Big 12 Sports Blog by Big 12 Fans

BIG 12 MEN’S BASKETBALL UPDATE (Feb. 18, 2008): Aggies, Horns face off tonight in Lone Star Shootout

By Denton Ramsey, NCAA Basketball Sportswriter /Big 12 Fans Baylor Correspondent

WACO, Texas – It’s been a busy week in Big 12 men’s basketball action, with Kansas, Texas and Kansas State currently sitting amongst the elite in the conference.

This past week saw Texas upend Kansas in Austin on Monday before a major road win for Oklahoma State over Texas A&M on Saturday has the Cowboys riding a two-game winning streak.

Then, there was this weekend’s barn-burner in Waco – as the Bears battled back in the final few minutes to give the Horns quite a scare before Texas narrowly escaped with a five-point victory.

One of the biggest games of the week tips off tonight, Feb. 18, with the Aggies traveling to Austin for a Lone Star Shootout against the Longhorns at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

On Tuesday, Feb. 19, Baylor will travel to Oklahoma as the Bears aim to end a three-game slide against the Sooners – tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. and will be televised locally on ESPN Plus.

Two Big 12 games hit the hardwood on Wednesday, Feb. 20, with Texas Tech traveling to Colorado for an 8 p.m. match-up (not televised) and Kansas State facing Nebraska on the road at 8 p.m. (ESPN2).

Big 12 men’s basketball action returns three days later, with six games scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 23 – Iowa State at Texas Tech (12:30 p.m., ESPN Plus), Oklahoma at Texas (2:30 p.m., ABC), Kansas at Oklahoma State (3 p.m., CBS), Nebraska at Texas A&M (3 p.m., ESPN Plus), Colorado at Missouri (7 p.m., not televised) and Kansas State at Baylor (7 p.m., not televised).

Current Conference Standings (02.18.08)

                        Big 12              Overall             National Ranking (ESPN)

Kansas             9-2                   24-2                 5

Texas               8-2                   21-4                 7

Kansas State    8-2                   18-6                 25

Texas A&M     6-4                   20-5                 22

Baylor              5-5                   17-7                 –

Oklahoma        5-5                   17-8                 –

Texas Tech       4-6                   13-11               –

Iowa State        4-7                   14-12               –

Missouri           4-7                   14-12               –

Ok. State         4-7                   13-12               –

Nebraska         3-7                   14-9                 –

Colorado          2-8                   10-14               –

Standings Scenarios

With a Texas win over A&M on Monday, plus a Kansas State win over Nebraska on Wednesday – both highly likely – the Big 12 will have a three-way tie for first place (Kansas, Texas, Kansas State).

In addition, if Baylor can beat Oklahoma on Tuesday on top of an Aggie loss in Austin, the Bears will move into a two-way tie for fourth place with Texas A&M.

Conference Notes

According to RPI ratings, six Big 12 teams are in the top 42 (Kansas: 5, Texas: 6, Kansas State: 30, Oklahoma: 33, Texas A&M: 39, and Baylor: 42), including two in the top six.

In addition, five of the six Big 12 games played on Saturday, Feb. 16, were sellouts – with the league currently on pace to surpass 2.2 million fans for the second straight season, after never reaching the 2-million mark prior to that time.

Weekly Awards

Weekly award winners for the Big 12 were announced on Monday, Feb. 18 – with this week’s player of the week honors going to Oklahoma State’s Byron Eaton and rookie of the week honors going to Kansas State’s Michael Beasley.

Denton Ramsey may be reached via email at denton.ramsey@gmail.com

Tags: Baylor, Big 12, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, NCAA Basketball, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, RPI, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech

This entry was posted on Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 1:30 pm and is filed under Big 12 Basketball, Big 12 Sports General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.