Big 12 Sports Blog by Big 12 Fans

BAYLOR VS. KENT STATE RECAP: Freshman Florence Near Flawless, Bears Beat Golden Flashes 31-15

By Denton Ramsey, Big 12 Fans Baylor Correspondent

WACO, Texas — Baylor true freshman Nick Florence, along with an unbreakable defense and special teams, helped lead the Bears (3-1) to a 31-15 victory over the Kent State Golden Flashes (2-3) on Saturday evening at Floyd Casey Stadium.

Despite the downpours and an early 7-0 deficit, Florence — the Bears third-string quarterback — went 20-of-27 in the passing department for 216 yards while also compiling 60 yards on the ground with two rushing touchdowns in his first career start.

“He’s very confident, intelligent, poised, and aware and those are all qualities of a good quarterback,” Baylor Head Coach Art Briles said. “He’s not afraid to get dirty, dive around and create something. He did exactly what we thought he’d do. He was very efficient and intelligent and that’s exactly what he did.

“The way he handled himself the last two days, you could tell he was really grasping everything and understanding and was delivering the ball well. I felt if it was drier a little earlier we could have done a few more things because Nick is very accurate with the football, but we were still able to make a couple of runs and we got the win so that’s all we were concerned with tonight.”

For Florence, sophomore receiver Kendall Wright was again a key target for the Bears offense — racking up 125 yards on nine catches.

“It [getting the win] is awesome,” Florence said. “It is a great feeling. It is what we needed to do. There was no question in my mind whether we were going to win that game. We were going to do whatever it takes. It was sloppy at times and a lot of that is my inexperience and making mistakes. Our defense made plays and our offensive line made plays and our running backs and receivers made plays. That is what you do to get a win.”

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Defensively, Baylor picked up two key interceptions and caused three Kent State fumbles (recovering one) in a strong secondary; while special teams played a large part as well with two blocked field goals (both by senior defensive lineman Jason Lamb) and a blocked extra point (junior defensive tackle Phil Taylor).

“We [the defense] could have done a lot better,” Lamb said. “I don’t know the final stats at all, but I know we gave up too many yards. The good thing from that is when it really came time to buckle down and prevent them from scoring, we were able to do that. We really gave up more yards than we wanted to and that is something we are going to have to work on this week.”

Sophomore running back Jared Salubi also has a solid outing for the Bears, garnering 64 yards on 17 carries with a touchdown en route to a 16-point Baylor win on a stormy Saturday in Waco.

“We know how to keep people there through the game,” Briles said. “We weren’t going to let them go home early. It was a good, tough win. I was really proud of our guys, I thought they showed a whole lot of character and were very resilient and really tough minded. I thought they battled, relieved and overcame. From that standpoint it was a big win and I learned many years ago that there is no such thing as a bad win, they’re all great.

“It’s a big win for Baylor; I thought they did a good job making a statement about our program and our effort and our attitude, and we have to continue to get better as a team. We have a long way to go but we are taking steps forward, not backward and that’s the encouraging part.”

Briles’ Bears return to the gridiron for Big 12 play on Saturday, Oct. 10, in Norman, Oklahoma — as Baylor faces the Sooners (2-2) in a televised game (locally on ABC) slated to kickoff at 2:30 p.m.

“Like I said last week, it’s hard to define confidence,” Briles said. “I’m not worried about confidence quite honestly, I’m worried about production. What we’ve got to do is give them a good plan and go out and perform and produce and with that maybe some confidence will come. But if you don’t believe in yourself, no one else will. As soon as you step on the field you should be confident and if you don’t, you shouldn’t be out there.”

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

BAYLOR-OKLAHOMA PREVIEW: Bears ready, waiting to host No. 1 Sooners in Saturday afternoon showdown at Floyd Casey Stadium

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

WACO, Texas – Sooner or later, an upset of the No. 1 team in the nation will occur on the Baylor campus.

Whether or not that miracle occurs this weekend is yet to be seen, as No. 1 Oklahoma visits unranked Baylor for a Big 12 opener on Saturday afternoon, Oct. 4, at Floyd Casey Stadium – with kickoff slated for 11:30 a.m. CT on FSN.

“Obviously everybody, they either want to be No. 1, or they want to play No. 1,” Baylor freshman quarterback Robert Griffin said. “We have the opportunity to play No. 1 this week, and we’re going to go out there and take advantage of it.”

For BU head coach Art Briles and company, Saturday means hitting the gridiron for the first time in two weeks while also hosting an explosive Oklahoma football program.

“We are glad to be back playing; it will be fifteen days since our last game,” Briles said. “We are excited to get on the field and get back to it over these next eight weeks.

“As a program, everything that they [Oklahoma] have had come their way over the last 10 years is certainly well deserved – especially what they have done in the Big 12 south. They are a very good offense, defense and special teams. They have a good football team. It will no doubt be a good test for us.”

In addition to entering Saturday’s match-up against one of the conference’s paramount programs, the Bears also kick off an eight-week marathon of Big 12 games.

“We broke the season down and look at the first four games as last season,” Briles said. “It will have been 15 days since we have been on the field and somebody blows the whistle. We feel like the next eight games are a new season. I can honestly say that and we are smart enough to understand that we will be judged by theses last eight games and not the first four.

“We’re in the Big 12, we live in Texas, we’re apart of this part of the nation. What we did in Washington, Connecticut, Louisiana, and North Carolina doesn’t matter. We recruit down here; we’re going to be judged down here so it is what we do here that matters. That makes up our 2008 season.”

Saturday’s Big 12 test will also offer quite a bit a big time challenges – but don’t look for any major changes when it comes to facing the top team in the nation.

“We aren’t looking at it that way; what we are going to do is play hard for 60 minutes, play well for 60 minutes and win a football game in 60 minutes,” Briles said. “Their rankings and all of that is going to be hyped up without us getting involved in all of that.

“What we are going to try to do is be a better football team than we were against Connecticut. We are going to get on our home turf and represent Baylor University. We’ve got our guys, our people, our university – so that is the way we are approaching the football game.”

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

BAYLOR 86, TEXAS TECH 73: Bears rally late, Dunn’s 38 points lead to Big 12 victory over Red Raiders

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

WACO, Texas – Scott Drew and the Baylor Bears are all about breaking and beginning new streaks in 2008.

On Saturday afternoon, March 8 in Lubbock, the Bears broke through another barrier – finally ending a nine-game losing skid at Texas Tech.

After falling behind early, with Texas Tech pushing their lead to 34-25 with 4:12 left in the first half of play, Baylor answered with a 9-0 run to deadlock the game at 34-34 with 1:49 remaining until halftime.

However, the Bears and Red Raiders traded baskets through the final two minutes – with Texas Tech taking a one-point lead, 37-36, through the first 20 minutes of play.

Whatever Drew told his team at the half worked to perfection, as the Bears came out hot in the second half – using a 16-6 run over the first six minutes – taking a 43-52 lead on LaceDarius Dunn’s three-pointer, his fifth trey on the night, with 14:07 left in regulation.

Dunn finished the evening with 38 points and six three-pointers, a new career high for the BU freshman guard, as the Bears completed the regular season with a phenomenal 9-7 conference mark and a 21-9 overall record with Drew at the helm.

Baylor’s lead blossomed to 11 points on Dunn’s sixth swish from beyond the arc, giving the Bears a commanding 63-52 lead with 9:50 left in the second half of play.

Tweety Carter, another green and gold weapon from long-range, hit a trey of his own to push the Bears lead to 66-54 – and shortly thereafter, Dunn hit four consecutive free throws as Baylor’s lead grew to 70-56 with 5:49 remaining.

An emphatic dunk by Kevin Rogers put an explanation point on the evening as the Bears grabbed a 78-63 lead with the clock nearing the three minute mark, with Drew’s Cinderella Baylor bunch picking up a huge Big 12 road victory.

In addition, Drew’s Bears now own an undefeated record against the Red Raiders since Pat Knight took over the program – with Baylor knocking off the younger Knight in his season debut in Waco earlier this season.

Beyond Dunn’s 38 points, two other Baylor players hit double-digits in Lubbock – with Carter netting 16 points and Rogers chipping in with 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Bears finished the night with eight three-pointers while shooting 46.4 percent from the field (26-of-56), in addition to draining 26-of-31 free throws (83.9 percent).

Although Oklahoma also won on Saturday, giving the Sooners a first-round bye in the Big 12 Tourney while forcing the Bears to play an opening round game against the 12-seed, Baylor enters the conference tourney in Kansas City with high hopes.

With Selection Sunday right around the corner, and the Big 12 Tourney tipping off on March 13, sports fans across the nation will know exactly where their teams stand in just seven short days.

Check back on Wednesday, March 12, for a Big 12 Tourney Baylor Bears preview – as Drew and company aim to prove to the doubters that the BU basketball team deserves a shot at The Big Dance…

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

SPORTS ADDICT: The real reason OU beat BU in Norman is due to awful officiating and straight-up cheating…Commentary by Denton Ramsey, NCAA Basketball Sportswriter/Big 12 Fans Baylor Correspondent

WACO, Texas – I have never in my life seen as much unsportsmanlike conduct by a team as was exhibited by the Oklahoma Sooners against the Baylor Bears on Tuesday evening, Feb. 19 in Norman, Okla.

On top of that, I honestly don’t think I have a seen a more one-sided officiated game as called by the Big 12 trio of Steve Welmer, Mark Whitehead and Curtis Shaw.

In my opinion, those three should be fined, fired and never allowed to officiate another game as long as they live.

Yes, the Bears may have now lost four straight.

But at least they can say they didn’t cheat to get to where they are today.

And, they literally did everything in their power to make it a game on Tuesday night on the road – forcing overtime before a ridiculous call came against Baylor’s Aaron Bruce with 7.3 seconds left in OT after a made three-pointer by OU gave the Sooners a chance to take the lead at the free throw line.

First of all, Bruce never touched the Oklahoma player shooting the three; in fact, not a single part of his body touched the Sooner taking the shot.

Secondly, the “fight” that occurred earlier in the game was started – no doubt about it – by Oklahoma.

Yet two Baylor players – Mark Shepherd, who left with a laceration above his eye and trouble breathing after being put in a full-nelson by Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin prior to throwing an elbow in Griffin’s direction to get the OU forward to let him go, and Richard Hurd, who apparently was tossed for standing up for his teammate, were ejected after the skirmish with just one, an ASSISTANT COACH, being ejected for OU.

Unbelievable.

In addition, the Bears were whistled for 33 fouls compared to 23 fouls called on the Sooners – with OU outscoring BU at the charity stripe 28-17 (37 attempts for Oklahoma, 23 attempts for Baylor).

For those looking at the final box score for Oklahoma’s win over Baylor, they will find the sheet full of lies – two BU players were tossed from the game for so-called flagrant fouls while no OU players were ejected (the “official” box score has no Baylor players ejected, but those watching the game on television know that is not the case).

The NCAA needs to be held accountable for these actions.

First, their officials call an awful game – through the first half, second half and especially in overtime.

Secondly, it appears to me as though the NCAA now wants to cover this whole thing up by not mentioning anything about this incident in the official box score.

Also, the officials REVIEWED the skirmish before ejecting the two BU players – did they just decided to ignore what they saw and only punish Baylor?

Either way, it’s unreal and unfair.

The Big 12 and the NCAA need to look into this matter – and fast.

Baylor shouldn’t have lost in OU – and Sooner fans can say all they want about Curtis Jerrells being whistled for a foul in the lane with one second left and a chance to win the game for BU.

It never should have come down to that.

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Bruce never fouled the OU shooter on the other end and the game should have been tied at 91; we should have played another five minutes of overtime.

Instead, the officials handed the Sooners a 92-91 Big 12 win – propelling the Oklahoma basketball team, albeit by cheating, into a two-way tie for fourth place with Texas A&M.

Let’s even go back towards the beginning of the game, when Oklahoma had a steal that led to a fast break the other way.

Have you ever, in your entire life of watching college hoops, seen a teammate showboat by tossing the ball off the glass as an “alley-oop” of sorts to setup a thunderous slam?

In my opinion, definitely should have been whistled for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The sad thing is that not only was it not called unsportsmanlike, but OU head coach Jeff Capel appears to applaud the unsportsmanlike play of his players.

I guess that shouldn’t surprise me coming from Capel, a guy who loves to think of himself as a mini-god in college hoops…

Grow up, Capel – learn to win the right way, not by showboating and cheating.

The Oklahoma basketball team, coaching staff and the trio of officials who called Tuesday night’s game should all be investigated.

And if any wrongdoings are uncovered, they should all be severely punished.

The Bears are back in NCAA basketball, I guarantee you.

It’s just impossible to win games if the officials are going to cheat the entire time – from the opening tip to the 7.3-second mark in overtime.

Coach Scott Drew and the Baylor Bears basketball team deserve an apology and a win.

Unfortunately, I doubt they will receive either as the NCAA would rather pretend this never occurred than to actually do something about their terrible officiating crew.

If this is how Baylor games are going to be called the rest of the season, we’ll never win again.

But I’m not about to watch my Bears go down in flames due to cheating.

Wake up, NCAA – Baylor deserves, at the very least, sportsmanlike respect.

And, OU better get their heads out of their exits-only before they become so wrapped up in themselves that they think the world has come to an end and that they are all little deities led by mini-god Capel…

No matter how you slice it, the Sooners are a stuck-up bunch of jerks – and you can tell they learned it from the man at the helm, none other than Mr. Capel himself.

I just can’t wait until my Bears get revenge come Big 12 tourney time.

My only hope, and prayer, is that the same officiating crew won’t be hitting the hardwood come March…

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

OKLAHOMA 92, BAYLOR 91: Bears drops awfully officiated game to Sooners, fall by one in OTBy Denton Ramsey, NCAA Basketball Sportswriter/Big 12 Fans Baylor Correspondent

WACO, Texas – The Baylor Bears couldn’t find a way to outmuscle the awful calls and unsportsmanlike play of the Oklahoma Sooners, eventually falling in overtime at the Lloyd Noble Center, 92-91.

Leave no doubt – the Bears were robbed of a road win in this one.

After battling back from awful calls by the officials, unsportsmanlike play by OU and a 10-point halftime deficit, the Bears were ultimately robbed by the trio of men in stripes when it mattered most – in overtime with Baylor up big.

Yet somehow, Oklahoma walked off the court on Tuesday night with a W.

Albeit cheating, the Sooners came out on top in a one-point heartbreaking, irritating, nerve racking, throw everything-but-the-dog-at-the-TV evening.

It’s unreal, but Oklahoma is now tied for fourth place in the Big 12 while Baylor drops to one game under .500 at 5-6 in conference play.

Cheating might not be the best word to describe the night.

Unsportsmanlike works better.

Unfortunately, Oklahoma Head Coach Jeff Capel applauds unsportsmanlike play – and it shows with his players attitudes on the court.

> Find Big 12 gear including Baylor apparel & clothing and Oklahoma Sooners hats & merchandise online through Big12-fans.com!

First, there was the off-the-backboard slam dunk on a breakaway steal.

Then, there was the “skirmish” where OU’s star forward put Mark Shepherd in a full-nelson choke hold before Shepherd reacted by throwing an elbow in the direction of Blake Griffin – only to result in two BU players being ejected and just one Sooner, an assistant coach, being tossed from the game.

And last but not least, there was Capel – urging his home crowd to stand and continue applauding after an opposing player’s miss at the free throw line with one more still to come, something I had never seen happen in NCAA basketball until tonight in Norman.

Unsportsmanlike is the perfect word to describe why and how OU defeated BU, but unfortunately all that really matters is a team’s record.

The Bears can still climb back out of the mini-hole the officials dug for them; it’s just going to take a lot of heart to rise out from the ashes after this evening’s terribly-called game.

As far as final stats are concerned, Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin led the Sooners with 29 points and 15 rebounds while Baylor was led by Curtis Jerrells, who racked up 29 points, four assists and two steals.

As a team, Baylor shot 50.8 percent from the field (32-of-63) and hit 17-of-23 from the free throw line (73.9 percent); Oklahoma, meanwhile, shot 47.4 percent from the field (27-of-57) and drained 28-of-37 from the charity stripe (75.7 percent).

The Bears were also whistled for 33 fouls on the night and had 16 turnovers, compared to the Sooners’ 23 fouls called against them and 14 turnovers.

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

Bears tip off against Sooners tonight at OU, seek to end three-game slide

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

WACO, Texas – Tonight at 7 p.m. CT, the Baylor Bears (17-7 overall, 5-5 Big 12) shoot to end a three-game losing streak in conference play when they tip off against the Oklahoma Sooners (17-8, 5-5).

The Big 12 showdown will be broadcast live on ESPN Plus (The “CW” in Waco, Temple and Bryan), with Bob Carpenter and Paul Splittorff calling the action from the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla.

According to BU big man Kevin Rogers, despite the Bears recent three-game slide, the Baylor men’s basketball team’s confidence is still up.

“It [our confidence] is definitely still up,” Rogers said. “We can’t let a couple of games get us down because there’s still plenty of season left to go. We can only take things from [the Texas] game and learn from them and hope we get better before we play Oklahoma.”

Baylor dropped their last conference match-up, a home game at the Ferrell Center against the University of Texas, in a five-point heartbreaker after battling back in the game’s final seconds.

“From a coach’s standpoint, we did a great job coming back,” Baylor Head Coach Scott Drew said. “I was proud of the team’s effort to give ourselves a chance to get a win down the stretch. I credit Texas for making big plays.

“I told the guys in shoot-around that this program’s back to a point now where you have ESPN, you have the largest crowd in the school’s history, and you’ve got a chance to beat a top-10 program.”

Drew is exactly right.

Since Drew’s arrival in Waco nearly five years ago, the Baylor basketball program has gone from zero to hero – hanging with some of the best teams in the nation this season while finally beginning to get the recognition they deserve after taking a program from the ashes and creating an NCAA Tourney-bound team.

“This has been a tough week, and you’ve got to be above .500 in the league to normally get to the NCAA [Tournament],” Drew said. “We’re going to get five or six teams in, and our goal is to be in the top half so that we’re in that position.

“I don’t think we played well at Oklahoma State, but I think we played better [against Texas]. Over the last two years we’ve finished very strong, and I look for us to get on a roll pretty shortly here.”

Beginning tonight in Norman, the Bears’ hoops team will hopefully heed the words of their head coach as they face an OU team riding a two-game winning streak after defeating Texas Tech, 66-64, on Saturday (Feb. 16) in Lubbock.

A win tonight would push Baylor into a two-way tie for fourth place after Texas A&M was blown out last night (Feb. 18) in Austin, falling by 27 points to the Longhorns on ESPN Big Monday.

In just a few short hours, we’ll have a little better idea of who’s who in the Big 12 Conference… although a majority of our questions (postseason births, etc.) will still have to wait until March’s madness to be answered.

Check back tonight after the BU-OU match-up for post game quotes, notes, stats and more…

Game Notes

In addition to hopes and prayers of ending a three-game slide in the Big 12, the Bears also aim to end a 27-game losing streak against the Sooners – dating back to a 75-69 win at OU on Dec. 6, 1977.

On a happier note for Bears fans, Baylor’s 5-5 conference start matches its best ever in Big 12 play after opening the 1997-98 season (my freshman year at BU) with a 5-5 mark.

Also, Baylor’s 17 wins this year surpasses last season’s win total and is the most since Drew inherited the program (additionally, its the most wins since 2000-01, when the Bears won 19 games and received a postseason birth in the NIT tournament).

In conference play, Baylor leads the Big 12 in scoring (81.4 points per game), free throw shooting (78.1 percent) and three-pointers (8.0 threes per game).

With three more wins, Drew (53 victories with the Bears) will move into seventh place on Baylor’s career coaching victories list; also, if BU guard Curtis Jerrells (1,051 career points) can put up 11 or more points tonight on the road, he will move him into 15^th place on Baylor’s career scoring list.

Aaron Bruce could also join the Bears’ top-10 milestones list as well – with Bruce (309 assists) needing just five more assists to move into fourth place on Baylor’s career assists list and needing just 66 more points to move into sixth place on BU’s all-time scoring leaders (Bruce currently has 1,294 career points).

In addition, Bruce (129 threes) is just three three-pointers shy of moving into sixth place in the Big 12’s career three-pointers in conference games list, while freshman LaceDarius Dunn (56 threes) is just three three-pointer shy of moving into second place on Baylor’s freshman three-pointers list (Tweety Carter is currently third with 57 in 2007 and John Lucas III is second with 59 in 2002).

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