half. Cal led by 17 points at 69-52 before Oklahoma went on a 34-6 run to close out the game. The match-up was a homecoming for three Sooner starters, the Paris twins (from Piedmont, near Oakland) and Danielle Robinson who is from San Jose.

Today, Texas pulled away from Tennessee in the second half to beat the Vols, 73-59, and is off to it's best start in 20 years at 9-0. Tennessee missed 13 of 24 free throws and allowed Texas to grab 19 offensive rebounds. The game featured 3 DQs (two Vols and one 'Horn) and a combined 53 charity stripe attempts. Neither team shot over 40% for the game, but Texas was able to force 18 turnovers in the win.

Also today, good news as Iowa State won big over Detroit-Mercy, 75-39, tying the school record for 3 pointers made with 18. The bad news was that it took 48 attempts to hit those 18 shots. Still, made for a fun game to watch. ISU's Heather Ezell hit 8 treys in the first half to tally a game-high 24 points (she was 0-5 in the second half). No other Cyclone was in double figures, but six players contributed at least one 3. Up next for ISU is Minnesota this Sunday, the 21st.


Saturday:
Creighton 58, Kansas 59 (OT)
Baylor 63, Samford 51
New Mexico 63, Texas Tech 54
Texas A&M 94, Texas State 45
California 75, Oklahoma 86

Sunday:
Kansas State 73, UT Arlington 63
Texas 73, Tennessee 59
Oklahoma State 85, TCU 80
Iowa State 75, Detroit-Mercy 39
Missouri 74, UT Martin 23

Looks like a fairly slow week in the Big 12. Four southern divison schools play during the week before the action picks up again over the weekend.

Just for something to post, here are the current Big 12 rpi standings from collegerpi.com/women as of this morning, December 16th.

(RPI rank - team - record)
#3 Baylor (9-1)
#5 Oklahoma (8-2)
#9 Texas A&M (9-0)
#11 Texas (9-0)
#41 Nebraska (8-2)
#42 Texas Tech (5-4)
#58 Oklahoma State (4-2)
#67 Iowa State (7-2)
#68 Kansas State (9-0)
#86 Kansas (7-1)
#197 Colorado (3-4)
#198 Missouri (5-4)

The slow week in hoops action for Big 12 teams is now over. No league teams lost, but there was one close game and one game between ranked teams.

Texas knocked off #21 Arizona State in Austin, 81-71 on Thursday. The 'Horns were led off the bench by Kathleen Nash's 27 points. She was 12-12 from the line, 3-6 from long range, and 6-10 from the floor overall. UT had three other players in double figures for points. Texas improves to 10-0 with the win.

OSU got a scare from Southern Mississippi in a Las Vegas tournament, winning 75-72. The Cowgirls survived on 35 points from junior point guard, Andrea Riley, who was 19-25 from the free throw line with 11 assists in 40 minutes.

There are a bunch of games this weekend, with several good match-ups. Probably the best game of the weekend will be TCU at Texas A&M. Both teams are ranked in the top 25 on both polls. The AP has A&M at #4, while TCU is #24. TCU @ A&M will be televised on Sunday at 1 p.m. CST on ESPNU.

Here's this weekend's line-up...

Saturday games:

Nebraska @ UTEP
Kansas State @ Indiana State
Oklahoma State @ UNLV (tournament)
Sacramento State @ Texas Tech
UMKC @ Colorado
Baylor @ Oregon (Baylor plays on Monday @ top 15 California)

Sunday's games:

TCU @ Texas A&M (ESPNU, 1 p.m. CST)
Tulsa @ Oklahoma
Missouri @ Arkansas
Kansas @ UCLA (FoxSports Net nation-wide, 2 p.m. CST)
Minnesota @ Iowa State

The ISU/Minny games are becoming a good series. This is the fourth consecutive season they have played, with the home team winning each time. I'm hoping that trend continues tomorrow. The game will be televised locally in Iowa on cable - disappointing that the Big Ten Network didn't want this one, though.

Iowa State managed to put the clamp on Minnesota this afternoon, winning 58-42. It was the lowest point total for the Gophers, who had been averaging over 75 per game. ISU also forced Minnesota into 26 turnovers (14 of which were steals), including 8 by Emily Fox. ISU and UM were tied at 10 in the first half before the Cyclones went on a 30-7 run going into halftime. In the second half, Minnesota tried to come back, moving to within 12 at 45-33, but could not get any closer the rest of the way. ISU's Kelsey Bolte led the Cyclones with 15 points, while Amanda Nisleit (and Minnesota native) added 14. Emily Fox had 19 for the Gophers. This game was big for ISU as we had been looking for a quality win in our non-conference schedule. Minnesota had an RPI of around 30 and a solid strength of schedule, which will boost our current rating significantly. I'll post the new Big 12 RPI standings tomorrow when they're released.

In other weekend games, Nebraska lost at UTEP, 63-53. It was announced recently that the Husker's biggest star, senior Kelsey Griffin, will miss the entire season with an injury (she'll get a medical redshirt and return for her senior year next season). Not having her on the floor will definitely hurt Nebraska. Griffin was the leader on the court, basically the emotional heart of the team. It's going to take a lot to replace that kind of athlete and I don't know that any one else on the team can take over that job.

Baylor got a good game at Oregon, winning 81-71. The Ducks led the entire first half before Baylor caught fire and pulled ahead in the second period.

The best weekend game on paper didn't end up being much close to that. Texas A&M beat TCU 64-50 in spite of starters Colson and Micheaux combining to go 2-18 from the floor. The Horned Frogs only had one player score more than 7 - TK LaFleur, a transfer from Nebraska, had 22 in the losing effort.

The only other Big 12 team that lost over the weekend was Kansas, dropping a 67-64 decision in Los Angeles to UCLA. KU's leading scorer, Danielle McCray had an off night with only 9 points on 3-14 shooting (1-9 from long range).

Here's the low-down from this weekend:

UTEP 63, Nebraska 53
Indiana State 43, Kansas State 58
UNLV 73, Oklahoma State 88 (tournament at Las Vegas)
Texas Tech, 83, Sacramento State 46
Colorado 71, UMKC 49
Oregon 71, Baylor 81
Texas A&M 64, TCU 50
Oklahoma 94, Tulsa 42
Arkansas 55, Missouri 56
UCLA 67, Kansas 64
Iowa State 58, Minnesota 42

Here are the current Big 12 collegerpi.com numbers from this morning's update. As I expected, Iowa State took a sizable jump (21 spots) after beating then #31 Minnesota (which dropped to #42). Kansas State is one of three undefeated conference teams, but if you look at their strength of schedule, you would think they had better be undefeated with such a weak slate of opponents so far. I would expect CU and MU to have a weak schedule at this point, but it's rather surprising for the defending champion (KSU) of the top-rated rpi conference in the country to do the same.

RPI rank/team/record/strength of schedule)

#5 Texas A&M (10-0), (29)
#6 Oklahoma (9-2), (3)
#7 Texas (10-0), (32)
#12 Baylor (11-1), (27)
#33 Oklahoma State (7-2), (71)
#40 Iowa State (8-2), (89)
#47 Kansas State (10-0), (252)
#56 Texas Tech (7-4), (47)
#65 Nebraska (8-3), (107)
#70 Kansas (7-2), (168)
#156 Missouri (6-4), (227)
#196 Colorado (4-4), (228)

Edited to add some regional information: South Dakota State is ranked for the first time in school history (#25), coming only a handful of years after jumping to Division I from D-II. They are in the Summit League and will be eligible for the NCAA tournament for the first time ever this season. So far, SDSU has beaten the likes of Wisconsin (the Badger's only loss), Utah, Oregon, Missouri, Illinois, Minnesota, and Gonzaga. The Jackrabbit's lone loss has come at the hands of Maryland, 68-56, on a neutral court. Their rpi is #11 as of this morning, with an SOS of 30. Their power ratings will take a hit once conference play starts, as the next highest rated team is Oakland at #132. The other eight teams are all rated at #219 or lower. Still, they have made an excellent case for an NCAA bid come March should they lose their conference tournament and not get the automatic bid.

Other regional teams performing well are Wisconsin (#26 AP) at 10-1, Ohio State (#17 AP) at 10-2, and Notre Dame (#12 AP) at 9-1.

Baylor was supposed to play at Cal last night, but was not able to get out of Portland, Oregon because of the foot of snow they had received over the weekend (heaviest in nearly 30 years, I guess). The game was postponed, but word has it that it probably won't be made up this season, which is too bad. It should have been quite a good game. The Baylor team is bussing from Portland to Oakland, CA today, which is where they were supposed to fly from back to Waco. Hopefully, they will make it down there in time - that's not an easy (or short) drive.

Two other league games did happen last night. Here are those results...

Oklahoma State 90, Eastern Kentucky 35 (@ Stillwater, OK)
Colorado 76, Saint Louis 63 (@ Boulder, CO)

Kansas wraps up their California trip tonight with a game at Pepperdine. After that, there are no more conference games until this coming Sunday - due to the holiday, of course.

The holiday break is over for most teams (ISU was back at practice last night), so tomorrow the games will resume. The ASU/Nebraska game should be interesting and competitive (and televised on FoxSports across the country). UCLA @ Tech will be interesting also. The Bruins have been playing well this year, so we'll see how they do going into United Spirit Arena against the Lady Raiders - who have been playing fairly well this season also, judging by rpi. Here's the slate for Sunday and Monday...

Sunday:
Arizona State @ Nebraska (12 p.m. CST, FoxSports)
North Texas @ Oklahoma State
Kansas State @ Washington State
UTEP vs. Texas (Surf 'N Slam Classic; San Diego, CA)

Monday:
SE Missouir State @ Missouri
UCLA @ Texas Tech
Niagara @ Iowa State (Cyclone Challenge; Ames, IA)

A note on the final game before the break - Kansas beat Pepperdine easily, 82-54.

The Big 12 is rated the top conference in the country so far this season, according to the last update from collegerpi.com/women on the 24th. There has been some movement by most of the bottom eight teams in the league. Iowa State's rpi will definitely take a hit after taking a big jump over the last week (ISU's first oppenent in the Cyclone Challenge is rated #282, while likely second round opponent - Lamar - is #132)....

#5 Oklahoma
#7 Texas
#8 Texas A&M
#13 Baylor
#37 Iowa State
#39 Oklahoma State
#43 Kansas State
#58 Texas Tech
#61 Kansas
#62 Nebraska
#157 Missouri
#173 Colorado

It was a mostly successful outing over the last few days for the Big 12 - with one very large exception. Last night San Diego State upset previously unbeaten and #4 ranked Texas in their annual Surf 'n Slam Tournament (Texas had demolished UTEP by 39 to get to the finals against SDSU). The Aztecs won 60-55 after being down ten points in the second half, but forcing UT into 23 turnovers and not letting them get to the line. SDSU's Jene Morris had 24 points to lead all scorers (she scored 34 against Iowa State in the Cyclones' November win in Hawaii).

On Sunday, Nebraska beat #22 Arizona State in Lincoln, 62-58. The Huskers didn't take their first lead until 2:48 remaining in the game and trailed by as many as 16 along the way. Nebraska outshot ASU 20-8 at the line and blocked 8 Sundevil shots.

Iowa State won it's own tournament over the previous two days. Monday, ISU beat Niagara, 89-39 and last night won against North Dakota, 76-46. Iowa State's Heather Ezell was named tournament MVP, while Kelsey Bolte and Ashley Arlen also made the honors list. Thirteen Cyclones found the scoring column for the second straight game.

Here are the scores from the past three days...

Sunday:
Nebraska 62, Arizona State 58
Oklahoma State 80, North Texas 54
Washington State 58, Kansas State 74
UTEP 40, Texas 79

Monday:
Missouri 60, Southeast Missouri State 31
Texas Tech 72, UCLA 62
Iowa State 89, Niagara 39

Tuesday:
St. Louis 60, Oklahoma 87
Texas A&M 83, New Mexico 51
Washington 60, Kansas State 73
Iowa State 79, North Dakota 49
Colorado 73, Idaho State 57
San Diego State 60, Texas 55

Collegerpi.com hasn't updated their site in a couple of days, so I don't have any current information on where the teams are right now. Upcoming games of note include Nebraska traveling to Baton Rouge to take on an LSU team that is struggling this season, Texas Tech hosts Arkansas, Texas A&M hosts George Washington, and Iowa State hosts #19 Vanderbilt (which lost at home last night by 2 to Notre Dame - great, they're gonna be mad).

Just got home a while ago from an exceedingly fun game at Hilton. Iowa State knocked off the #19 Vanderbilt Commodores, 55-51. The game was what you might call "fuuuuuh-gleeeee" due to the sloppiness of the play, but it got the job done. ISU played great defense throughout and got offense from our top two guards. Alison Lacey scored a game- (and season)-high 20 points, while Heather Ezell poured in 18. We held Vandy's top scorer, Christina Wirth, to 7 points (she averages over 15). Iowa State was down 12-6 about six and a half minutes into the game, but outscored Vanderbilt 19-5 going into halftime (where ISU led 25-17).

The Cyclones had as much as a 12 point lead on several occasions in the second half, but Vandy chipped away, especially at the end, cutting their deficit to only three with under 20 seconds to play. After a long in-bounds pass, Lacey was able to play keep-away before getting fouled just long enough to where there wouldn't be enough time for the Commodores to score twice if she hit at least one free throw (she did). Their last second three point shot was off the mark when the buzzer sounded.

ISU forced 27 turnovers (11 over Vanderbilt's season average) and went to the line 26 times vs. 16 for Vandy. We had a great crowd today and we were LOUD. Official attendance was just over 8,000, but it was a little less than that. Overheard the student managers after the game say they were talking to Vanderbilt's student managers who said "now we know why no one wants to play (ISU) here" (rumor has it that over the past dozen years or so, it has been difficult to get quality major conference schools to play us in a home-and-home series because of the sizeable home-court advantage ISU has at Hilton Coliseum - ISU is 84-3 in regular season non-conference games since Coach Fennelly took over in 1995).

In other games... Missouri won at Duquesne, 76-65, and seem to be playing better of late, while Texas Tech beat Arkansas in Lubbock, 75-60, for a solid non-conference "W." No details on these game at the moment other than scores.

Texas beat Lamar, 82-45, which isn't a big shocker. You knew the 'Horns would come out on fire no matter who they were playing after the loss to San Diego State earlier in the week. UT had four players in double figures for scoring.

Oklahoma State beat Texas Pan-American in Stillwater, 85-36. The Cowgirls were led by Tegan Cunningham with 17 points, followed by Shaunte' Smith and Andrea Riley with 12 apiece. Riley was unusually quiet only hitting two shots from the floor, but knocking down all seven free throw attempts.

Texas A&M beat George Washington, 78-59 in College Station. The win is the 12th in a row for the Aggies, which ties the longest winning streak in school history. Takia Starks led the scoring with 22 points while Danielle Gant added 17 along with 10 rebounds. A&M forced 28 turnovers (vs only 12 for them), including picking up 15 steals. They also went to the line 36 times, hitting 23 (for just under 64% shooting). The Aggies were ranked the #1 RPI team in the country yesterday, January 2nd, before dropping out and yielding the top spot to Stanford today.

Kansas State smacked around Central Arkansas, 81-38, after starting the game on a 19-0 run. The interesting thing about this game, if the box score from espn.com was correct, was that of the Sugar Bears' 38 points, 36 of them came from the bench. I have no idea what happened there, but obviously some shots were not falling and some girls are going to be doing some running tomorrow in practice. Kansas State moves to 13-0 on the season and is ranked in the top 25 of both polls (@18 and 22). You'd think they'd be ranked higher, but there is a very good reason why they are not - their schedule. With an undefeated record, their rpi is only 33, with a strength of schedule of 210. That does NOT factor in the win over Central Arkansas, which had an rpi of 337 and an sos of 338 (out of 341 schools).

The final Big 12 team to play today was Baylor, which beat Texas State, 95-55. The Bears led by 28 at the half, and increased the lead from there. Their leading scorer was Danielle Wilson with 26 points.

One other score of note from today: Tennessee won at Rutgers, 55-51, after trailing 33-13 at halftime. This was the biggest comeback in Tennessee women's basketball history. Plus the win is coach Pat Summit's 994th win and 400th win against ranked opponents. Wow.

Current Big 12 standings as of January 3rd, 2009:

Kansas State-------13-0
Texas A&M ---------12-0
Baylor---------------12-1
Texas---------------12-1
Iowa State ---------11-2
Oklahoma----------10-2
Oklahoma State----10-2
Kansas---------------9-2
Nebraska------------9-4
Texas Tech----------9-4
Missouri--------------8-4
Colorado-------------6-4

I'll post tomorrow's rpi #s later in the day. There are three games tomorrow - North Carolina Central @ Oklahoma, New Mexico State @ Kansas, and Colorado vs. Hawaii in the Paradise Classic in Honolulu. Good match-ups will be featured on Monday, with Texas A&M @ Florida State, and Texas @ Purdue (ESPN2, 6:30 CST).

Here's the update from collegerpi.com as of this morning (1/4/09).

#4 Texas A&M
#7 Oklahoma
#9 Texas
#14 Baylor
#35 Texas Tech
#38 Oklahoma St
#41 Iowa State
#44 Kansas St
#55 Kansas
#71 Nebraska
#112 Missouri
#160 Colorado

Upset City

Both #3 Texas A&M and #4 Texas lost on the road last night, leaving no undefeated teams left in the Big 12. A&M lost in Tallahassee to Florida State, 60-53, as the Seminoles used a 20-3 run to close out the game after trailing by as many as 17 in the second half. Takia Starks for A&M was only 3-18 from the floor and the Aggies only had two players (one starter) in double digits and shot only 30.6% for the game. The Seminoles made one more shot than A&M (20 vs. 19), but did it on 15 fewer attempts. FSU finished with three players in double figures for scoring and improved to 12-4 on the season.

On ESPN2 last night, Texas lost at Purdue, 66-55. The loss is the second in three games by the 'Horns. Purdue jumped out to an early 24-8 lead and was up 17 at the half. Texas seemed to struggle to find an offensive rhythm throughout the game, only playing slightly better in the second half to narrow the lead down to nine points near the end. Purdue out-shot Texas 46% to 34% and attempted 27 free throws compared to 7 for UT. The win for the Boilers was the first over a marquee program this season, although they took Stanford to overtime in Hawaii over Thanksgiving.

There are four more games before intra-league play begins Saturday. Tonight Missouri hosts Chicago State, while Oklahoma State hosts Centenary. Tomorrow, IFPW plays at Iowa State, and Kansas hosts Fairfield.

Edited to add a game of regional note from last night - #21 South Dakota State's dream of an undefeated Summit League season came to an end last night in Michigan as the Jackrabbits lost to Oakland, 67-51, in a game that was never particularly close. Oakland jumped out to an 8-0 lead and was up 18 at the half over SDS. The lead was cut to 8 with 13 minutes to play, but Oakland did not let them get any closer.

I'll try to do some sort of mid-season over-view between now and the weekend and see how everyone looks so far this year.

Iowa State closed out it's non-conference season with (what I would consider) a rather uninspiring 27 point victory over IPFW (Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne). ISU beat the Mastadons 84-57 and improved to 12-2 on the season. Iowa State also got ranked in the most recent ESPN poll at #25 this week - we'll see if it lasts longer this time.

The Cyclones saw senior Nicky Wieben move past the 1000 career point mark last night as well as fellow senior Heather Ezell move to within 50 3 point field goals of having the school's all-time record of made 3s. It will be a stretch to make 50 with half the season gone already, but it can be done.

Predictably, the other games our teams played this week were all "W"s. Kansas beat Fairfield, 80-60; Oklahoma State beat Centenary, 100-57; and Missouri beat Chicago State, 63-42

I still need to sit down and review what's happened so far, but haven't had time to do it just yet.

I do want to mention the Syracuse/Rutgers game from Tuesday night. Rutgers has been struggling lately (as the coughing up a 20 point halftime lead over Tennessee last weekend indicates) and their last game was no exception as they lost at Syracuse, 68-54. Rutgers shot under 30% for the game, committed 27 personal fouls (including having three players who fouled out), and allowed 38 free throw attempts. The women's Big East is brutal, but nearly as bad as the men's side of the conference. The bottom teams in the B.E. are not very good at all (which is why it tends to not stack up well with the Big 12 and SEC when comparing over-all conference strengths). The Orangemen (Orangewomen?) have been much improved over the past two years as this victory shows, but this win remains only the third in the last 32 games against the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers has run into these mid-season slumps over the last few years and still manage to find their way into NCAA regional finals (last season) and National Championship games (two season ago). Coach Stringer will probably get it figured out, but there may come a season where it just doesn't happen. If you know anything about her, you know she's just beside herself with frustration.

Big 12 schedule for Saturday, January 10th:

Texas @ Texas Tech
Oklahoma State @ Iowa State (FSN, 3 p.m. CST - national television)
Baylor @ Colorado (FSNRM, 5 p.m. CST - regional television, FoxSports Rocky Mountain)
Texas A&M @ Missouri (MSN, 5 p.m. CST - regional television, Missouri Sports Network)
Kansas @ Kansas State
Oklahoma @ Nebraska (SSP, 7 p.m. CST - regional television, Sooner Sports)

Should be a fun opening weekend!


Latest rankings as of Tuesday (Big 12 teams in bold)...

ESPN/USA Today Poll (rank, team, record, points)
1. Connecticut (31) 13-0 775
2. North Carolina 14-0 744
3. Oklahoma 11-2 694
4. Notre Dame 12-1 648
5. Baylor 12-1 634
6. Texas A&M 12-1 568
7. Stanford 11-3 565
8. Auburn 15-0 523
9. California 11-2 521
10. Duke 12-1 491
11. Tennessee 11-2 472
12. Texas 12-2 463
12. Louisville 14-1 463
14. Virginia 13-2 359
15. Maryland 12-2 338
16. Rutgers 8-3 305
17. Ohio State 12-2 292
18. Kansas State 13-0 259
19. Florida 14-1 229
20. Pittsburgh 11-2 183
21. Oklahoma State 10-2 114
22. Georgia Tech 12-2 93
23. South Dakota State 14-2 90
24. Vanderbilt 11-4 82
25. Wake Forest 12-0 41
25. Iowa State 11-2 41
OTHERS RECEIVING VOTES
Xavier 28, Florida State 14, New Mexico 11, Marist 9, DePaul 5, Gonzaga 4, Middle Tennessee State 4, TCU 3, Arizona State 2, Arkansas-Little Rock 2, Houston 2, North Carolina A&T 1, Purdue 1, St. John's 1, Wisconsin 1

Ok, have not had as much time to get online and post this weekend. It's been busy, but there's a lot to talk about!

First, Iowa State knocked its second ranked team in the last three games at home yesterday. ISU beat #21 Oklahoma State, 63-55, after trailing at halftime, 32-21. For the first time in a long time, post play saved the day for the Cyclones. Nicky Wieben scored 23 points, while Amanda Nisleit scored her second career double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds. Wieben snapped out of a long scoring funk to spark ISU. She had 14 of ISU's 21 first half points. OSU's Andrea Riley, who is still leading the Big 12 in scoring (all 5'5" of her), went off for 32 total points on 13 of 28 shooting.

With the score tied at 50, Heather Ezell hit a 3 for ISU, which was followed by a scoreless possession for the Cowgirls. As Ezell was bringing the ball back up the court, an OSU player wrapped her arms around her, getting the foul called, but the crowd was screaming for an intentional foul. After a conference by the refs, an intentional foul was the decision on the floor. OSU's coach, Kurt Budke, was NOT happy and drew a technical foul for his protest. ISU knocks down all four free throws and goes from up three to up seven and gets possession of the ball which resulted in two more points. From there, ISU was able to hold on to the final score, 63-55.

We had a great crowd once again, over 8000 announced. It was definitely the infamous "Hilton Magic" at work once again. OSU was going to be one of the toughest games of the season here at home and we walk away with a "w." Hopefully some of you got to watch it on tv yesterday.

Texas Tech upset #12 Texas in Lubbock, 65-62. TTU's Dominic Seals hit a jumper with under 8 seconds to play to break a tie that allowed the Raiders to pull off the win. Tech had given up a 13 point lead in the last 7 minutes of the game, but found a way to hold on.

In other games, Baylor won at Colorado, 63-50; Texas A&M won at Missouri, 62-56; Oklahoma won at Nebraska, 77-56; and Kansas State beat Kansas in Manhattan 72-39 (finally beating a decent team for the first time this year).

This Tuesday, Texas Tech heads to College Station to play A&M. Iowa State plays at #5 Baylor; Missouri plays at Kansas; Nebraska plays at Texas (FoxSports Southwest, 7 p.m. CST); Kansas State is at Oklahoma; and Colorado faces Oklahoma State in Stillwater.

Am still trying to find the time to do a mid-season review of how the Big 12 is doing - it WILL happen, but just need to find the time. =)

Ok, yes I know I still need to do a mid-season review, but at this rate it will end up being and end-of-the-season review.

But still need to post on the mid-week games that happened last night and Tuesday. Kansas State was handed its first loss of the season at #3 Oklahoma, 64-48. After leading by one at the half, Kansas State couldn't keep up with the Sooners as they used the depth of their bench to pull away during the final seven minutes.

Iowa State lost at #5 Baylor, 68-57, after trailing 32-15 at the half. My Cyclones shot only 18% in the first half and could not get any offense going. The second half proved better, as ISU hit 10 second half 3s, including 6 by sophomore Kelsey Bolte, but the closest they could get to the Bears was nine points - every ISU run was answered with a Baylor run that was just as large or larger.

Texas defeated Nebraska in Austin, 74-60, after the Huskers led at the break by a point. A 17-5 run to open the second half put the 'Horns in front for good.

Oklahoma State rebounded from their Saturday loss to Iowa State, by taking it to Colorado, 79-43 in Stillwater. OSU led 44-17 at halftime and never looked back. Andrea Riley dished out 12 assists for the Cowgirls after the entire team only had 5 against ISU. She also scored 18 points. Colorado only had one player (Brittany Spears) in double figure scoring, with 11 points.

Kansas beat Missouri in Lawrence, 75-58. KU and MU each had three players in double digits for scoring, but Mizzou had little help from the bench and shot poorly for the game (29% vs 58%).

On Tuesday, #6 Texas A&M held off Texas Tech in College Station, 67-56, and needed a late-game surge from Danielle Gant to do it. Gant scored 12 of her 18 points in the last five minutes of the game to seal the deal for the Aggies.

Here are the current Big 12 standings through games played on Wednesday night.

(team--conf.record, overall record, (rpi))
Baylor-------------- 2-0, 14-1 (12)
Texas A&M--------- 2-0, 14-1 (9)
Oklahoma---------- 2-0, 13-2 (2)
Kansas State------- 1-1, 14-1 (23)
Iowa State--------- 1-1, 13-3 (36)
Texas--------------- 1-1, 13-3 (13)
Kansas------------- 1-1, 12-3 (48)
Oklahoma State--- 1-1, 12-3 (51)
Texas Tech--------- 1-1, 10-5 (32)
Missouri------------- 0-2, 9-6 (91)
Nebraska----------- 0-2, 9-6 (62)
Colorado------------ 0-2, 8-6 (121)

Nine teams in the top 51 and seven in the top 36. Not bad...

Here is the schedule of games for the weekend. One will be nationally televised and one will be on a regional FoxSports network (but can be viewed if you have a sports package thru cable or a dish).

Sat, Jan 17
Kansas State vs. Iowa State, Manhattan, KS
Missouri vs. Nebraska, Columbia, MO 5:00 p.m. CST (FoxSports MW)
Kansas vs. Texas Tech, Lawrence, KS
Baylor vs. Oklahoma State, Waco, TX
Texas vs. Colorado, Austin, TX

Sun, Jan 18
Oklahoma vs. Texas A&M, Norman, OK 3:00 p.m. CST (FoxSports national broadcast)

Another wild and wacky weekend in the Big 12! First some bad news (for me, anyway).

Iowa State dropped another road game at K-State yesterday, losing 59-52. ISU trailed by as many as 12 in the second half and closed the gap to four points at 54-50 with under a minute remaining until Wildcat point guard Shalee Lehning hit a long three that put them up 7 with less than 30 seconds to play. Once again Iowa State's post players forgot to show up. Starter Nicky Wieben scored 0 points, while attempting only three shots and playing only 16 minutes. We got a combined total of 12 points from our regular rotation of four post players - not good. I was surprised that we were able to be within striking distance at the end of the game, but we once again dug ourselves a hole that was too deep to climb out of. The number of fouls we committed was uncharacteristically high as well - KSU was shooting 1-1 only seven minutes into the second half. Heather Ezell fouled out of the game, for only our second disqualification this season. KSU was 17-27 from the line, otherwise, the game would have been out of reach much sooner that it was. ISU will regroup and face a Missouri team in Ames that is coming off an upset win over Nebraska.

Missouri slipped by Nebraska, 67-66 in Columbia after leading by 6 with three minutes to play. A series of turnovers led to five straight points by the Huskers to close the gap to a single point with 35 seconds to play. More turnovers on both sides prevented either from scoring any further. NU fouled with four seconds left, Mizzou missed the front end of a one-and-one, and NU got the rebound with 4 seconds, but didn't have enough time to score. The game was nearly even in every statistical category, so the one point final margin is fitting.

#5 Baylor stomped #22 Oklahoma State, 75-57. The game was close through the first half and OSU gained the lead less that three minutes into the second period at 38-37 on a lay-in by Andrea Riley. Baylor then went on a 22-3 run and were never seriously challenged again. Riley scored 33, but no other Cowgirl was in double figures for the game. This was a revenge game for the Bears who lost to OSU in Waco the last game of the season last year, costing them the Big 12 title. Both teams had shooting percentages in the mid-30s, but Baylor made ten more shots on 21 more attempts (17-50 vs. 27-71). Baylor stays perfect in conference play, while OSU dropped to 1-2.

Texas punished Colorado in Austin, 62-32. CU only scored 12 points in the first half, while UT led by 17. The Buffs closed the gap to 9, but Texas closed the game out on a 31-10 run. Colorado had two players in double figures for scoring, but only four players tallied any points in the entire game. Kathleen Nash led the 'Horns with 16 points on 6-10 shooting.

Texas Tech continues their impressive start to the year with a 57-49 win at Kansas. KU got off to a slow start with only 17 first half points and shot a dismal 28% for the game. Tech played well in spite of 22 turnovers. Dominic Seals led the Lady Raiders with 18 points on 9-16 shooting.

#3 Oklahoma defeated #5 Texas A&M, 71-59, in Norman. OU had three players with double-doubles: the Paris twins with points and rebounds, while Danielle Robinson did it with points and assists. Her 19 points led all scorers along with 19 for A&M's Takia Starks. OU stays in a tie with Baylor for first place at 3-0.

Ok, finally have time to get to the mid-season review of teams now that we're three games into the conference season. It actually gives me a little bit better idea of what's going on, now that the teams are playing one another. I'll go through the current standings in order and give some opinions on what I've seen so far this year.

Baylor 3-0, 15-1
Baylor looks once again like they could be the best team in the conference - balanced as always and determined to win. Who would expect anything less from Coach Kim Mulkey, who remains the only person in women's basketball history to win a national title as a player, an assistant coach (both at Louisiana Tech) and as a head coach (Baylor). Personally, she is my favorite coach to watch in this league (aside from ISU's coach Fennelly, of course). Baylor has played a brutal schedule this year and come away with only a single loss - one point to a decent Wisconsin team on a neutral court. Baylor will catch no breaks in the Big 12 South, as that is where the biggest competition is and they only have to travel to Boulder (already a "w"), Lincoln, and Lawrence for northern division road games. This league is Baylor's to take if they want it bad enough. With a deep bench and good senior leadership, the ability to take it is there.

Oklahoma 3-0, 14-2
Oklahoma has surprised some by not suffering any drop-off in guard play after losing Jenna Plumley to transfer in the off-season. Freshman Whitney Hand has come in and provided the Sooners some spark at the guard position to go with the always menacing Paris twins. Courtney Paris averages over 15 points a game, while sister Ashley is over 14. The twins also are 1-2 in the Big 12 in rebounding (they both average a double-double). OU is on a mission this year to win something more than a conference title (although that is on their radar as well). With all the hype about the Paris twins, Oklahoma's post-season success has been sorely lacking. The team has never advanced beyond the Sweet 16, including last year's second round loss to Notre Dame. OU has played in the national title game as recently as earlier this decade, but has not been able to duplicate that success. If the guard play matures enough to get OU help on the perimeter, they could challenge for the league title and more. The pieces are there, but consistency away from the paint seems to be what is holding the Sooners back.

Kansas State 2-1, 15-1
I keep waiting for Kansas State to collapse this year, but they haven't yet. Their non-conference schedule was embarassingly weak, but they have been able to (mostly) keep up with the better teams they have played now that conference season is underway. KSU isn't particularly deep, but their starting five seem to be able to handle most things that come their way. PG Shalee Lehning is the centerpiece of this team, even though she is not the leading scorer (that would be Ashley Sweat). Lehning finds ways to score when no one else is open and also leads the league in assists. She's quick enough to take it to the basket against just about anybody. Her only weakness is probably her outside shot. She can hit them, but doesn't take them frequently. KSU has to travel to Lubbock, Waco, and Norman (already a loss) this season to face those southern teams. They are certainly capable of defending their home court, but I don't see them beating enough teams from down south to capture the crown. Still, an NCAA trip and at least a 5 seed are do-able if there are no slip-ups or injuries.

Texas A&M 2-1, 14-2
The Aggies again look strong and along with Oklahoma, will be the main threats to challenge for the league title. The lone loss of the non-conference slate was at Florida State, a team that has played quite well this year after squeaking into the NCAAs last season. A&M is led by Takia Starks and Danielle Gant in scoring, with both players averaging over 14 points per game. A&M must travel to Kansas State, Iowa State, and Missouri (already a close win) this season in addition to enduring the stacked southern division teams home-and-home. A&M has had difficulty finding scoring against the better teams they have played, but their tight defense has made scoring not as necessary as for other teams that can't beat you by stopping you.

Texas 2-1, 14-3
The Longhorns started out the season reaching #4 in the rankings and had their best start in 20 years. Then the bottom fell out briefly, resulting in three losses in four games. Things seem to be back on track, but UT has shown weakness when shots don't fall for them. The cohesiveness of their team seems to dissolve at points and it looks like five individuals running around without direction. With impressive wins against Tennessee, Georgia Tech, and Arizona State, Texas definitely has the talent to compete with the big dogs, but until they can shake off the nerves when things don't go well, this group might not fare much better than they did last year - a 7th place finish and second round exit in the NCAAs. They have one of the most proven coaches in Gail Goestenkors, but the team has to show they can play like they want to win every game.

Texas Tech 2-1, 11-5
Tech got off to a slow start, dropping three games in a row at the Paradise Jam over Thanksgiving to Iowa, California, and South Florida. Since then, they have come on to play more solidly than I expected them to. It seems as though they have finally bought into Coach Curry's system and are playing as a team. The only marquee win this season has been over rival Texas, but that might be enough at this point to convince them they can go farther than they have the last few years. The potential is there to return to the NCAAs, but probably not to advance terribly far. Look for a middle of the pac finish and for them to be on the NCAA bubble.

Iowa State 1-2, 13-4
Iowa State is probably the biggest disappointment so far this season (arguments could be made for Kansas and Oklahoma State, but...). This was supposed to be the year that it all came together - multiple scoring threats, unprecedented bench depth, the media picking ISU to finish 3rd in the league, and a tough, but favorable schedule. None of it has fully materialized. Scoring has been erratic, with several games having starters held scoreless. With four skilled players in the 5 spot, we should be able to get enough looks to score half our points from inside the paint, but they have been no-shows in nearly every game (Oklahoma State being a rare exception). Teams know to clamp down on Lacey and Ezell otherwise the three pointers will rain down, but there have been few people who have stepped up to get some points, Kelsey Bolte being the rare exception to that as she has passed the 500 career point mark halfway through her sophomore season. At this rate, ISU will not finish in the top 4 of the Big 12 and is in danger of playing themselves out of the NCAA tournament. The last two losses have actually improved our rpi numbers, but that won't happen for too much longer. This team needs to figure it out quickly or it's "hello, WNIT." The parts are there, but they have yet to work together for a full 40 minutes this season.

Kansas 1-2, 12-4
The Jayhawks were expected to move up in the standings this year with a talented freshman PG coming in. But they lost her to injury before the games ever started, and have sometimes struggled to find rhythm in their offense. KU has played a tough schedule, not winning many against the bigger teams (aside from the blow-out win over Iowa), but those games should give hope that they can compete better in conference play. The first two of three games did not reflect this, however, as they lost by an average of over 20 points. Consistency is the key with this team as they have some great athletes who know how to score. The question here may be the coaching. If Henrickson can't get things going this year, I don't know how many chances she'll have remaining. She was brought in from a successful Virginia Tech program with the expectation to win sooner rather than later. This is season #5 for her at KU and she has just collected her 19th league win.

Oklahoma State 1-2, 12-4
OSU could be viewed as a disappointment so far this year, possibly as much as Iowa State. While the Cowgirls started stong against non-conference opponents (only losing to Duke and the inexplicable loss to Arkansas-Little Rock). But the team has faltered in conference play, losing at Iowa State and at Baylor. OSU is in danger of becoming the "Andrea Riley Show." She leads the league in scoring, but isn't getting much help from the other four players on the floor. Riley does so much that sometimes all her teammates get to do is watch her play, so the expectation may be there to just wait and see what she does. This is just conjecture on my part, but from what I have witnessed on tv and first-hand, this is the way it's going down. The talent is there, but is the coaching? Coach Budke needs to figure out a way to get his other girls involved in the offense or it may be a long season in Stillwater.

Missouri 1-2, 10-6
Missouri started weakly, but has found some momentum as the season has progressed. Granted the schedule hasn't been the toughest and they haven't beaten anyone they were not supposed to beat. But if you would have told me they'd be sitting at ten wins as of now at the beginning of the season, I don't know that I would have believed it. I don't think the pieces are there to finish any higher than 8th, but one run of wins could boost them up and keep post-season hopes alive.

Nebraska 0-3, 9-7
Nebraska has hit the proverbial brick wall, losing four straight after somehow knocking off Arizona State. NU lost their star player and senior leader, Kelsey Griffin, at the start of the season (she'll use a redshirt season and be back next year). The team has played without focus ever since for the most part. The first two league games were not particularly close, but the loss to Missouri this weekend has to sting tremendously. It won't be easy to recover from an 0-3 start, especially without leadership on the floor. Coach Yori is in over her head and is probably looking at a bottom three finish.

Colorado 0-3, 8-7
Colorado should finish in last place. If they don't it will be a miracle. They came in last place in their own tournament, losing to UMASS and Drexel - not exactly powerhouses of women's basketball. Things have been headed down hill for CU since the arrival of Kathy McConnell-Mitchell a few years back. She did ok with players she didn't recruit, but hasn't brought much talent into Boulder since their former coach retired. What talent she does have on the floor seems lost without direction. This might be Coach Kathy's last season in Boulder if she doesn't finish any higher than 10th place.


My predictions (for whatever that's worth) for how the league will look by the end of the first week in March:

Baylor
Oklahoma
Texas A&M
Texas
Kansas State
Oklahoma State
Iowa State
Texas Tech
Kansas
Nebraska
Missouri
Colorado

Not too different from the current standings, but I think the games that have been played so far have given a pretty good indication as to what should happen the rest of the way. We all know that there is a reason why they actually play the games (to make predictions seem stupid). So this list could end up looking quite a bit different should an injury or two happen or someone catches fire and knocks off some teams they shouldn't be beating.

I think the top six in the league get into the NCAA tournament for sure, while numbers 7 and 8 will be on the bubble, depending on rpi and final league record. The only reason two teams (ISU and Texas) got in last year with 7-9 records is because of the Big 12's overall strength. It might be pushing things to see a repeat of that situation.

Ok, shame on me for letting my update lag this week. I'll keep this short and sweet since I've been too busy to have much time to devote to anything that is overly detailed...

Iowa State got back on the winning track against Missouri here in Ames on Wednesday night, winning 65-42. The Tigers point total was their lowest in the history of the ISU/Mizzou series. No Tiger player scored more than 9 points. ISU's Heather Ezell had 15 on 5-7 shooting from behind the arc - she didn't trouble herself to take any two point shots (she didn't need to). Freshman Ashley Arlen tallied 13 points. For the first time in a long time, Iowa State got good production from its post players - 34 points total from the five who spend the most time under the basket. ISU evens up their conference record at 2-2, while moving to 14-4 overall.

Scores from Wednesday night (UT and OSU had the week off):

(home team, road team)
Iowa State 65, Missouri 42
Texas A&M 61, Baylor 64
Texas Tech 48, Kansas State 60
Nebraska 67, Kansas 58
Colorado 58, Oklahoma 72

Schedule for this weekend:

Saturday:
Kansas State @ Kansas (FoxSports, 11 a.m. CST)
Baylor @ Texas Tech (FoxSports, 1 p.m. CST)
Texas A&M @ Oklahoma State
Colorado @ Missouri
Iowa State @ Nebraska (FoxSports, 8 p.m. CST)

Sunday:
Texas @ Oklahoma (FoxSports, noon, CST)

Current standings and rpi as of Friday:

*School, W/L league, W/L overall (RPI Rank)*

Baylor----------- 4-0, 16-1 (6)
Oklahoma------- 4-0, 15-2 (2)
Kansas St------- 3-1, 16-1 (20)
Texas------------ 2-1, 14-3 (13)
Texas A&M------ 2-2, 14-3 (9)
Iowa State------ 2-2, 14-4 (27)
Texas Tech----- 2-2, 11-6 (26)
Oklahoma St---- 1-2, 12-4 (49)
Kansas---------- 1-3, 12-5 (52)
Missouri--------- 1-3, 10-7 (86)
Nebraska-------- 1-3, 10-7 (67)
Colorado-------- 0-4, 8-8 (117)

Iowa State won it's first Big 12 road game of the year last night, 62-48, at Lincoln, Nebraska. It was the first win after five straight losses in Huskerland for the Cyclones. ISU used balanced scoring in the game to notch the win and was led by Alison Lacey's 14 points. Kelsey Bolte had 13 points, including 8 in a span of less than a minute and a half. Nicky Wieben had 10 points, while Heather Ezell and Amanda Nisleit each scored 9. ISU stole the ball away 15 times while NU coughed it up an additional 7 times. It looked like it was pretty close through most of the first half until Iowa State went on a run and led by 12 at the break, 39-27. NU was able to cut the lead down to 6 before ISU increased it to 16 in the second half. Nebraska has been without their star player, Kelsey Griffin, all season and has played without much focus much of the season (especially now that league play is underway). ISU will not play again until this Saturday against Kansas State. At halftime, the Cyclones will recognize the ten year anniversary of the team that defeated top seeded UCONN in the NCAA Sweet 16, advancing ISU to its only Elite 8 appearance in school history (so far...). Not sure who all will be there for the reunion, but there should be at least half the roster at the game.

Kansas State beat Kansas in Lawrence, 59-50. KU was trying to avenge an embarrassing 33 point loss from the conference opener and was within four points late before K-State went to a small run to end the game. Kansas State was led in scoring by post player Marlies Gipson with 23 and forward Ashley Sweat with 19. Danielle McCray had 26 points for the Jayhawks. This was the 16th win in the last 17 games for Kansas State in the series. This is not a great Big 12 start for KU, as they are 1-4 in league play so far.

Texas A&M beat Oklahoma State in Stillwater, 60-50, holding the Cowgirls to their lowest point total of the season. The Aggie defense shut down OSU in the second half (4-23 shots made) and the Cowgirls only stayed in the game because of free throws. OSU at least got some help from a player besides Andrea Riley - Taylor Hardeman scored 13 points to go with Riley's 21. Though Riley was 4-19 from the floor, she was 13 of 15 from the line. OSU drops to 1-3 in the league, while A&M improves to 3-2 after losing two straight.

Baylor knocked off Texas Tech in Lubbock, 76-64. The Bears led big early, up 30-15, but Tech closed the half on a 20-8 run to trail by only 3 at the break. Baylor began the second half with a 15-2 run and Tech could not make up the difference this time. Baylor was led in scoring and rebounding by Danielle Wilson with 17 of each.

Colorado left the ranks of the winless in the Big 12, winning at Missouri, 61-56. The Buffs were led by Bianca Smith with 25 points, who shot 7-11 from beyond the arc. There is now a four-way tie for 9th (and last) place in the league among Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, and Kansas at 1-4.

Oklahoma demolished Texas in Norman today (Sunday), 89-69, in front of over 9500 fans. Courtney Paris picked up her 110th consecutive double-double with 23 points and 21 rebounds. It was her 10th double-double of her career where she had at least 20 points and 20 boards. OU shot nearly 60% for the game and crushed UT on the boards (42-22). OU moves into a tie with Baylor for first place in the league with a 5-0 record, setting up a show-down in Waco for sole possession of the top spot on Wednesday.

Here is the schedule of games for mid-week:

Tuesday:

Nebraska @ Kansas State (FoxSports Kansas City, 7 p.m. CST)

Wednesday:

Oklahoma State @ Missouri
Texas A&M @ Texas (FoxSports Southwest, 7 p.m. CST)
Oklahoma @ Baylor (Sooner Sports, 7 p.m. CST)
Texas Tech @ Colorado (FoxSports Rocky Mountain, 8 p.m. CST)

Standings as of today (Sunday, January 25th):

Baylor--------------5-0, 17-1
Oklahoma----------5-0, 16-2
Kansas State-------4-1, 17-1
Texas A&M ---------3-2, 15-3
Iowa State ---------3-2, 15-4
Texas---------------2-2, 14-4
Texas Tech---------2-3, 11-7
Oklahoma State---1-3, 12-5
Kansas-------------1-4, 12-6
Missouri------------1-4, 10-8
Nebraska-----------1-4, 10-8
Colorado------------1-4, 9-8

I will have updated rpi standings tomorrow after the OU/UT game is factored in.

Big 12 rpi standings as of Monday, January 26th:

2 Oklahoma
4 Baylor
9 Texas A&M
14 Texas
15 Kansas State
23 Iowa State
26 Texas Tech
47 Oklahoma State
51 Kansas
67 Nebraska
99 Missouri
109 Colorado

Don't forget the battle for 1st place between Baylor and Oklahoma is Wednesday night at 7 CST on FoxSports!

Kansas State beat Nebraska, 51-40, last night in Manhattan. K-State trailed in the second half for only the second time all season before going on a 24-6 run that put them ahead for good. Offense was hard to come by for both teams - NU's Cory Montgomery had a game-high 21 points, while KSU's Ashley Sweat scored 18. No one else for either team was in double figures for scoring.

A note on tonight's 7 p.m. Baylor/Oklahoma showdown: I heard a rumor that the game might be on FoxSports Pacific network. So those of you with satellite tv might want to check that out if the rumors prove true (I hope so!). I haven't been able to find anything myself saying this is the case - it does seem kind of odd that FSN Pacific would have it...

Today, a really good article came out on Cyclones.com about the first NCAA Tournament Iowa State ever went to back in 1997, Bill Fennelly's second year at the helm. The article coincides with the game this weekend against Kansas State that will celebrate the 10 year anniversary of ISU's upset of UCONN in the 1999 Sweet 16, as I mentioned in a recent post. The original intent was to have as many girls back from that squad as possible, but it turned into an open invitation to all former letterwinners from the program, going back to the earliest days of ISU basketball. It should be a very special occasion. I copied the article from Cyclones.com so you could read it.


First NCAA Tournament Propels WBB Turnaround
(Courtesy: cyclones.com, Release: 01/28/2009)

Passion. Drive. Determination.

These are the words used to describe the catalyst in the U-turn of the Iowa State women’s basketball program 14 seasons ago when Bill Fennelly arrived on campus with a massive mission ahead of him. The student-athletes who played for him use those words to depict Fennelly, and he in turn uses them to portray those first teams which got the program rolling in the right direction.

The turnaround was nothing short of miraculous. Fennelly took a program that had won 217 games in the first 20 years of its existence and has won 295 contests in his 14 seasons at the helm. He took a team which had never been to an NCAA Tournament and has led it to nine in his first 13 seasons at the Iowa State helm.

In the season before his arrival, Iowa State won eight games and boasted just one Big Eight Conference victory. In Fennelly’s first season (1995-96) the Cyclones doubled their overall win total, finishing with 17, and multiplied their conference wins by five. By year two (1996-97), Iowa State was on its way to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history. In year three (1997-98), the Cyclones won 25 games, finished second in the Big 12 standings and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. By year four (1998-99), all expectations were blown out of the water as Iowa State defeated top-seeded Connecticut to advance to the first Elite Eight in school history.

“I think the first thing is that it was something no one even thought about,” Fennelly said. “I don’t think it ever crept into anyone’s mind that it was even possible. It was such a struggle for so long to be respectable. To be respectable is one thing, and to play in the NCAA Tournament is a whole other thing.”

That first trip to the Big Dance was no accident. It didn’t happen by mistake. Fennelly came in with a purpose and a plan, and that plan was not for five years down the road. He fully intended to take Iowa State some place it had never been starting with the players he inherited.

“When he came in to talk to us before or after the press conference, you could tell he was driven,” Janel Grimm (now Burgess) said. “The thing I will always remember was that he said ‘I am here to win, and I am here to win now. I don’t want to wait until you guys are gone. I want to win with you guys and take you to the NCAA Tournament.’ I think as a player, that was something we were all hungry for. And to hear that from your new head coach was very exciting.”

Fennelly called in each player on his roster and asked them if they honestly believed they could win and if they were willing to do what it would take to make that happen. Each one had the same answer. Each one was willing to do whatever he asked, even if it meant completely changing the way they were accustomed to playing.

“He basically built this system,” Monica Huelman, Fennelly’s first ISU recruit, said. “He had so much belief and passion in it. Think about it, all four years I played, we played a zone defense. And we went to the Elite Eight on a junk zone. What kind of system can you build and have that many people believe it will work?”

“The first thing we changed is the way we played,” Fennelly said. “We had to change our style. We shot the three a lot more. We played more zone defense, so structurally we played the game different. And then we just held them to a very high standard and told them they were going to be accountable. I just challenged them that if they were going to accept getting pounded on like we did the couple of years before that they needed to play somewhere else. We appealed to their pride a little bit. We were left with some good kids, good people, who were good enough players and committed enough to do it. And they really did it from day one.”

Fennelly had taken Toledo to the NCAA Tournament three times as its head coach. The goal of making it back there each and every season resonates through him. It isn’t just a hope or a wish, it is a driving passion. From the very beginning Fennelly has not been bashful about stating his goal. On the bottom of each practice card, which dictates the progression of drills on a given day, the date of the NCAA Selection Show is prominently written. It’s been there since the first practice of Fennelly’s career at ISU. It remains there today.

“I remember that we were excited to see our names pop up on the selection show,” Grimm said of her first NCAA experience. “That was the number one thing he always preached. First, you wanted to see your name roll across the bottom of the TV screen that you had upset a top 25 team. And then at the end of the season you wanted to be able to sit in the conference room at Iowa State and watch your name pop on the screen saying that you are going to the Big Dance. I can remember sitting in that room with all of us, thinking we actually got to do it. I don’t think we understood the magnitude of it at that point in time, but we were pretty excited about it.”

That kind of turnaround was hard to grasp in the middle of the process. While the players and staff have now come to grips with what they accomplished in that first trip to the NCAA Tournament, it was well beyond their understanding at that point in time.

“I was a naïve freshman,” Huelman said. “I didn’t fully understand it. But to see the girls who were seniors experience it was great. They had been through the lowest of lows. They had been in a really tough program, and coach Fennelly came in and they started winning and then they made it to the NCAA Tournament. That really capped off their careers, and it’s good that they got to experience that. For me, that’s not as far as we could go. That was just a taste of it.”

When Selection Monday rolls around each year, Fennelly has a small smile on his face for each team he sees enjoying that experience for the first time.

“The first time you do anything in life is so special, and there were so many people that had a part in it,” Fennelly said. “I love to see those teams on Selection Monday that are so excited to get in for the first time and the genuine enthusiasm they have, compared to the teams that are more worried about where they are seeded and where they are going. It was a very unique experience and one that was very cool.”

Fennelly will get to relive some of those memories this weekend when the Iowa State athletics department holds a women’s basketball letterwinners reunion. All former letterwinners have been invited back for a reception on Friday night and will be recognized at halftime of the women’s game vs. Kansas State Saturday evening.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun, and it’s going to be emotional in a lot of ways,” Fennelly said. “Those young people changed my life forever. I have a job and I’m in a position now where I’m able to take care of my family. None of that would have happened without those people. It’s a personal thing because of what they did for me. What they did for me is a million times greater than anything I did for them.”


Here's the actual link, if anyone wants it:

http://www.cyclones.com//ViewArticle.dbml?...;ATCLID=3656265

The Baylor/Oklahoma game was pretty exciting. I don't know that people expected the defensive battle that it became (I didn't), but it didn't lack for suspense. In what was the highest ranked conference match-up in Big 12 history (#2 vs. #3), Oklahoma walked away from Waco with a 56-51 win. Neither team led by more than six points the entire game and there were 11 ties throughout. Baylor had a one point lead at the half on a 3 by Jessica Morrow. The second half was a battle to the end as the teams traded shots. OU didn't hit its first (and only) 3 point shot until freshman Whitney Hand knocked one down with 1:22 to play in the game. From there, Courtney Paris made a basket and OU hit three free throws to clinch the win. The game did end up being televised by some network I'd never heard of before - they had picked up the Sooner Sports feed - so I was able to watch most of it on DirecTv.

Texas A&M beat Texas in Austin, 68-54. A&M had a 10 point lead at the break as the 'Horns have now dropped five of their last eight games. The Aggie's Takia Starks scored a game-high 26 points, 21 of which came in the second half. Texas forced 23 turnovers, but could not get their offense going, shooting only 31.5% for the game, while A&M shot over 48%.

Oklahoma State won at Columbia against Missouri, 68-60. Andrea Riley scored 30 for OSU, while Mizzou's Alyssa Hollins had 17 to lead the Tigers. The loss keeps Missouri at the bottom of the conference, while the Cowgirls improve to 2-3.

Texas Tech won at Colorado, 66-60. Tech was led by Dominic Seals with 18 points, while Brittany Spears had 26 for the Buffs. The loss keeps Colorado in the basement of the Big 12 as well, while Tech improves to 3-3.


Upcoming games:

Saturday...
Missouri @ Oklahoma (12:30 p.m. CST, Sooner Sports)
Oklahoma State @ Texas Tech
Nebraska @ Colorado (2:00 p.m. CST, FoxSports)
Kansas @ Texas A&M
Kansas State @ Iowa State

Sunday...
Texas @ Baylor (3:00 p.m. CST, FoxSports)

Monday...
Tennessee @ Oklahoma (6:30 p.m. CST, ESPN2)
Savanah State @ Texas Tech


Of note tonight (off the top of my head): 20-0 Auburn lost their first game of the season at unranked Georgia tonight, 67-58. Tennessee beat Mississippi by one point, 60-59, to stay within striking distance of the SEC lead, just one half game back of 5-1 Auburn, Vanderbilt, and Florida.

California remains unbeaten in Pac 10 play with a 64-48 win over UCLA in Berkeley. The Bears are now 8-0, which I probably shouldn't say, because every time I DO say something like that, they lose their next game. You'd think I'd learn after a while... Two weekends ago, Cal beat Stanford in Berkeley for the first time since 1993 in front of over 10,000 fans, the second largest crowd to ever watch a women's game in the Pac 10 (the largest was the Cal/Stanford game in Berkeley the previous year).

Florida State defeated Duke in Tallahassee, 82-75 in OT, to take over sole possession of first place in the ACC. Their schedule the rest of the way is favorable to end up as the top seed heading into the ACC Tournament. They get Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia at home, while they travel to Boston College, Miami, Wake Forest, and Clemson.

Ohio State held off Michigan, 52-44, to remain one half game ahead of Indiana in the Big 10. Indiana won tonight after losing their last game to then-last place Illinois, knocking the Hoosiers out of the top spot. It had been the Illini's first conference win of the season.

Another AWESOME game at Hilton Coliseum last night. Iowa State knocked off #12/14 Kansas State in a revenge match for a loss in Manhattan two weeks ago, 60-50. The first half was sloppy, with the score at the break only 22-19, but the offenses seemed to move more smoothly in the second period. Iowa State won with a stingy defense and by getting to the line 36 times, hitting 29 of the shots. ISU also out-rebounded the Wildcats 36-25. ISU was led by Heather Ezell with 19 points. She went 8 for 8 in the last 70 seconds of the game as ISU converted 12 consecutive free throws to end the game. The energy in the building was incredible all game long. The announced attendance was 11,600, with actual butts in the seats closer to 9000, but the building sounded like it was at capacity. Kansas State had brought a good number of fans to the game as well, including a chartered bus, but by the end of the game they didn't have much to cheer about. ISU handed K-State only their second loss of the season, dropping them to 18-2, 5-2, while Iowa State improved to 16-4, 4-2 with Texas A&M coming to Ames on Wednesday. This game will be a battle to get in or remain in the top 4 of the league. I can't wait!!

The #7 Aggies of A&M knocked off Kansas yesterday in College Station, 73-60, but needed an 11-0 run at the end of the game to put it away. A&M forced 26 turnovers for the game, but still trailed by six at the break and could not shake the pesky Jayhawks until the end. KU's Danielle McCray was her usual productive self with 24 points and 7 boards, but didn't get enough help from others. Two other players were in double digits, but they couldn't offset the damage done by the turnovers - KU shot over 56% for the game, but only took 39 shots, whereas A&M took 58 shots vs only 10 turnovers. The loss keeps KU near the bottom of the league standings at 1-5.

Oklahoma beat up on an overmatched Missouri team in Norman, 78-56. The #2 Sooners won their 14th straight game and avenged their last loss to a Big 12 team - Mizzou beat OU in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament last season, the first time a 5 seed had EVER lost it's first round game. OU had five players in double figures for scoring, with a sixth at 9 points. Missouri had only Alyssa Hollins and Shakara Jones in double figures with Hollins tallying 17. Oklahoma is looking to Monday nights game against Tennessee, which could be UT coach Pat Summit's 1000th career win. Honestly, I would expect OU to win this one pretty easily, but a great game from Tennessee would not be entirely shocking. The Sooners get the game at Oklahoma City, so that is to their advantage. The game will be on ESPN2 at 6:30 Central time.

Colorado came back from an 8 point halftime deficit at home to knock off Nebraska, 75-73. NU continues to play with a depleted roster and is still struggling to find any rhythm on offense. Colorado is also short-handed, but appears to have adjusted better, at least in this game. NU's Cory Montgomery has become the go-to player for the Huskers, as she had 24 points. The Buff's Brittany Spears had 25 points while Bianca Smith hit for 24, including going 7-10 from long range.

Oklahoma State found a way to win at Texas Tech by a score of 65-60. The Andrea Riley Show did not disappoint as she went off for 33 points. The Cowgirls had some help from the bench, but still did not get anyone else's point totals above 8. The Lady Raiders had three in double figures, but little help from the bench (2 points). OSU evens out it's conference record at 3-3, while Tech drops to 3-4.

Upset City! Texas went to Baylor yesterday and knocked off the #3/#4 Bears, 58-55. Texas had lost two in a row by a minimum of 14 points heading into the game, while Baylor was coming off a rare home loss to OU mid-week. Texas jumped out to an 11-0 lead, but trailed at the half by 3, at 24-21. The Bears pushed the gap to seven early in the second half, but UT caught up and the game was tight the rest of the way. Baylor missed eight consecutive shots over the last four minutes of the game before finally making a jumper with 32 seconds remaining to bring them to within 55-53. Texas hit three free throws vs two for Baylor over the final seconds to provide the final margin. Baylor has lost two consective home games for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.


Big 12 standings as of Monday...

(team, overal record, league record, rpi)
Oklahoma---------18-2, 7-0---2
Kansas State-----18-2, 5-2---18
Baylor-------------17-3, 5-2---8
Texas A&M--------17-3, 5-2---5
Iowa State--------16-4, 4-2---20
Texas--------------15-5, 3-3---14
Oklahoma State--14-5, 3-3---35
Texas Tech--------12-8, 3-4---31
Colorado-----------10-9, 2-5---103
Kansas-------------12-7, 1-5---59
Missouri-----------10-10, 1-6---104
Nebraska----------10-10, 1-6---75


Upcoming games...

Monday:
Tennessee @ Oklahoma (in OKC), 6:30 CST on ESPN2
Savannah State @ Texas Tech

Wednesday:
Texas A&M @ Iowa State
Colorado @ Kansas, 7:00 CST on Metro Sports (Kansas City area)
Missouri @ Kansas State, 7:00 CST on FoxSports Kansas City
Baylor @ Nebraska

Thursday:
Texas @ Oklahoma State, 7:00 CST on CSP (Cowboy/girl Sports)