Big 12 Sports Blog by Big 12 Fans

BAYLOR 100, MISSOURI 89: Bears rally from double-digit deficit, defeat Tigers 100-89 for third straight Big 12 victory

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

WACO, Texas – With the second half nearing the 14 minute mark, the Baylor Bears found themselves down by 13 points at home against the Missouri Tigers when Head Coach Scott Drew called a timeout.

At that time, the Bears men’s basketball team was down 69-56 with 14:16 remaining – before making the run they needed to deadlock the game, and eventually win the contest.

“This team, we have been through so much we were just thinking in our heads that there is just too much time left,” Baylor junior forward Kevin Rogers said. “Early leads mean nothing. We were able to come out and execute and play how we know how to play. Any lead is easy to break into, we just need to slow ourselves down and get back to the basics and get stops and score.”

Shortly thereafter, Baylor (20-8, 8-6 Big 12) did just that – clawing past prior problems by pressing the opponents in the backcourt, playing daunting team defense and garnering sharp shooting from the Bears gifted guards – to pull off an 11-point victory, 100-89, against Missouri (15-14, 5-9).

The BU guards, proving throughout the season that they can and will successfully survive by making a high percentage of their shots from beyond the arc, went on a patented Bears run – scoring 14 unanswered behind consecutive three-pointers by LaceDarius Dunn to give Baylor a 70-69 lead with 9:13 remaining in the game.

“We wanted to make [Saturday’s match-up with Missouri] exciting,” Drew said. “The team showed their togetherness and heart. In the second half, being down and finding a way to win is a sign of a team with experience, good leadership and a lot of courage.”

The Bears and Tigers were tied, 77-77 with 6:34 left, prior to Baylor’s senior Mamadou Diene – scoring a season-high 10 points – and Rogers stepping up offensively with back-to-back baskets to put the Bears on top for good.

“Our whole team knew the importance of this game,” Drew said. “Give a lot of credit to Missouri, they played a great game. Defensively, we just weren’t very sharp for 25 minutes of the game. In the last 15 minutes we did a much better job blocking out.”

Blocking out, or lack thereof, was one of the main reasons behind the Bears allowing the Tigers to take a big lead and remain in the fight – although Baylor finally managed to pull together and deadlock Missouri in team rebounding with 41 apiece.

“We played with effort,” Baylor sophomore guard Tweety Carter said. “The first half we came out and we didn’t look like we had the energy defensively. Starting with me, I wasn’t energetic out there like I normally am until the second half. It has to be a 40 minute thing, so we have to continue to get better at that.”

With that being said, the Bears did what was necessary to pick up a much-needed win on a day filled with upsets – including a Texas A&M blowout loss at Oklahoma and a Texas loss to Texas Tech – to give the BU basketball team their 20^th win of the season, as well as their third straight conference victory.

“Nationally, people look at a 20-win season as a pretty big deal,” Drew said. “That is why when a team can reach a 20-win season, it is something to obviously be proud of. At the same time, I don’t think anyone says that they just want to win 20 [regular season games], and the good thing is we have a lot of basketball left.”

For Baylor’s Carter and company, the credit goes to God – as well as teamwork.

“You have to give credit to God for bringing us together,” Carter said. “A lot of us had other opportunities to go to other schools and play for other coaches; when Coach Drew recruited us, he told us that one day it would be a special day for us at Baylor. We need to continue to get better. [Our current 20-8 season] is a great start for us, but we just need to continue to get better.”

The Baylor big men, primarily Diene and Rogers, played a significant role in the victory – especially during the Bears second half rally as the home team’s forwards/centers came through in the clutch.

“Well I think our bigs always have an impact on the game with the standpoint that a lot of times they create advantages with their screens and their play,” Drew said. “I thought [in Saturday’s game against the Tigers] they did a great job finishing and scoring inside.”

Forward Delbert Simpson, a junior transfer from Tyler Junior College, scored a career high in both scoring and blocks while coming off the bench – netting 10 points to go along with six rebounds and two blocks on Saturday afternoon at the Ferrell Center.

“It was a great day for me, but a better day for our team,” Simpson said. “I contributed to the team where I feel like I could help out today. I want to win, and the team wants to win. We are a family.”

Baylor’s hoops family also did a phenomenal job of hitting the glass and blocking out late in the second half after a dismal first half left the Bears in a halftime deficit.

“That [second half rebounding] was a major thing,” Simpson said. “With this game in particular, we had to come in and hit the boards to be victorious.”

For the Bears, seven players hit double-digits in scoring – including Henry Dugat (18), Carter (17), Dunn (16), Curtis Jerrells (14), Rogers (12), Diene (10) and Simpson (10) – as the Baylor guards once again came to the rescue.

“They’ve got quick guards; actually I think they’ve got the best guards we have played all year,” Missouri junior forward Lee Lyons, who led the Tigers with 22 points and 15 rebounds, said. “They [Baylor’s guards] are quick, and they can shoot the ball. So you really can’t guard them. In my opinion, I think they are the best guards in the Big 12.”

Rogers also picked up his 12^th double-double of the season on Saturday, and his fifth straight, muscling in 12 points while pulling down 12 boards as Baylor picked up their first 20-win season since 1987-88 – a season that saw the Bears break into the postseason NCAA Tournament.

Currently (as of March 2), the Baylor men’s basketball team is tied for third place with Kansas State with 8-6 records in Big 12 standings – with the Bears owning the tie-breaker if the teams are deadlocked by season’s end – while the Aggies, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech battle it out for fifth.

The Bears final two regular season challenges come this week – a home date with Texas A&M on Wednesday, March 5 at 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2, and a road game against Texas Tech on Saturday, March 8 at 12:45 p.m. CT on ESPN Plus – as Baylor aims to finish the season on a strong note with a postseason invite on the line…

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

2008 BAYLOR BASEBALL PREVIEW: Bears look to redefine Big 12 baseball as team strives for postseason success

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

WACO, Texas – With Baylor’s baseball team having eight pitchers returning, as well as adding four freshman to the mound, the Bears are hoping to have some postseason success this year after 2007 saw the group take an early exit in the NCAA Houston Regional.

Baylor last tasted true playoff success when the Bears reached the pinnacle of NCAA baseball by getting to the College World Series in 2005 – eventually falling to the Texas Longhorns in a controversial and heated match-up.

“The expectations [for the 2008 Baylor Baseball season] are extremely high, and we’re holding ourselves accountable,” Baylor senior relief pitcher Nick Cassavechia said. “The expectations on the team are really high, and everyone else has expectations, too. We’re expecting to make it back to Omaha and get a national championship.”

For the time being, we’ll let the past be the past and will focus on the here and now – the 2008 NCAA baseball season.

Preseason polls have Baylor ranked as high as 15 according to the Baseball America Preseason College Top 25 (NCAA.com), with the Bears compiling an overall 2007 record of 35-27 (while garnering a disappointing 12-15 mark in the Big 12).

“I participate in those rankings, so I buy them,” Baylor Head Coach Steve Smith said. “Time will tell. This sport determines its champion on the field and not in the polls, so that’s one good thing we have going for us.”

The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), meanwhile, has the Bears ranked 26 in preseason polls, while the USA Today/ESPN Preseason Poll places the BU baseball team at 24.

“We should compete for the [Big 12 Conference] championship, but there are other good teams in this league that could feel just as strongly,” Smith said. “The league is good, there are some very good teams in it, and Missouri has probably got their strongest team in the history of their school. There are some other programs in the league that are just as capable of setting that goal.”

Baylor joins four other Big 12 teams in many of the preseason rankings – showing the need to succeed in conference play in ’08 as the Bears aim for a much more successful season in the Big 12.

“It [our team] is very experienced, but it’s still very young,” Smith said. “I just think it’s extremely talented. I don’t think we’ve ever had as much talent across the board – offensive, defensive and pitching – as we have right now.

“They’re highly motivated, they’re very disciplined, and they’ve set their goals really high. They’re all smart kids. They look around and they know how good this club can be, and they’re going to apply themselves. We’ll play it out on the field over the course of the next few months and we’ll see how it shakes out.”

The Bears begin the 2008 season with a three-game series beginning Feb. 22 at Baylor Ballpark, hosting Purdue with the opening pitch slated for 6:30 p.m. on Friday evening.

“We’re going to be able to match up offensively with anyone in the country,” Baylor sophomore outfielder Aaron Miller said. “All the way up and down the lineup we have so many power threats that one swing can drastically change a game.”

The Bears return 19 lettermen from the 2007 squad, returning with six starters and eight pitchers while entering the ’08 season with 11 newcomers.

“From an opposing team view, attacking our lineup is going to be really hard because we have so many match-up problems with left-handed and right-handed power, and with guys who can run,” Miller said. “We have three or four guys who can hit a home run, get a triple, or steal a base, so it’s going to be really hard to match up with our lineup.”

After Saturday’s season opener in Waco, the Bears conclude their series with Purdue on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 3 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 24 at noon.

“A lot of people are looking forward to this year with everybody that we’ve got coming back and all of the firepower,” Miller said. “We’re all anxious to take it off of paper and put it on the field to see what we can do.”

For many of the Baylor baseball players, just hitting the field for regular season play will be a blessing – as the Bears aim to prove to the nation, as well as the Big 12 conference, that they are a much-improved team from 2007.

“We’ve definitely got some talent out here, so it should be a great year,” Baylor junior shortstop Beamer Weems said. “Omaha is where we want to go, so we’ll see what happens. Hopefully we’ll start off well this season and take it from there.”

The Bears return to the diamond on Tuesday, Feb. 26 at Baylor Ballpark, against Texas Southern at 6:30 p.m. before hosting the QTI Baylor Classic beginning Friday, Feb. 29, and running through Sunday, March 2.

Teams invited to this year’s QTI Baylor Classic include Illinois, Illinois-Chicago and Stephen F. Austin.

After hosting the annual tourney in Waco, the Bears have two more home games – a two-game series against Louisiana Tech (Tuesday, March 4 at 6:30 p.m. and Wednesday, March 5 at 4 p.m.) before hitting the road for a three-game series with Mississippi State (March 7-9) and a two-game series with Oral Roberts (March 11-12).

“We’ve got great leadership on the team,” Weems said. “The freshman came in here and worked really hard this year. From the freshman to the seniors, everybody’s working really hard, and there’s a lot of dedication out here so it should be fun.”

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

Texas beat Arizona State 52-34 in the Holiday Bowl on Thursday night to kick off the Big 12’s participation in the bowl season, with seven more teams yet to take the field.

The Longhorns jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter, which proved to be too much for the Sun Devils to overcome.

Jamaal Charles ran for 161 yards and two touchdowns, and Colt McCoy had a great game, despite losing the handle multiple times - including one that was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown by tight end Jermichael Finley - throwing for 174 yards and a score, and doing his Vince Young impression by rushing for 84 yards and a touchdown.

The Longhorns defense forced five turnovers, and could have had a sixth, but in a play that we all have seen and heard about by now, Longhorns staffer Chris Jessie (Mack Brown’s stepson) reached out and touched a loose ball that had been fumbled by Arizona St. in the second quarter, which instead of being a turnover for Texas, wound up being a personal foul penalty which led to ASU‘s first touchdown.

But, it didn’t cost them, as the Longhorns were just too strong on both sides of the ball, and had the game well in hand by the time ASU scored a couple of fourth-quarter consolation touchdowns.

Both teams finished their seasons at 10-3, with Texas getting to ten wins for the seventh straight season.

Tonight, Penn St. and Texas A&M tangle in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, and tomorrow, Colorado takes on Alabama in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, LA, with Oklahoma State tangling with Indiana in the Insight Bowl on Monday, before we all hang up our 2008 calendars.

The Holiday Bowl is known for its offensive fireworks, and that’s certainly been the case tonight, as Texas has outpointed Arizona State in this shootout, with the Longhorns leading 52-34 with the clock ticking down in the fourth.

After his big night against the Sun Devils, Jamaal Charles might have a little something to think about when it comes to April’s draft, as he’ll round off an excellent season with an excellent bowl game performance (162 yards, 2 TDs).

I’ll have a full wrap-up of the game soon.

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.

With only a couple of weeks left in the regular season, the bowl picture is beginning to take shape.

The conference may have as many as ten bowl opportunities (seven direct tie-ins, three other potential opportunities) - an assured BCS bowl berth for the conference champion, then the Cotton, Independence, Insight, Alamo, Holiday, and Texas bowls for direct tie-ins, and then the Sun and Gator bowls, which will choose between a Big 12 and a Big East team for one of their spots, and a BCS at-large berth.

And, as it stands, nine conference teams may be able to hit the magic six-win mark needed to qualify for bowl participation.

In the North, Kansas and Missouri are locks, and in the South, Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech are locked in. Texas A&M is already bowl-eligible at 6-5 with a rivalry game against Texas left, but the Aggies will be sputtering towards the postseason (but that’s another story entirely).

The only teams actually eliminated from postseason contention are Baylor, who is 3-7, and Iowa St., who has knocked off two potential bowl teams in a row, but is still only 3-8.

That leaves four teams - Kansas St. (5-5), Nebraska (5-6), Colorado (5-6), and Oklahoma St. (5-5).

Ron Prince’s Wildcats looked all set to wrap up a bowl bid a couple of weeks ago, as they were 5-3 with Iowa St. and Nebraska looming.

But, they lost 31-20 on the road to the 1-8 Cyclones, and this past Saturday, were on the short end of a 73-31 beatdown against Nebraska.

Oklahoma St. was 5-3 two weeks ago as well, with two tough, but very winnable home games upcoming. And they were a quarter away from that all-important sixth win, taking a 35-14 lead into the fourth quarter against Texas. But, the Cowboys wound up losing 38-35, and on Saturday, couldn’t make any early lead stand up in a 43-28 loss to the Jayhawks.

The Nebraska-Colorado game will decide if the conference winds up with nine bowl-eligible teams.

But, will all of those teams be suiting up for the postseason?

Whether or not that happens depends on a few things - if the Big 12 gets two teams in the BCS, if the Sun and/or Gator bowls go with Big East teams, and if the first two don’t work in the conference’s favor, if another bowl in need would want to take a chance on a 6-6 Big 12 team, or perhaps a 7-5 or better team from another conference (like the Big 12, Big 10, ACC, SEC, or one of the non-BCS conference that might have more bowl-eligible teams than tie-ins).

CBS Sports currently has the Big 12 getting two BCS bids (Oklahoma and Kansas) and eight bids overall, with Kansas St. being the lone bowl-eligible team left out (and Nebraska getting in over Colorado).

In Stewart Mandel’s projections on SI.com, he has nine conference teams getting in (Oklahoma and Texas in the BCS), including Kansas St.

Kansas St.‘s fate rests on beating either Missouri at home this week or win at Fresno St. in two weeks to be bowl-eligible, which isn‘t an enviable position to be in.

In the end, the Big 12 should be more than well-represented in the postseason, no matter who gets in and where they go.

Where will they go? Well, we’ll know after these next few exciting weeks of action.

Passing the Test

If you needed any proof of Kansas and Missouri’s mettle, you got it this past weekend, when they were both tested by quality opponents.

Kansas fell behind early to Oklahoma St., but bounced back with a vengeance and won 43-28 in Stillwater.

In Columbia, Missouri saw a 24-9 halftime lead tighten to 24-19 after three quarters and 31-26 midway through the fourth, but the Tigers calmly drove down the field for a touchdown on their next drive, and a safety on Texas A&M’s next drive wrapped up a 40-26 win.

Is the Real McCoy Back?

Texas’ defense has given up 103 points in the last three games, but the Longhorns are 3-0. The offense has had issues with turnovers and consistency all season long, but has woken up when it’s needed to. And, while the defense has had its struggles, the offense has picked up the slack, averaging more than 41 points and 567 yards per game.

In comeback wins over Nebraska and Oklahoma St., Texas scored 25 and 24 points in the fourth, and got that same output on Saturday, when Texas Tech predictably made a comeback, and answered every time the Red Raiders tried to find a way back into the game after trailing 35-20 entering the fourth.

In the last two games, Jamaal Charles took over in the fourth quarter, minimizing the pressure on Colt McCoy to win the game with his arm, which has been mistake-prone this season.

But, with Charles nursing a injured ankle in the latter part of Saturday’s game, the old Colt showed up, throwing two touchdown passes and running for another in the fourth quarter to help Texas outscore Graham Harrell and Texas Tech 59-43.

McCoy had thrown only two touchdown passes with six interceptions in the last three games, and had 16 touchdowns and 16 interceptions on the season going into Saturday. But, he threw for 268 yards and four touchdowns (with only one pick), and added 51 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.

That running ability has been big recently, and as was the case in the last couple of games, he had a big run in the fourth against Texas Tech, with a 19-yard touchdown run to make it 45-28 with seven minutes left, after the Red Raiders had drawn within ten.

Then, after Texas Tech drew within 10 again, it was McCoy that put the game out of reach with two touchdown passes, both of which came on third-down plays.

McCoy was 10 of 11 passing on third and fourth-down plays, with all 10 completions going for first downs (and three for touchdowns), and added two first-down runs in those crucial situations.

When you have players that you know you can count on to step up for you, even when they’ve had their struggles, you can be pretty confident when you’re entering the final quarter, even when your defense isn‘t playing as well as it should.

Murray Needs Some Hype Too

While Sam Bradford continues to put up big numbers (20 of 25, 353 yards, 3 TD in a 52-21 win over Baylor on Saturday), and making his case as a top Heisman candidate for next year (and an All-American this year), another Sooner might need to get some consideration as well.

While Bradford was busy solidifying himself as the nation’s most efficient passer, DeMarco Murray was busy terrorizing Baylor as well.

By now, we’ve seen Murray’s kickoff return touchdown against the Bears, where he not only navigates out of a potential disaster, but finds a lane down the right sideline and takes it all the way for a touchdown, his second kick return for a score this year. Along with that touchdown, Murray had three touchdowns on the ground, taking his season total to 15 (13 rushing, 2 return).

The issue in the way of Murray being a serious Heisman candidate next season is not the fact that his quarterback is also going to be in the running, but that Oklahoma will have 3,682 other backs getting carries.

That hasn’t stopped Darren McFadden from being a Heisman candidate, but he’s only really sharing carries with one other guy, and the Razorbacks don’t have a passing game, whereas OU has one of the nation’s top quarterbacks, and a couple of other backs to hand the ball to besides Murray.

But, on the other hand, he could end up like Reggie Bush, who was in a backfield with another 1,000 yard rusher and an All-American quarterback, but ran away with the Heisman with his versatility and electrifying ability as a runner, receiver, and returner.

Before Kansas and Missouri can tangle for the Big 12 North title in two weeks, they each have two more obstacles to climb.

Neither team can underestimate their opponent this weekend, as 9-0 and #4 Kansas has a daunting trip to Stillwater to face an Oklahoma St. team that can score points in a flourish - but has to work on their finishing skills. 8-1 and new #7 Missouri, meanwhile, welcomes Texas A&M to town. It could go two ways for A&M, given the recent development with their coach maybe, possibly, maybe not getting push out of the door - either the Aggies will go out and play fired up, in the hopes that they can somehow save Coach Fran’s job, or they’ll go in with little confidence and get beaten up and down the field.

Oklahoma St. is one of three conference teams looking to become bowl eligible this weekend. Colorado (5-5, 3-3) goes to Iowa St. in search of their sixth win, but as Kansas St. learned last week, the Cyclones aren’t going to give them anything. The Wildcats will take their second crack at getting win #6 when they go to Lincoln to take on the hapless Huskers, who, believe it or not, could still make a bowl, if they win their last two games.

The matchup of the weekend might be Texas-Texas Tech on Saturday afternoon in Austin. Last season, the Red Raiders led 21-0 after a quarter, but Texas battled back for a 35-31 win in Lubbock. Texas Tech will be looking for a little revenge, and they might be able to pull it off, given Graham Harrell’s success against the Longhorns last year (519 yards, three touchdowns) and the fact that Texas’ defense has had its share of issues this season. But, Tech’s going to have to get a lot more than -1 yard rushing, like they did in last year’s heartbreaker.

In the other game on the schedule, Oklahoma hosts Baylor, looking to improve to 9-1 and keep themselves in the national championship hunt.

While the football season is winding down towards the final few weeks of the regular season, the college hoops season is just tipping off this week.

There are four Big 12 teams ranked in the top 25 in the AP poll, led by #4 Kansas, who, as usual, is considered one of the main contenders for the national championship. Some Texas fans may be sad that Kevin Durant is now in Seattle, but Rick Barnes still has a pretty talented team in Austin, and the Longhorns are ranked 15th, with Texas A&M, in its first season with former Wichita St. coach Mark Turgeon, is 16th. Kansas St., despite losing coach Bob Huggins to West Virginia, brings in highly-touted recruit Michael Beasley, who will join forward Bill Walker in a frontcourt that should make the #25 Wildcats a contender for a spot in the Big Dance.

In the ESPN/USA Today poll, Kansas is 4th, with Texas A&M tied for 14th with Gonzaga, and Texas is 16th. Kansas St. is just outside the top 25, with their 94 votes putting them at 26th.

Oklahoma is the first conference team to get their season underway, as Jeff Capel’s Sooners take on San Francisco tonight. Six more teams tip off their seasons on Friday night, with everyone else tipping off on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

It should be an exciting season, and while many people’s attention will be on football until January, their focus will shift right in time for the start of conference play.