Big 12 a big disappointment in the tourney

[amath13]

And I'm throwing WVU in that mess as well considering we had 5 straight NCAA tourney appearances coming into this season & laid a giant egg. At any rate, I'm used to being in a league with at least 3-4 teams still left after the first weekend (of course some of that could be the size of the league we were in and the fact that it typically puts so many teams in the tournament). And in our first year in the Big 12 not only do we flop, but we flopped in a league that predictably only put Kansas into the Sweet 16. Hopefully things will get better next year. Both for WVU & for Big 12 basketball.
This post was edited on 3/27 10:45 AM by amath13

 

[Buckaineer]

Iowa State would have lead Ohio State by 3-4 points with 1 minute left had the refs decided to create a bogus call in that game. Would have placed two BIG 12 teams in the sweet 16 had that bogus charge and taking away of the basket not been done.

Not great, but considering the BIG 12 didn't receive any gimme matchups from the start not as bad as it seems.

Hopefully next year will be better.

 

[MountainBill]

we moved there for the paycheck

If we're ever competitive in football or basketball that will just be a bonus.

 

[Buckaineer]

I'm sure WVU will be fine. Lots of changes from top to bottom around Morgantown the last couple of years.

Next year although WVU might not have all the horses it needs to win everything, the coaches should be becoming more familiar with their new opponents.

 

[bobhertzel'ssweatpants]

Re: we moved there for the paycheck

Originally posted by MountainBill:
If we're ever competitive in football or basketball that will just be a bonus.

No we moved there for survival. At the time we moved there was no guarantee that the ACC was going to be looking a year later. That's complete hindsight when people say we should have waited for the ACC. No one could have predicted that the B1G was going to raid the ACC. We HAD to move or else we would have been stuck in a dead conference. Not to mention there is no guarantee the ACC would have picked us even if the Big 12 picked Louisville over us. They could have very easily passed on us & taken UConn. And even further down this rabbit trail, whose to say that the B1G is done with the ACC? That conference could end up being just like the Big East in time. The bottom line is that the Big 12 is a really good conference in football. It was a huge upgrade and we have to adjust to the talent level there. Basketball was a dropoff (even though it didn't help us as we would have been terrible in any league this year), but the Big East no longer exists as we knew it in basketball so it's a moot point.

 

[TheRedSon]

Not a great year for Big 12 basketball, but don't kid yourselves into thinking it's not a good hoops conference.

The biggest problem was Texas and West Virginia dropped the ball. Texas should be in the Dance every year, and West Virginia can and should be performing as well as Missouri. That's two of the conference's best programs playing .500 basketball while the Oklahoma schools are still recovering from disasterous hires and gutted rosters (Iowa State too actually).

 

[canonphotowv]

Another factor is the lack or quality officiating in the Big 12 (Basketball) during the season. It seems that once the teams get away from these officials that they have a shock in store for them. Only Iowa State and Kansas were able to sdjust some to the change for a round or two, in Kansas case, their talent pulled them through round one and two then their "soft" league play took them out. I've always felt that was the strength of the old Big East .. the season prepared the teams better for the tournament in the style of play that was needed .. it is easier to tone it down on the physical style than it is to suddenly toughen up.

 

[amath13]

Originally posted by TheRedSon:
Not a great year for Big 12 basketball, but don't kid yourselves into thinking it's not a good hoops conference.

The biggest problem was Texas and West Virginia dropped the ball. Texas should be in the Dance every year, and West Virginia can and should be performing as well as Missouri. That's two of the conference's best programs playing .500 basketball while the Oklahoma schools are still recovering from disasterous hires and gutted rosters (Iowa State too actually).

I wasn't trying to imply that it wasn't a good league (although my op probably wasn't clear about that), just that it's not on the same level as the Big East (or what the Big East was). That league was a beast in hoops. And there is no doubt we were a disappointment. I mentioned that in my original post. We had been to the NCAA tournament in 7 out of the last 8 years prior to this season & had a Final Four, 2 Elite 8's & 4 Sweet 16's (the year we didn't make the NCAA tournament - we got robbed that year - we won the NIT championship). That's better than Missouri over that time frame, which has 1 Elite 8 & 1 Sweet 16 (we knocked them out of the tourney in 2010), but no Final Fours. Unfortunately we tanked it this year because of bad recruiting and attrition finally caught up to us.

 

[TheRedSon]

No trash talk intended.

We had similar discussions at OSI. It was a moderately strong league this year, but short of Big 12 standards.

Kansas was fine. Maybe a little down with struggles at PG.

Kansas State held up their end (although not in the Dance).

Over the last few seasons Missouri, Baylor and Texas would/should have been up there with Kansas State. Texas was awful, Baylor underachieved (they do this fairly often under Drew, but then again they were nothing before he got there) and this wound up being an unlucky season to trade Missouri for West Virginia. I still think that trade was fairly even in hoops, so I'm not worried about it.

Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Iowa State all had good seasons considering where they were coming from, but they weren't ready, talent wise, to carry as much slack as the three teams above created. These programs, especially the two Oklahoma schools, getting back in gear is good news though. OU and OSU were among the top 4-5 programs in the Big 12 it's first ten years. They both have long rivalries with Kansas and a nationally recognized rivalry between themselves.

Texas Tech remained awful, but that's kind of par lately. I don't think Tubby can fix that, but he may at least improve them enough not to drain RPI's as badly for the rest of us and keep our kids from having a night off.

TCU for A&M is a bad trade in basketball and there's no way around that.

Still, this conference has the potential to be a top 3-4 conference most years, and could be the best in the country once every 4-6 years. That's not much of a stretch. We hold our own in terms of NBA prospects nearly every year. We don't have as many basketball schools as most of the other big conferences, but Texas and the old Big Eight schools are, like the Big Ten schools, focused on balance. I think this will get better as early as next year.

So, all that said, who's leaving early? I haven't seen an announcement from McLemore yet, or Austin. We have no idea what Smart will do yet at OSI, but signs point toward an announcement soon.