ANAHEIM, Calif. — A look at the Huskies-Wildcats matchup at the Honda Center in Anaheim: No. 5 seed Arizona (30-7) vs. No. 3 seed Connecticut (29-9), 7:05 p.m. ET (CBS) How they got here: Behind a huge 36-point performance from Kemba Walker , UConn was able to knock off San Diego State 74-67 to get to this game
Filed under Basketball by on Mar 26th, 2011. Comment. 
Traditionally, the Big 12 is not a basketball conference. And, for all intents and purposes, the majority of schools in the current Big 12 — Nebraska, Colorado, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State — have always been more a bit like the casual college sports fan in general: Cool with basketball, but much, much more interested in the pigskin. The Kansas City Star, metropolitan hub of both Kansas, Kansas State and Missouri (and, in many ways, the Big 12 at large) argues that attitude might be changing. From Sam Mellinger’s commentary : Put it all together and Kansas City turns into a microcosm of a bigger conference trend in which basketball is about to become more interesting and important, starting this week and continuing next year when a Big 12 without dead weight from Colorado and Nebraska gets even better in hoops. This is the changing tide around here, both locally and throughout the region, pushing football back and basketball forward. There’s a group forming — full disclosure, I sat in on one of the meetings — trying to brand Kansas City as the college basketball capital of America, and we’ll earn that title into the future. Last summer’s conference shuffling drove home the point of how little college basketball means in the big picture compared with football, so it’s a bit unfortunate, but, well, at this point we might as well go with it. Maybe the rest of the country doesn’t pay much attention to college basketball until the NFL playoffs are over, but dammit, we do. Having never spent much time in Kansas City’s downtown before Big 12 media day this year (my grandfather lives in Kansas, but childhood trips through Kansas City were always of the “stay on the highway and avoid traffic because we’ve already been in the car for 10 hours” variety) I came away thinking one thing: Man, this would be a great city for the Final Four. Kansas City’s downtown is filled with hotels within walking distance of the city’s booming entertainment districts — especially the Power and Light District, a brand-new collection of bars, restaurants, clubs and all-around good atmosphere. Power and Light is right next to the Sprint Center, KC’s brand-new arena, a beautiful building begging for an NBA team. The only problem with the Final Four idea? The Sprint Center isn’t nearly big enough. At this point, holding a Final Four in anything less than a 70,000-seat indoor stadium (like Lucas Oil in 2009-10, or Reliant Stadium this season) is not really an option. Unless Kansas City can manage to put a roof on Arrowhead, the Final Four is probably not headed to the western plains anytime soon. (It is fun to imagine Arrowhead with a roof, though.) And without a Final Four on the docket, it’s hard to call yourself the college basketball capital of the country. Sorry, mysterious public relations committee
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Kansas City: Basketball mecca?
Filed under Basketball, Football by on Nov 4th, 2010. Comment.
GAME 1 Rice SEPT. 4, 2:30 P.M. (ESPN) RELIANT STADIUM, HOUSTON Texas has outscored the Owls 213-41 last four meetings.
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Longhorns football: Game-by-game schedule, and a look back at last season’s slate
Filed under News by on Aug 29th, 2010. Comment.
If there’s an exodus of five more Big 12 schools, the five remaining would be wise to remain together, according to a conference commissioner with experience dealing with expansion. The reason is simple: The five remaining schools — Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Baylor and Iowa State — would be due a huge payday and ultimately could salvage automatic berths to the NCAA tournament and possibly the BCS through expansion themselves. The commissioner, who didn’t want to be identified because he’s involved in the ongoing realignment of college athletics, said it would be critical for the leftover schools to maintain the Big 12 as an entity or corporation. “The assets, the amount of money that they would be due by exit fees back to the corporation would be huge,’’ said the commissioner. “Rather than dissolve the Big 12, they are better off as a Big 12 entity then moving to the Mountain West.’’ Colorado was the first to bolt the Big 12 last week, becoming the Pac-10’s 11th member. Nebraska followed later in the week to become the Big Ten’s 12th member. Texas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M are all mulling a potential offer to join the Pac-10 to form the Pac-16. A&M is also contemplating applying to become the SEC’s 13th member. But all of them aren’t ruling out staying in the Big 12 with the aforementioned five schools for a 10-team league. According to industry and network sources, that 10-team league would have more television value then a Pac-11 or Pac-12 (with Utah as the 12th). Regardless, the commissioner said the most likely remaining Big 12 schools could be due millions from each departing member, depending on how the legal side of each school works out the exit fees. The fee percentages change if the school gives a two-year notice or a one-year notice. Nebraska and Colorado are expected to join their new conferences for the fall of 2011. NCAA tournament appearance shares are paid going forward but stay with the conference if there is a change of membership. Schools don’t depart with that money, as was the case when three Big East schools left for the ACC several years ago. Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Iowa State and Baylor have so far appear to be ready to stay together. But that’s still a fluid situation and each member institution will still look for its best alternative if the other five depart — especially Kansas, which would be the most marketable to a power conference. A Kansas official told ESPN.com it has no plans on going to the Mountain West Conference and men’s basketball coach Bill Self has gone on record that the Jayhawks will be in a BCS conference. Meanwhile, the commissioner said that new Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott is taking a gamble if he doesn’t come back with Texas in an expansion model. If Scott is rebuffed by the Longhorns and thus by the rest of the Big 12 South schools and is forced to then just take Utah for the 12th member, it would be a major disappointment. Industry sources say that a Pac-12 that just adds Colorado and Utah doesn’t increase the value that much for the league in a traditional model of seeking a new television deal. The best-case scenario for the Pac-10 is to come home with Texas, a Pac-16 and a new television network that would rival the Big Ten Network. By the way, all 31 conference commissioners — including Scott, the Big Ten’s Jim Delany and the Big 12’s Dan Beebe — are scheduled to be in Half Moon Bay, Calif., on Monday night for the start of the Collegiate Commissioners Association’s annual meetings. The three-day meetings are sure to be interesting if the conference expansion moves are made mid-week in the middle of the meetings.
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Commish: Big 12 should exist regardless
Filed under Basketball by on Jun 14th, 2010. Comment.
After the Big Ten’s spring meetings last month in Chicago, it became clear that the league wouldn’t operate on anyone else’s expansion timetable but its own. Commissioner Jim Delany said no votes were imminent, and league sources said back then and again last week the process likely would go through the fall before a resolution. Have the events of recent days changed things? First, we saw the e-mails between Delany and Ohio State president E. Gordon Gee about “fast-tracking it” and “agility and swiftness of foot is our friend.” And then Saturday night, the Austin American-Statesman reported that Big 12 presidents are giving Nebraska and Missouri a deadline of Friday to say whether they’ll remain in the league or leave for the Big Ten. “Nebraska has until 5 p.m. on Friday to tell us what they’re going to do,” one school official said, according to the American-Statesman . “The same deal for Missouri. They have to tell us they’re not going to the Big Ten.” If they don’t meet the deadline, at least six Big 12 schools, including Texas and Oklahoma, likely would bolt for the Pac-10, creating potential Armageddon in college sports. Now the Big Ten hasn’t extended any formal invitations to anyone and continues to work toward landing a major program, such as Texas or Notre Dame. Texas is obviously on the table for every league exploring expansion, and I’m told Notre Dame remains in the mix for the Big Ten and doesn’t know what it wants to do. While Nebraska and Missouri certainly are strong candidates, I’ve been told no formal meetings have taken place to discuss them. Are those schools confident enough they’re part of the Big Ten’s expansion plan? Will they demand an answer from Delany in the next week? The Big Ten wants to take its time with this process, but Delany and his crew might need to pick up the pace. Then again, Delany isn’t the type to cater to anyone else’s ultimatums. It will be very interesting to hear from the commissioner today at the meeting of Big Ten presidents and chancellors at league headquarters in Park Ridge, Ill. The agenda isn’t public because the meetings are held in executive session, but you can bet expansion is the No. 1 topic being discussed. It just has to be. Media aren’t allowed in the building, but apparently Delany wasn’t kidding when he mentioned all of us enjoying some beer and brats today. Yum. Delany and Michigan State president Lou Anna K. Simon, the chair of the Big Ten’s council of presidents/chancellors, will address reporters around 4 p.m. ET. My pal Teddy Greenstein has a good preview of the meetings . I’m definitely planning to ask about the Big 12/Pac-10 buzz and how that affects the Big Ten’s plans. Check back this afternoon, as I’ll have a recap on the blog.
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Big Ten brass meets as Big 12 buzz swirls
Filed under Football, News by on Jun 6th, 2010. Comment.
KANSAS CITY, Mo.– In Dan Beebe’s perfect world, Nebraska and Missouri would have pledged unqualified commitments to the Big 12 weeks ago. It would have pulled together a conference some feel is being torn apart by the initiative of the Big Ten and Pac-10, who have made rumored overtures to teams within Beebe’s conference. Friday’s news conference, concluding the week’s testy meetings between the Big 12’s athletic directors and university heads, settled little more than one fact. This is not Beebe’s perfect world. His chosen option now: A secretive “process” that he hopes will keep the teenage Big 12 alive — and presumably in its current form. Part of that process could include the Big 12’s own reluctant expansion if forced. “We’d hate to see the landscape change. We think 12 is an optimum number. We’re prepared in case we need to change our membership, but I think that’s the number that works,” he said. “I think it’s a huge disservice to the student-athletes if it grows to a bigger number, where they have to go further and not have as much chance to win championships and have access to championships. “The process that’s been set is firm, but I’m not going to engage in what that is. That’s just where it’s going to sit.” And if eyes understandably continue to wander to the Pacific or Great Lakes and refuse to abide by the firm process? “We’ll have to figure that out,” he said. Call it firm with a few mushy spots. The conference’s board of directors will meet again in October and once more in February. April serves as a third possible peg for conversations in which commitments emerge, when the conference begins negotiations with Fox Sports Net for a new television deal. Beebe’s phone lines will be open to anyone who wants to commit well before either. A hard line may have been drawn. April seems likely and makes sense. But only a handful of people on the planet know the exact date. “I know,” Beebe said with a smile. Beebe said the week produced “more clarity.” What it needed was more unity — even in the face of looming expansion from the Pac-10 and the Big Ten. Few thought the Big 12 would get it
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Beebe places Big 12 hopes in ‘process’
Filed under Football, News by on Jun 4th, 2010. Comment.
Houston’s 2009 season spanned the gamut. The Cougars felt the high of beating Oklahoma State and Texas Tech, achieving the highest ranking in program history, and the lows of losing to back-to-back games to East Carolina and Air Force and finishing the year unranked. It was the type of roller-coaster ride coach Kevin Sumlin hoped his team was mature enough to avoid, but now he’s hoping that ebb and flow will help his team in 2010. “I said last year that we had enough talent to win every game, but it was going to be how we matured and how we handled it that was going to dictate whether or not that was the case,” Sumlin said. “So, I think with the majority of our team coming back, particularly offensively, it’s a learning experience. And you have to learn from your successes and failures to get better and hopefully we’ve done that.” For the first half of the season, Houston was on top of the world. Quarterback Case Keenum led dramatic comebacks against two automatic qualifying foes and was being talked about as a possible Heisman contender. But a loss to UTEP to start Conference USA play knocked the Cougars out of the national rankings totally and cast doubt on whether they were really good or just a fluke. “It was a reality check,” receiver Tyron Carrier said in an earlier interview with ESPN.com. “No matter who we play, we’re going to get their best game. We’ve got the ‘X’ on our chest and we’ve got to live up to that quality. We’ve got to come to play every game.” Houston lost just one more time and won Conference USA’s West Division. But in the C-USA title game against East Carolina, things fell apart. Keenum threw for 527 yards and five touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions, including one in the end zone on Houston’s final offensive play of the game. The loss sent the Cougars back to the Armed Forces Bowl to face Air Force, the same opponent they played in the same bowl game a year ago. It was an anticlimactic ending to a season that had started off so promising. And the Cougars played like an uninspired bunch. Air Force beat Houston 47-20 and forced Keenum into a record six interceptions. He threw a season-low 222 yards and one touchdown. While the game wasn’t the way Houston saw its season concluding, it did serve as motivation this offseason to never go through something like that again. “I see a team that did not reach all their goals and, quite frankly, got embarrassed in the last football game,” Sumlin said. “I think that we won enough to experience what that’s like and to lose the games that we lost, it still leaves a very sour taste in our players’ mouths. I think because of those experiences and my meetings with them, I think that they’re motivated by that.” With almost all of last year’s squad coming back and several key additions, especially on defense, Houston has a renewed energy and purpose. The 2010 schedule is as tough as 2009’s, with games at UCLA and Texas Tech and at home against Mississippi State. However, Houston now knows what it takes to reach the top of the mountain and stay there. The Cougars won’t be ranked when the season starts and it will take some key wins to get voters back on their side, but Sumlin believes his team is better equipped to handle the pressure and see the season through. “I see a team right now that has experience finally, and we’re trying to develop some depth,” Sumlin said. “The fact is that guys are hungry right now and realize what it takes to win now because they’ve experienced that. They also have some motivation and I think it’s probably helping us mentally to prepare for what’s going to happen this fall.”
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Houston uses last year’s finish as motivation
Filed under Football by on May 21st, 2010. Comment.
