Big 12 Basketball Update & Power Rankings

January 22nd Big 12 Basketball update

Sometimes, saying hello is probably the worst thing anyone can do. There’s a bit of a storm over Kansas coach Bill Self after what transpired earlier this week.

Sorting through the NCAA’s voluminous rules and regulations book, KU officials are trying to determine is Self’s brief exchange with recruit John Wall would merit a violation. Self has admitted the incident. He said he congratulated the coach of Wall’s team and told Wall that he played really well.

In all likelihood, if anything comes out of it, the consequence will likely be minor. However, in the age of all media, all the time, there is little room a coach or player can go without being questioned about something. The good thing is that Self really didn’t try to hide from it or spin it in another direction.

Wall is considered one of the best point guard recruits this year. In one national recruiting service’s top 100 poll, he is in the top 10.

Missouri on a roll

Year three of the Mike Anderson era at Missouri is starting to bear some signature results. And you can make the case that the 97-95 win at Oklahoma State this past Wednesday is the biggest.

Yes, it’s even bigger than last year’s conference opener when the Tigers knocked off Texas.

It’s bigger because the Tigers won in a very difficult place to play at Gallagher-Iba arena. They also had to hold off a furious late Oklahoma State rally when they held a double-digit lead inside the final six minutes.

Anderson’s nephew Demarre Carroll had one of his better games of the conference when he delivered 19 points, 9 rebounds.

Since a conference opening loss at Nebraska, the Tigers have won their last 3 games and averaged 93 points in them.

Don’t be surprised if they beat Texas or Oklahoma or even split with the arch rival Jayhawks. By the way, the first of those two meetings is Feb. 9 in Columbia, Mo.

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Rivalry renewed

Texas and Texas A&M continue their always intense rivalry Saturday in Austin. In the early part of this decade – and really from about the time Texas basketball took off in 1988 when Tom Penders arrived – the Longhorns have dominated the series.

However, when the Aggies got serious about basketball with Billy Gillispie and followed it with Mark Turgeon, things have evened. Texas has won only five of the last nine meetings and hasn’t won in College Station since 2004.

There are concerns running for both teams. The Longhorns are hoping that the 71-49 win at Texas Tech got them out of their rut and more importantly got forward Damion James out of Rick Barnes doghouse. James played very poorly against Oklahoma Jan. 12.

For the Aggies, they have got to find ways to win on the road. They are 0-2 after losing at Oklahoma St. and Kansas by an average of 15.5 points.

Notable

Kansas State is 0-4 in conference play because its offense has hit a flat spot. The Wildcats are averaging only 60 points per game…Baylor’s Quincy Acy is making his case for conference freshman of the year. He nearly posted back-to-back double doubles against Oklahoma State and Kansas State. He was 17 and 12 against the Cowboys and 12 and 9 against the Wildcats…Texas guard A.J. Abrams’ shooting percentage is down to 39 percent because he is shooting 29 percent in January.

Power Rankings

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

By Kevin Lonnquist
Big 12 Fans Correspondant

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