B12: Addition by subtraction
The Ghost Of Edward M. Kennedy
with the ACC for the Sagarin Award.
--Tedward
Renaldo Azzolini
wrote:
> At least in basketball, anyway. Look for the Big Twelveten to compete
> with the ACC for te Sagarin Award.
Early Monday evening, Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins sent a text
message to basketball coach Bill Self and the rest of the department’s
staff instructing them not to talk publicly about reports that the Big
12 would stay intact. Officials in the league’s South division
apparently issued similar orders. A Texas spokesman said Rick Barnes
wasn’t doing interviews, and Texas Tech’s Pat Knight politely declined
to speak via text. “My school won’t let me talk about it until it is
finalized,” Knight wrote.Tough to blame the league’s basketball
coaches for being so cautious. The last thing they want to do is go
against orders, hack off a big-wig in a suit and ruin a great
situation. And make no mistake: This is a great situation.
Not just for football.But for the Big 12’s basketball programs,
too.“No one wanted change,” said Kansas State’s Frank Martin, one of
the few Big 12 basketball coaches available for comment Monday night.
“Change would’ve been tough on everyone. This league has been so
powerful from a success standpoint. “To think that we were about to
push all of that to the side …” Luckily, it didn’t happen.
With Texas and three others on the cusp of bolting to the Pac-10 and
Texas A&M prepared to leave for the SEC, Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe
and a coalition came up with a proposal that promised the conference’s
10 remaining schools they’d receive approximately $17 million-to-$20
million each year under a new TV contract. The deal will also allow
schools to pursue their own networks. By Mondayeevening Texas had
announced it was staying put. The others – Texas A&M, Texas Tech,
Oklahoma and Oklahoma State – soon followed. Coaches couldn’t help but
be elated as word of Texas’ decision spread Monday night. Self had
said all along he felt there was a great chance the Big 12 could be
saved.
“It’s not because I had a magic ball,” Self told the Lawrence Journal-
World. “It’s what we had hoped all along. We though it was the best
scenario for us and everybody thought it was the best thing [for
Texas] as well. “We should all understand it’s been very fluid. I’m
hopeful, as we all are, that this will be finalized. We’ll have no
further comment until it is.”
Texas and Oklahoma have helped the Big 12 establish a reputation as
one of the country’s top football powers. But the conference’s
reputation for high-quality basketball is impeccable, as well. In the
past 10 years the Big 12 has sent 16 teams to the Elite Eight of the
NCAA tournament. No other conference can claim such a feat. And only
one other league (the Big East) has had more teams (27) reach the
Sweet 16 than the Big 12 (22) during that same time span. “After the
announcement, [RPI guru] Jerry Palm tweeted right away that the Big
12, with 10 teams, would be the strongest league in the country, top
to bottom,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “I agree 100 percent. I
don’t know if there’s ever been a time when every team in a league
went to the postseason. But with the 10 programs in this league, I
could definitely see that happening, if not this year, then in the
near future.”
That might be hyperbole, but with perennial Big 12 basketball bottom
feeders Colorado and Nebraska out of the mix, the Big 12 is actually
stronger with fewer teams. Oklahoma and Iowa State will enter next
season in rebuilding mode but, other than the Sooners and Cyclones,
every league school will enter the season with a legitimate shot to
earn a berth in the 2011 NCAA tournament. “Having a lot of teams
doesn’t necessarily make you a great league,” Martin said. “In
basketball right now, we’ve got 10 teams, and eight of them can
legitimately be NCAA tournament teams next year. That’s big time. No
league in the country can rival that.”
One year after spending most of the season ranked No. 1 in RPI, the
Big 12 could be at the top of the college basketball world once again
in 2010-11. Kansas, Baylor, Kansas State and Missouri should all enter
the 2010-11 season ranked in the Top 15. Ironically, those are four of
the five schools that failed to receive invites to the Pac-10, Big Ten
or SEC. Even with all of their recent success, it would have been
difficult for those schools to continue to recruit at the same level
had they been forced to move to a non-BCS conference. Now it appears
their momentum will only increase.
With Colorado leaving for the Pac-10 and Nebraska headed for the Big
Ten, the Big 12 will undergo some changes in its conference
scheduling. In the past the league was divided into two, six-team
divisions, with each school playing members of its own division twice
while facing members of the opposite division only once.
Now each team will play two games against the other nine teams. One on
the road, one at home. “That was one of the only things that ever
caused any division during our meetings in the past,” Martin said.
“There was a big gap [between coaches] on this issue. Now anyone that
ever complained can’t complain anymore. If we’re going to be a seeded
league and put teams in order [for the Big 12 tournament], then
everyone needs to play a balanced schedule.”
Drew agrees. “It’s the only true way to determine a champion,” he
said. “When you have an unbalanced schedule, I don’t think you can
have a true champ. With everyone playing everyone, home and away …
that’s the way it’s supposed to be done.” The new format will mean two
less games on the first day of the Big 12 tournament, when the Nos.
7-10 seeds will play for spots in the quarterfinals. “It’s a heck of a
league,” Martin said. “I’m happy it’s going to stay together.”
Michael Press
<6cb4c27f-e77d-4534...@n37g2000prc.googlegroups.com>,
Renaldo Azzolini <renaldo....@gmail.com> wrote:
> Early Monday evening, Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins sent a text
> message to basketball coach Bill Self and the rest of the department’s
> staff instructing them not to talk publicly about reports that the Big
> 12 would stay intact. Officials in the league’s South division
> apparently issued similar orders. A Texas spokesman said Rick Barnes
> wasn’t doing interviews, and Texas Tech’s Pat Knight politely declined
> to speak via text. “My school won’t let me talk about it until it is
> finalized,” Knight wrote.Tough to blame the league’s basketball
> coaches for being so cautious. The last thing they want to do is go
> against orders, hack off a big-wig in a suit and ruin a great
> situation. And make no mistake: This is a great situation.
>
[...]
All is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.
--
Michael Press