Tag: Big 12 Tournament

Texas forward Dylan Disu is given first-team All-Big 12 honors

Dylan Disu was recognized as one of the best players at his position.

The All-Big 12 team has been announced. Texas forward Dylan Disu received first-team honors.

The distinction is well-earned for Disu who put up a career best season in Austin. For the year he put up a strong 16.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. The point average was bolstered by an impressive 51.3% conversion rate from three point range.

Disu was one of the few predictable players on Texas’ 2024 squad consistently producing for his team on the court. His strong performance aided Texas in reaching 20 wins on the year despite losing several key contributors from the team’s Elite Eight run a season ago.

Heading into the Big 12 tournament, Texas is seemingly a lock to reach the NCAA tournament. That said, it has plenty to gain by a strong showing over the next week including a higher tournament seed. How high the team can climb is up for debate, but one would presume a handful of resume-building win opportunities will be there if the Longhorns keep winning.

For Texas to experience continued success, Disu will likely be a huge part of it. The forward will look to secure more wins as his team enters the middle of March.

Oklahoma Sooners lose to the Iowa State Cyclones in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals again

Sooners Big 12 tournament run is over as they fall to the Iowa State Cyclones in the Big 12 tournament semifinals.

It was just one season ago the Oklahoma Sooners were co-regular season Big 12 champs and headed into the semifinals of the [autotag]Big 12 tournament[/autotag] to take on the [autotag]Iowa State Cyclones[/autotag]. The Sooners would go on to lose that game.

Now, they came into the rematch as Big 12 regular season champs, ready to face the Cyclones again. Iowa State jumped on the Sooners early with a quick 18-7 lead. The Sooners were able to battle back and got it to a three-point game in the second quarter after a [autotag]Payton Verhulst[/autotag] three.

That’s when the Cyclones really started to put their stamp on the game as they finished the quarter on a 17-6 run to take a 38-24 lead at the half. The second half was much like the end of the first half and was completely dominated by the Cyclones. The Sooners were never able to get it closer than the 14 points at the half. The Cyclones led by as many as 28 points in the second half.

The Cyclones coasted in the fourth quarter and beat the Sooners 85-68, ending the Sooners’ Big 12 tournament run. The Sooners shot 36.1% from the field and 30.3% from three, while Iowa State shot 57.9% from the field and 52.2% from three.

[autotag]Audi Crooks[/autotag] dominated the Sooners and led the way with 25 points and nine rebounds. For the Sooners, [autotag]Sahara Williams[/autotag] had 16 points and five rebounds, and [autotag]Payton Verhulst[/autotag] had 23 points and seven rebounds.

Now, the Sooners wait for selection day to find out where they will be headed in the NCAA tournament. The biggest question now is if they’ve done enough to earn a top-four seed in the tournament, which would allow them to host the first two rounds in Norman.

But there is no question they’ve done a great job turning things around after how much they struggled earlier in the season.

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A look at the 2024 Big 12 Tournament bracket for men’s basketball

No. 7 Texas will face No. 10 Kansas State on March 13.

Texas concluded the 2024 college basketball regular season with a 94-80 win over Oklahoma on Saturday. Continue reading “A look at the 2024 Big 12 Tournament bracket for men’s basketball”

Sooners take on talented, battle tested ECU team to kickoff NCAA Tournament

Oklahoma will take on the ECU Pirates in their first game of the Charlottesville regional at 6 pm on Friday evening.

Oklahoma has its work cut out. Friday evening, they’ll take the field to play against the best the American Athletic Conference offers in baseball. The East Carolina Pirates are a dangerous and scrappy team fully capable of winning the Charlottesville Regional and moving on to the Super Regionals.

Oklahoma is just a year removed from a magical run to the NCAA championship series in Omaha. Things are very different this time around for the Sooners. Why, you might ask? Well, for starters, they lost so many players from that team.

Josh Callaway of Sooners Illustrated perfectly captures the sheer magnitude of what losses Oklahoma overcame to make the tournament.

On top of those losses, the Sooners had the 16th most difficult schedule in the nation. They are tested and hung in there enough to make the 64-team tournament.

15 of OU’s 31 wins this season came against teams in the NCAA Tournament field. Many detractors will say they don’t belong here, but arguing against their schedule is a difficult one. They enter the tournament winners of 12 of their last 19 games despite their lackluster showing in the Big 12 tournament.

Their opponents on Friday night, the Pirates, should come in locked in after losing a chance at an AAC tournament title and the possibility of hosting a regional when they failed to defeat Tulane. The Green Wave became the worst team ever to make the NCAA tournament after they pulled off a Cinderella run through the conference tournament.

Starting on the mound will be Trey Yesavage, a sophomore righthander who is 6-1 with an ERA of 2.80 and a team-high 98 strikeouts. He is 11th in hte nation in WHIP (0.99) and 17th in strikeouts per nine innings (12.48).

Yesavage is tracking to be a top 50 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, so getting to him won’t be easy.

Offensively, the Pirates were second in the AAC with a team batting average of .292. Outfielder Carter Cunningham leads the way, batting .324. He has hit eight home runs and has 35 RBIs. Five other ECU players are batting over .300. Josh Moylan is the chief run producer with 19 doubles, two triples, 15 home runs, and a team-high 66 RBI.

Oklahoma and ECU have never met on the diamond. That changes on Friday night. The game will be shown at 6 p.m. CT on Friday at Davenport Field at Disharoon Park in Charlottesville, Virginia. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2/ESPN+.

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Oklahoma Baseball lands in Charlottesville Regional, face ECU Friday

Oklahoma baseball makes it back to the NCAA Tournament as they sneak in as an at-large team and will take on the ECU Pirates.

The wait is over. The Oklahoma Sooners baseball team has found its way back into the NCAA Tournament. The journey was never easy and was full of ups and downs, but the Sooners earned an at-large bid after selections were announced on the official selection show Monday. Oklahoma received the next to last at-large bid per the show’s hosts.

Oklahoma (31-26) will play in the Charlottesville regional with the University of Virginia (45-12) as hosts. Their first opponent will be the ECU Pirates (45-17) out of the American Athletic Conference. The Pirates won the regular season crown but fell short in the conference tournament as the Tulane Green Wave, who finished second to last in the conference, pulled off an incredible run to win the tournament title. ECU’s failure in the tournament effectively pushed ECU out of potentially hosting a regional.

Oklahoma’s inclusion into the field was in real doubt as of Friday night. The Sooners were at No. 40 in the NCAA’s RPI after bowing out of the Big 12 tourney.

With no overly impressive resume, Oklahoma needed serious help. They were only 11-13 in conference play and made no run in the conference tournament. One positive Oklahoma had going forward, which undoubtedly played a large role in its selection, was their strength of schedule.

While Oklahoma struggled, they also played a grinding schedule that battle-tested them. For a team that lost a significant number of key players from the 2022 run, earning a postseason berth should be commended.

It remains to be seen if they can replicate the magic of getting all the way to the championship series like they did last year, but getting in is the first step.

The fourth and final team in the region is Army West Point (38-16). If the Sooners make it out of the regional, they would take on the winner of the Conway regional hosted by Coastal Carolina, which features Duke, UNC Wilmington, and Rider.

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Texas Baseball goes 0-2 at the Big 12 Tournament

Texas is going home from the Big 12 Tournament early.

Fresh off their best weekend of baseball on the season, Texas entered the Big 12 Tournament as the No. 1 seed playing for a chance to host a regional in the NCAA Tournament.

The Longhorns are going home early from the Big 12 tourney after going 0-2 with losses to Kansas and Kansas State. Texas looked lifeless at times in both games, giving flashbacks to the horrendous season opener in Arlington.

A seventh-inning grand slam doomed Texas in game one against Kansas. The Longhorns fell 6-3 despite a two-homer day from Jack O’Dowd.

In game two Texas’ bats were sliced all game by Kansas State pitching. Lebarron Johnson delivered a solid start to keep Texas in the game before the bullpen gave up a 5 spot in the seventh.

Texas now awaits their fate for the NCAA Tournament. Expect the Longhorns to be traveling to a regional as a No. 2 seed when the bracket is announced on Monday.

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Dick Vitale criticizes Texas for delaying in hiring Rodney Terry

Dick Vitale goes too far in his criticism of Texas’ athletic department.

Dick Vitale is not impressed by Texas’ long wait to hire Rodney Terry. He tweeted as much in a strongly worded statement on the athletic department’s delay.

Lack of class by Texas athletic board. I can buy waiting until the end of the regular season on the status of ⁦Rodney Terry. However after winning ⁦the Big 12 conference title, he deserved a multi-year deal.

That’s one way to put it. Albeit, Vitale’s take on the situation is probably too strong given Terry’s lack of proven track record prior through ten seasons as a Division I head coach.

We discussed Terry as having proven himself by winning two NCAA Tournament games. Terry did just that in reaching the Sweet 16. However, prior to those wins he had yet to put together the postseason resume to command the coaching job. Winning Big 12 Tournament titles is great, but Shaka Smart did that, too.

Texas hired former head coach Chris Beard to bring in a proven commodity. In Beard, the Longhorns had a coach who had won games in the tournament that mattered. Now that Terry has advanced in tournament play, he is more than qualified to be the coach of the future.

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LOOK: Best photos from Texas’ Big 12 Tournament Championship win

This group is special.

Texas dominated Kansas on Saturday night in the Big 12 Tournament Championship, 76-56. Continue reading “LOOK: Best photos from Texas’ Big 12 Tournament Championship win”

No. 7 Texas seeks Big 12 tournament title against No. 3 Kansas

Texas and Kansas have been the best two teams in the conference all season long. 

No. 7 Texas and No. 3 Kansas meet for the third time this season with the Big 12 tournament title on the line. Texas is looking for its first Big 12 tournament championship since the 2021 season.

The Longhorns took down Oklahoma State and TCU on the way to the championship, while Kansas beat West Virginia and Iowa State.

After splitting the regular season series, this serves as a rubber match between the top 10 schools.

Kansas opens as a two-point favorite in this matchup between the two Big 12 powers. Texas is likely to be without starting forward Timmy Allen for the third straight game.

Texas and Kansas have been the best two teams in the conference all season long. Both teams are well-positioned for a high seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Expect an exciting finish to the Big 12 basketball season.

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Juniors Skylar Vann and Aubrey Joens give Sooners a boost off the bench

Juniors Skylar Vann and Aubrey Joens give the Sooners a boost off the bench in Oklahoma’s win over TCU in the Big 12 tournament.

The Oklahoma Sooners will be losing three important pieces after the season is complete. [autotag]Madi Wiliams[/autotag], [autotag]Taylor Robertson[/autotag], and [autotag]Ana Llanusa[/autotag] have one more opportunity to take Oklahoma on a deep postseason run.

Those three have been key to the Sooners’ 2022-2023 season. But last night’s win over TCU put on display what life will look like without their three seniors.

[autotag]Skylar Vann[/autotag] came up clutch again, pouring in 21 points off the bench, including the game-winner in the final seconds. Also playing in a reserve role, [autotag]Aubrey Joens[/autotag], the Iowa State transfer, chipped in 15 points for the Sooners.

After the Sooners fell behind in the first quarter, Joens contributed 10 points in the second on 4 of 4 shooting, including 2 of 2 from three. That gave the Sooners the boost they needed to turn a three-point first quarter deficit into a five-point halftime lead.

The fourth quarter has become Skylar Vann time in recent weeks, and she came through again in the win over TCU. Vann was 5 of 6 from the field (her only miss a deep three), and was dominant in the paint. 10 of her 21 points came in the fourth, with all 10 points coming in the final 6:31 of the game. Vann scored each of Oklahoma’s final six points to get the win.

“You’ve got to be willing to take that shot,” head coach Jennie Baranczyk said after the win. “You’ve got to be willing to make it. You’ve got to be willing to miss it. You’ve got to be willing to pay the consequences. Sky is. You can see that in her eyes that she wants that.”

Clutchness defined.

Vann and Joens combined for 36 points in the win. Oklahoma’s starting five scored just 32 points. They’re only juniors. Key pieces to the Sooners rotation this season, they’ll take on even bigger roles next year with talent leaving Norman.

The Sooners have a deep roster. Several players that can fill up the box score. They needed every bit of what Skylar Vann and Aubrey Joens provided off the bench on Friday night. For the Sooners to win the Big 12 tournament and go deep in the NCAA tournament, Vann and Joens will have to continue to provide a spark off the bench.

And everytime they check into the game, the Sooners display they’ll be in great hands even as they lose their talented group of seniors.