It seems like every year the usual suspects are lined up as contenders for the best basketball conference in the country.
Big East. ACC. Pac-10. Big Ten.
But the Big 12 never seems to get much love, despite some impressive numbers that suggest the newest of the major conferences deserve to be part of the conversation. No conference has advanced more teams to Elite Eight (13) and Final Four (six) since 2002. The Kansas Jayhawks even cut down the nets in 2008.
The debate about which conference is the best basketball league usually heats up in December.
But the Big 12 coaches set fire to the debate early by staking claim as the best basketball conference Tuesday, some five months before the 2009-10 season begins. So the Big East, ACC, Pac-10 and SEC will have to just lineup for second best.
"I do think it's going to be the best with what we have retuning and the things that we've done in the last few years," Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon said during the Big 12 summer teleconference call Tuesday. "I've talked to some so-called experts out there and they think we are going to be the best league, too.
The deadline for underclassmen to withdraw from the NBA draft came and went Monday at 5PM. Plenty of underclassmen had already made decisions to not even test the waters (Willie Warren, Oklahoma) or previously decided to return (Patrick Patterson, Kentucky). Still, plenty of others never looked back by hiring an agent right away (Earl Clark, Louisville).
The focus is strictly on the players that took it up until this weekend or even right under the wire Monday afternoon. Before getting to the programs that "won" and "lost" with the decisions to stay or go there are two teams that have counter-intuitive situations.
During the NCAA Tournament, we NBA heads watch (almost) every game, judging the pro prospects of particular players. Inspired by our daily Doing Lines feature, Drooling Lines offers a daily summary of what the box scores tell us.
This song has been sung frequently, but in case you missed prior renditions ...
MEMPHIS -- Of all the things a little boy growing up in North Carolina coveted in his bedroom, none was more precious than one of the Tar Heels posters on his wall, the one with Michael Jordan shooting a jump shot against North Carolina State.
"It was picture perfect form, his legs were spread out, and it had, 'The Tradition Continues,' " the now grown-up little boy cooed Saturday afternoon. "I just thought that was incredible."
Who's the little boy who was all grown up on Saturday? He's the coach who will try to knock off North Carolina on Sunday, Jeff Capel.
During the NCAA Tournament, we NBA heads watch (almost) every game, judging the pro prospects of particular players. Inspired by our daily Doing Lines feature, Drooling Lines offers a daily summary of what the box scores tell us.
Blake Griffin -- If I have ever suggested a fellow collegiate player might usurp Griffin as the consensus No. 1 in the 2009 draft, well ... I'm sorry. Like his NBA avatar (Amar'e Stoudemire), Griffin is one of those out-of-sight, out-of-mind dominating players. For whatever reason, we chalk up the devastation they reek to circumstances (their physical prowess, the competition level, the table-setters) and just assume in a wink or a blink they'll be weak. Err ... NOT the case. Just as Amar'e could thrive anywhere, Griffin should be an NBA stud. Against Syracuse, Blake totaled 30 points on 15 FGAs, 14 rebounds, three assists, a steal and just one turnover. He's shooting better than 70% through three tournament games. He is a beast.
At one point during the second-round game between Oklahoma and Michigan, as star Sooners forward Blake Griffin bled from his elbow and nose (and possibly his heart, as he thought of all the people in the world he could not save with his superior basketball talent), CBS' Tim Brando went all Thom Brennaman-on-Tim Tebow: "Griffin is a once-in-a-lifetime talent," Brando exclaimed, one of a bevy of superlatives he launched in Griffin's direction.
The validity of that statement's up for heavy debate, but Griffin certainly turned in an impressive performance on Saturday, posting 33 points and 17 boards to pull No. 2-seed Oklahoma past upset-minded Michigan, 73-63, and into the Sweet 16.
The story wasn't going to be about Kansas winning. Seriously. The Jayhawks never had a chance of grabbing the headlines. Even with Bill Self's crew closing out an impressive Big 12 road win, ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla was still discussing the lack of impact this game would have on Oklahoma's NCAA tournament resume.
All the hype prior to Saturday night's primetime showdown between Texas and Oklahoma was focused on superstar Sooners forward Blake Griffin, but in the end it was two guards who stole the show, with Texas' sharpshooter getting the last laugh.
Griffin suffered an apparent concussion after taking an elbow to the nose midway through the first half, and didn't play at all in the second period, finishing with just two points on the night. The Longhorns went on a run right after the break to go up 12, but for a while it looked like freshman Oklahoma guard Willie Warren would be the star of the night, as he hit four threes in a 3:28 span to put OU up five.
The game hinged upon if outside shooting could trump an inside game. It worked for most of regulation for the Purdue Boilermakers, but the three-point shooting well ran dry late in the game, Robbie Hummell fouled out, and the Oklahoma Sooners rode the back of the Griffin family to victory in the NIT Season Tip-Off Championship today.
With all the defensive attention inside on Blake Griffin -- and rightfully so -- his brother Taylor stepped up for the Sooners with a 19 point, seven rebound effort. Oh, don't worry; Blake got his, too, as he compiled 18 points and 22 rebounds, despite being double and triple-teamed routinely. Freshman guard Willie Warren threw in 22 points of his own, benefitting from the attention the inside game was getting.
At one point, Purdue led by nine and had hit half of their three point attempts. Alas, they missed their last seven attempts from behind the arc, and the points in the paint and free throw discrepancies caught up with them.
.jpg)
The debate about which conference is the best basketball league usually heats up in December.
The deadline for underclassmen to withdraw from the NBA draft came and went Monday at 5PM. Plenty of underclassmen had already made decisions to not even test the waters (Willie Warren, Oklahoma) or previously decided to return (Patrick Patterson, Kentucky). Still, plenty of others never looked back by hiring an agent right away (Earl Clark, Louisville).
During the NCAA Tournament, we NBA heads watch (almost) every game, judging the pro prospects of particular players. Inspired by our daily Doing Lines feature, Drooling Lines offers a daily summary of what the box scores tell us.
MEMPHIS -- Of all the things a little boy growing up in North Carolina coveted in his bedroom, none was more precious than one of the Tar Heels posters on his wall, the one with Michael Jordan shooting a jump shot against North Carolina State.
During the NCAA Tournament, we NBA heads watch (almost) every game, judging the pro prospects of particular players. Inspired by our daily Doing Lines feature, Drooling Lines offers a daily summary of what the box scores tell us.
At one point during the second-round game between Oklahoma and Michigan, as star Sooners forward Blake Griffin bled from his elbow and nose (and possibly his heart, as he thought of all the people in the world he could not save with his superior basketball talent), CBS' Tim Brando went all Thom Brennaman-on-Tim Tebow: "Griffin is a once-in-a-lifetime talent," Brando exclaimed, one of a bevy of superlatives he launched in Griffin's direction.
The story wasn't going to be about Kansas winning. Seriously. The Jayhawks never had a chance of grabbing the headlines. Even with Bill Self's crew closing out an impressive Big 12 road win, ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla was still discussing the lack of impact this game would have on Oklahoma's NCAA tournament resume.
All the hype prior to Saturday night's primetime showdown between Texas and Oklahoma was focused on superstar Sooners forward Blake Griffin, but in the end it was two guards who stole the show, with Texas' sharpshooter getting the last laugh. 
