Big 12 Sports Blog by Big 12 Fans

Soak it up Jayhawk Nation! Your Kansas Jayhawks are the 2008 National Champions of college basketball after defeating the Memphis Tigers 75-68 in overtime on Monday night. Despite being down 9 with 2 minutes remaining in regulation, the Jayhawks should amazing resiliency in fighting back as Brandon Rush’s 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds remaining tied the score at 63-63. Kansas jumped out with the first 6 points of OT en route to the National Championship.

Now KU fans everywhere can buy Kansas Jayhawks Championship merchandise online through Big 12 Fans!

After jumping out to a 28-point halftime lead, the Kansas Jayhawks looked unstoppable. After North Carolina cut that lead to just 4 points in the second half, Kansas looked like they were ready to fall apart. But Bill Self was able to calm his troops as the Kansas Jayhawks held on for a 84-66 victory.

Now the Jayhawks will face off with the Memphis Tigers on Monday night. We’re scoured the Web for a solid NCAA Tournament Championship game preview and came across CUSA Fans, a Big 12 Fans partner site. Good preview, but not the result that Jayhawk fans wanted to see.

The Kansas Jayhawks have come out runnin’ & gunnin’ against the North Carolina Tar Heels today as they lead UNC by a score of 44-27 at the half. Kansas led by as many as 28 at 40-12 at the 5:18 mark in the first half before North Carolina began chipping at the lead. The Tar Heels outscored the Jayhawks 15-4 to close the half and cut the Kansas lead to 17 points.

Six Jayhawk players have scored 5 or more points in the first half led by Brandon Rush with 12. The Jayhawks shot 18-33 (54.5%) from the floor compared to UNC who has shot just 9-31 (29%).

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It’s been a night of blowouts at the NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional in Detroit and the South Regional in Houston, and the Kansas Jayhawks are happy to follow suit. The Jayhawks dominated the first half in Detroit and lead the Villanova Wildcats 41-22. While Kansas Jayhawks apparel & merchandise is a hot item every year during basketball season, advancing to the Elite 8 or Final Four would surely make it even hotter.

My oh my, Virginia Tech just got out-Beamer Balled.

Upstart Kansas proved that they were anything but, using great defense, big special teams plays, and offensive efficiency to topple Virginia Tech 24-21 in the Orange Bowl.

The Hokies did have an 84-yard punt return for a score in the third quarter, and they also sacked Todd Reesing five times.

That might be good enough on most nights, but not on this one, because Kansas was just a little better at every facet of the game.

On defense, the Jayhawks registered five sacks and picked off three passes, including one that star corner Aqib Talib returned 60 yards for a touchdown, and another that Justin Thornton returned to the two, setting up Todd Reesing’s decisive two-yard touchdown run that made it 24-14 early in the fourth.

Despite giving up the punt return for a score, Kansas also came up big on special teams, blocking a field goal and using a fake punt to get a first down on another drive.

And, on offense, the Jayhawks didn’t crumble against the tenacious Tech defense, turning the ball over only once and picking up 343 total yards against a defense that was allowing only 293.3 coming into tonight.

All of those efforts combined to lead Kansas to one of the biggest victories in school history, and dispelled any doubts about whether or not they deserved to be in the BCS.

And, there’s a good chance they could be here again this time next season.

They’ll lose a lot of offensive production in Brandon McAnderson and Marcus Henry, but they’ll return receivers Dexton Fields and Kerry Meier (who’s also the backup QB), running back Jake Sharp, and most importantly, Reesing, who threw for 33 touchdowns and only seven interceptions in his first season as a starter.

And, on defense, they may lose Talib to the draft, but will nearly all of the unit’s key players and leading tacklers.

They will have to replace placekicker Scott Webb and punter Kyle Tucker, but that might be the only unit that will see drastic changes.

So, it might be a strange sight right now, but get used to it, because these Jayhawks don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.

Kansas may be a newcomer to the BCS, but they’re certainly not playing like it.

The Jayhawks have gotten off to a fast start on both sides of the ball, and are up 17-0 over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.

All-American corner Aqib Talib has been active all night, as he returned an interception 60 yards for a score to get the scoring started, returned a punt 17 yards to set the Jayhawks up with a short field, which they capitalized on to get into the end zone to take a 17-0 lead, and he also had a long return on a missed field goal.

The Kansas defense has been a nightmare for the Virginia Tech offense, with two interceptions and four sacks already.

And, on offense, Todd Reesing is 12 of 19 for 107 yards and a touchdown, with his 13-yard touchdown pass to Marcus Henry setting a new school record of 36.

There’s still plenty of time to go, but the Jayhawks are certainly off to an excellent start all-around.

Pat White and West Virginia’s offense was just too much for a depleted Oklahoma defense last night as the Mountaineers trounced the Sooners 48-28 in the Fiesta Bowl. 

Oklahoma was missing starters Reggie Smith (injury), Lendy Holmes (academic ineligibility), and DeMarcus Granger (sent home for shoplifting), and the Mountaineers capitalized, rushing for 349 yards and totaling 525 yards. 

It was the Sooners’ fourth straight loss in a BCS bowl game.  There was one bright spot in the loss, however, in junior wide receiver Quentin Chaney, who came into the game with only five catches for 56 yards and one touchdown on the season, but caught four passes for 129 yards and a touchdown last night. 

Tonight, 11-1 Kansas looks to cap their storybook season with a happy ending as they take on ACC champion Virginia Tech (11-2) in the Orange Bowl. 

Kansas and Texas, both 9-0 thus far in the early going of the hoops season, are ranked in the top five in both the new AP poll and the new Coaches’ poll.

Bill Self’s Jayhawks picked up comfortable wins over Evansville and DePaul last week to remain perfect, and as a result, remain third in both major polls behind North Carolina and Memphis. On top of their continued excellence, Kansas also got a big boost on Saturday with the return of sophomore guard Sherron Collins, who had been out since the second game following surgery on a stress fracture in his foot.

Texas has gotten off to a great start, and after upsetting highly-ranked UCLA last weekend to move into the top five, the Longhorns convincingly beat North Texas and Rice to get out to their first 9-0 start in more than 25 years, and keep their position at #4 in the AP poll and #5 in the Coaches’ poll.

Texas A&M (8-1) is the only other Big 12 team in either top 25 poll. Mark Turgeon’s Aggies lost to Arizona last Sunday to halt their unbeaten start, but got back to winning ways with a 109-73 rout of Texas State on Saturday.

All of the conference’s members are over .500 with the exception of Iowa St., which is 4-4.

Kansas St.’s Michael Beasley’s monster start is still going, as he’s had double-doubles in all nine of the Wildcats’ games. However, Notre Dame found a way to shut him down in the second half of their game on Tuesday, with their unshakeable defense limiting him to two second-half points after the fabulous frosh poured in 17 in the opening stanza. Without Beasley’s production, Kansas St. fell 68-59 to the Fighting Irish. But, Beasley rebounded from Tuesday’s disappointment to have a strong game against Cal yesterday, shooting 7 for 13 from the field and finishing with 19 points and 11 rebounds. He’s fallen to fifth in the naiton in scoring, averaging exactly 25 points per game, but he’s still far and away the nation’s leading rebounder, with 14.3 boards per game for the 6-3 Wildcats.

If Kansas St. wants to challenge for an NCAA tournament berth and potentially be a darkhorse Big 12 title contender, they’ll need more than Beasley to produce consistently. The Wildcats have only three players averaging double figures right now, as opposed to Kansas and Texas both having five players averaging that amount. The Notre Dame game showed that they need to have multiple options in case Beasley gets shut down, or even worse, injured. Bill Walker did score 30 points against Cal, but he needed 22 shots (7 of 22) and 16 free throws (14 of 16) to do it, and excluding he and Beasley, the rest of the team scored only 33 points.

They’re certainly missing the presence of senior David Hoskins, who hasn’t played this season, and very well may not play at all this year, due to a knee injury. And, K-State’s only 7 of 39 from behind the line in the last two games, so they’re going to have to improve their outside shooting, because when the time comes for that big shot, you want to be able to count on your guys to make it.

This week could have been one of great celebration for Missouri. But, on the way to the national championship game, Oklahoma happened. And, instead of playing Ohio St. for the national title, the Tigers will have to settle for the Cotton Bowl (which isn’t too shabby, but come on, national championship or Cotton Bowl? No contest!), while seeing their fiercest rival - who they beat the previous week - play in a BCS bowl.

After Oklahoma’s 38-17 win over Missouri in the Big 12 title game, you could say order was restored after Mizzoui and Kansas dominated headlines recently, and rose past the Sooners in the national polls. But, even though OU wasn’t a national title contender anymore, they certainly played spoiler to Missouri’s hopes, and got a BCS berth out of it.

Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas are three of the eight Big 12 members to be playing in the postseason. OU will look to reverse last year’s disappointment in the desert when they play Big East champ West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2. Kansas, a BCS first-timer, will take on ACC champ Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl the next day. As for their unhappy rivals, they’ll have to find a way to slow down Darren McFadden as they tangle with Arkansas on New Years’ Day.

As for the other matchups…

Gator Bowl (Jan. 1): Virginia (9-3) vs. Texas Tech (8-4)
Insight (Dec. 31): Oklahoma St. (6-6) vs. Indiana (7-5)
Independence (Dec. 30): Colorado (6-6) vs. Alabama (6-6)
Alamo (Dec. 29): Penn St. (8-4) vs. Texas A&M (7-5)
Holiday (Dec. 27): Arizona St. (10-2) vs. Texas (9-3)

There are a lot of intriguing matchups in the mix - Arkansas-Missouri because of the regional implications, Arizona St. and Texas because the Holiday Bowl is always a treat, and promises to be again, with two excellent offensive teams on display - I’ve always thought that the game could be on a different day, but with it being the only bowl game on the 27th, it’s got the spotlight to itself, which it deserves), and Penn St. and Texas A&M because of the two big names looking to finish disappointing seasons on a high note.

The regular season may be over, but the season is far from it. So, superglue yourself to your sofa, load up on the Tostitos and your favorite beverages, put the pizza places on speed dial, and get ready for a bowl seasons that, if it’s anything like the regular season was, will be worth watching all the way through.

Things hasn’t been this good for the Big 12 North since 2001, when Nebraska (controversially) played for the national championship, and Colorado won the Big 12 title.

It’s a lot less controversial this year, though there’ll be a tad bit of resentment between Missouri fans if the Tigers fall in the Big 12 title game and Kansas winds up in a BCS bowl game with Oklahoma.

But, it’s a resurgent year for the division, which hasn’t been much of a force in the last several years, nationally or in conference, where the South has been superior, with Oklahoma and Texas perennially national championship contenders and taking four of the last five conference titles, with 2003 being the lone exception (Kansas State over the #1 Sooners).

Strangely enough, it’s coming in a year where Nebraska experiences a defensive implosion of massive proportions, goes 5-7, and fires its head coach after an embarrassing end to a promising season.

Instead of the South having the title contenders, as it was expected to, it’s the North, as Missouri and Kansas moved towards the top as many big names fell nationally.

And now, after #4 Missouri made Kansas the latest victim of the ‘#2 Curse,’ the Tigers are #1 and on the brink of playing for a national championship, if they get past the Sooners in the Big 12 title game on Saturday.

Not only that, but the two have produced a couple of unlikely Heisman contenders, and if Chase Daniel can have another big game and lead his team to a historic win, possibly the Heisman winner.

This isn’t going to be a one-year thing, either. Both Kansas and Missouri should be near the top again next season, and you’d have to think that it’s only a matter of time (and a good coaching hire) before the Huskers are contenders again. Also, Colorado should improve even more in 2008, and Kansas St., despite the disappointing end to its season, should contend for postseason play. Iowa State made strides towards the end of the year as well, and won’t be a pushover in Gene Chizik’s second season.

The North’s resurgence is not only good for the division, but for the conference as well. With both divisions strong again, things will be a lot more competitive in the North vs. South matchups.

So, regardless of where your allegiances lie, you should be beaming as a Big 12 fan right now, because the future is very, very bright.