Big 12 Basketball Update & Power Rankings

January 15th Big 12 Basketball update

It used to be when Baylor and Texas A&M got together, it was an intense game. But that’s about as far as it went.

And then the series took it to another level last year when the teams played their two meetings in 2007-08. Baylor won that epic 5-overtime game in College Station, the longest in Big 12 history. The Aggies responded by winning in Waco. And toward the end of that second game, there was some late-game ugliness displayed by either side.

The ill will displayed by each side continued this week. Things sure were not at all rosy in A&M’s 84-73 win on Jan. 14. Players talked before the game how they really just didn’t like each other.

On battles for loose balls, the scrums were followed up by a lot of smack talk and scowls.

Once that subsided, the Aggies could turn their attention to getting ready to play Oklahoma. This will arguably be A&M’s biggest game of the year because the squad is looking for that signature win.

Enjoy the matchup in the low block between Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin and the Aggies Chinemelu Elonu. Elonu had 17 points and 16 rebounds. He is going to have to a great job of fronting Griffin and will likely get some help.

Rocky Mountain No

It’s been only one game, but for Colorado, there could be a lot of these this year. The undermanned Buffaloes were steamrolled at Missouri, 107-62, in Columbia on Jan. 14.

Their defense was terrible because they allowed the Tigers to shoot 63 percent. Their offense wasn’t much better as they committed a season-high 26 turnovers. The Buffaloes have had their share of bad losses this year including Buffalo and SMU.

And no, not every game is going to look like this. When they return to the Coors Center to play Kansas Saturday, they will be excited to play. Or at least, they should be.

Still, this team will absolutely have to play the perfect game every time out just to be competitive with the upper echelon squads. They should be able to steal a game from somebody like Iowa State or Nebraska. But it’s going to be hard to see where many wins are going to come from.

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Briefly…

Speaking of Missouri, the Tigers went through a bit of a lineup change. The team’s second leading scorer Leo Lyons has been suspended indefinitely because he did not pay fines from a traffic charge from 2006. Also, the team’s top 3-point specialist Matt Lawrence did not start because he scored only six points in the conference opening loss to Nebraska. That appeared to work against Colorado because the 40-percent shooter was 3-of-4 from beyond the arc against Colorado….for now, there is a little peace in Ames, Iowa as Iowa State has won five of its last six games. The Big 12 rookie of the week Lucca Staiger continued his stellar play with 18 points in a 63-51 win against Nebraska….Texas has hit a flat spot lately. The Longhorns have lost two of their last three including a 78-63 loss at Oklahoma. Here’s the dirty secret on the Longhorns. They are shooting 65 percent from the free throw line, and starting point guard Justin Mason is horrible at 42 percent….of the first 20 games played in the conference, only one road team has won. Oklahoma won at Kansas State.

Power Rankings

1. Oklahoma
2. Texas
3. Kansas
4. Texas A&M
5. Baylor
6. Missouri
7. Oklahoma St.
8. Texas Tech
9. Kansas St.
10. Iowa St.
11. Nebraska
12. Colorado

By Kevin Lonnquist
Big 12 Fans Correspondant

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