Tag: kansas basketball

Examining the remaining Big 12 tournament field for Texas

Here’s a look at what teams are left in the Big 12 Tournament after Thursday.

The Texas Longhorns (24-8) are moving on to the Big 12 semifinals. On Thursday night, the Longhorns defeated the Oklahoma State Cowboys (18-15) in a dominant 60-47 win.

For Oklahoma State, it means they might need help to make it into the NCAA Tournament field. Texas had no conscience in regard to helping out the bubble team as it has championship aspirations that tournament seeding could aid.

Earlier in the day, Iowa State shocked Baylor 78-72. The Cyclones were able to hold on after bullying the Bears for much of the second half. It’s unclear whether or not the loss hurts Baylor all that much in its bid for a No. 2 seed. Even so, Baylor head coach Scott Drew’s team is not playing well heading into the NCAA Tournament.

Here’s a look at what teams are left in the Big 12 Tournament field.

Watch: Kansas gets surprise commitment from 4-star SF Marcus Adams Jr.

Apparently, he was planning to pick UCLA, but a phone call from Kansas coach Bill Self changed his mind.

Marcus Adams Jr. was expected to pick UCLA when he announced his college commitment at Narbonne High School (Calif.) yesterday.

Instead, the four-star small forward threw a curveball, announcing his commitment to the Kansas Jayhawks. Watch:

Adams (6-foot-8, 200 pounds) had offers from 21 different schools. Apparently, he was planning to pick UCLA, but a phone call from Kansas coach Bill Self changed his mind, per the Kansas City Star.

“According to Adams, the staff told him how badly they wanted him to join KU; they felt he had the potential to be great and sought the chance to coach him. The conversation forced Adams to reconsider his choice, he said.”

This is the first commitment of the 2024 cycle for Kansas.

247Sports has Adams ranked No. 11 at his position and No. 4 overall in the state of California.

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Texas upperclassmen earn senior day victory over No. 3 Kansas, 75-59

The victory over Kansas means Texas has a solid chance to earn a No. 2 seed.

Texas flipped a switch on Saturday. The Longhorns (23-8) rebounded from a frustrating road defeat against TCU with a win over the Big 12 regular season champion Kansas Jayhawks (25-6).

Neither team played the entire 40 minute game with urgency, but Texas clearly wanted the game more. Rodney Terry and company willed the Longhorns to victory in the team’s signature resume win of the season.

Sir’Jabari Rice led the charge as he completed perhaps the best sixth man season in school history. Rice put up a remarkable 23-point performance hitting impressive shot after shot.

The win all but locks the Longhorns into a No. 2 NCAA Tournament seed despite two road losses to ranked Baylor and TCU teams. Should the team look respectable in the Big 12 Tournament, look for Texas to make it on the No. 2 line of the bracket.

Texas finishes the regular season on a high note despite a handful of distractions. Give Rodney Terry credit for keeping the team in contention heading into the Big 12 Tournament.

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Texas basketball falls out of Big 12 title race in 75-73 loss to TCU

The first half hole Texas dug for itself was insurmountable against TCU.

The bid for a Big 12 regular season title is over for Texas after Wednesday night. The Longhorns fell to the TCU Horned Frogs, 75-73. Continue reading “Texas basketball falls out of Big 12 title race in 75-73 loss to TCU”

Kansas beats Texas Tech, improves USC’s bubble position even more

Kansas created a situation which should keep at least one bubble team out of the NCAA Tournament, possibly two. We have details.

The Big 12 bubble landscape is becoming more favorable for USC as the calendar moves into March.

Texas Tech, which lost last Saturday to TCU, lost again to Kansas on Tuesday night. USC is gaining a little more separation from Texas Tech on the bubble, but there’s more to the story than a simple comparison of the Trojans and the Red Raiders.

The Big 12 and Big Ten have cluttered bubble situations with multiple bubble teams in play. In addition to Texas Tech losing consecutive games over the past few days, Oklahoma State has done the same thing. Those two teams are both in big trouble for an at-large berth. They are moving in the wrong direction.

Notable is the fact that Oklahoma State and Texas Tech play each other this Saturday. Had the Cowboys and Red Raiders both won their most recent games, this upcoming contest would be a “winner in” bubble game in which the loser is still in the hunt for the NCAA Tournament. However, because of the recent losses by both teams, this game will be more of a “loser out” bubble game in which the loser will have to win the Big 12 Tournament just to make the NCAA Tournament.

If Oklahoma State beats Tech on the road, the Cowboys’ NCAA odds probably will rise above 50-50. If Tech beats Oklahoma State, the Red Raiders and Cowboys would both be near the cut line and would need at least one win at the Big 12 Tournament to feel moderately good about their position.

Ultimately, it’s very unlikely that both teams can get into the NCAA Tournament, which is great for USC. That’s at least one bubble spot the Big 12 won’t claim. The hope for USC is that both Texas Tech and Oklahoma State will miss the field. A Tech win on Saturday, followed by losses for both teams in the first game of the Big 12 Tournament, could bring about that result.

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What the heck happened to the men’s college basketball blue bloods?

UNC, Duke and Kentucky are down bad.

Men’s college hoops is a burning house right now, and I’m just Childish Gambino returning with leftover pizza from a Super Bowl party.

What in the world happened?

Last time I checked (not literally), North Carolina was the preseason No. 1 team in the AP rankings. Kentucky was No. 4 and Duke was No. 7. The so-called blue bloods of the sport were still expected to be good. Even Villanova was ranked 16th.

So, I did what any self-respecting writer of sports betting content would do and attached myself to some of those giants. Among my conference championship picks were UNC, Kentucky and Kansas, each boasting top-10 national title odds at the time. Duke did as well.

Today, only No. 5 Kansas even has top-20 title odds, let alone a top-25 AP ranking. UNC, my pick to win it all, lost Monday for the fourth time in its last five games to fall to 8-7 in the ACC (16-10 overall).

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College basketball has been flipped on its head. So much so that No. 23 NC State is the best team in North Carolina. Football powerhouse Alabama is the No. 1 team in the country for the first time in 20 years. Even Gonzaga, the preseason No. 2 team, matched its highest loss total since 2016-17 — with five games left in the regular season.

None of UNC, Duke (17-8, 8-6 ACC), Kentucky (16-9, 7-5 SEC) or Villanova (12-13, 6-8 Big East) even received a vote in the latest rankings, and nothing about it is a fluke. Villanova is objectively bad, and the other three don’t appear to be very good either. None have a KenPom rating better than 35.

We knew the retirements of coaching legends Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski and Jay Wright would usher in a new era of college basketball. I’m just not sure we knew it meant a potential changing of the guard. But is that actually what’s happening?

Maybe not. The “old” guard can certainly bounce back — even as early as this year. ESPN bracketology expert Joe Lunardi currently has Duke as a 9-seed in the NCAA tournament, North Carolina among the last four in and Kentucky in his first four out. Any of those teams would be considered dangerous in March just off sheer talent alone. They still recruit well.

But what’s happening to them this season is worth monitoring because it opens the door for other teams to make some noise. The schools with the top three betting odds to win this year’s title, according to DraftKings, are all programs that have never won it before: Houston (+700), Purdue (+900) and Alabama (+900).

The Jayhawks could also swoop in and go back-to-back, but there’s a decent enough chance we’ll have an unfamiliar champion by season’s end.

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Updated look at the Big 12 men’s basketball standings

After Saturday’s slate of games, Texas remains atop the standings while Oklahoma is at the tail end.

There’s a close race for the Big 12 regular season title in men’s basketball. Continue reading “Updated look at the Big 12 men’s basketball standings”

No. 5 Texas unable to overcome sloppy offense in loss to No. 9 Kansas

Texas has to get ahold of its turnover issue following Monday’s loss to Kansas.

Texas has its best basketball team in a long time. Albeit, the team has a turnover problem.

Turnovers proved costly on Monday as Kansas made Texas pay for being loose with the basketball. When the Longhorns weren’t dribbling the basketball out of control or as high as eye-level, Rodney Terry’s team struggled to make good passes.

Despite Kansas’ double-digit first half lead, Texas got off to a quick second half start and cut the lead to one point. After getting within one point at 47-46, the Longhorns went cold.

The 88-80 loss doesn’t erase the strong week the team had last week, but it does dampen the team’s hopes for a No. 1 seed. The Longhorns are still alone in first place in the Big 12 conference with a record of 8-3.

Despite solid positioning in conference standings, the turnover issue is one they’ll need to figure out if they want to accomplish their goals. The Longhorns will face the West Virginia Mountaineers next on Saturday.

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Texas Basketball: Examining the importance of earning the No. 1 seed

Beating Kansas can make Texas’ tournament path less restrictive in March.

The Texas Longhorns have not reached the Sweet 16 since 2008. That season, Texas ultimately fell to the Memphis Tigers in the Elite Eight.

Rodney Terry’s team will look to snap that abysmal streak with a berth in this year’s Round of 16. They can increase their chances of reaching that goal by winning games like Monday night’s matchup against Kansas and earning a No. 1 seed.

Last week’s wins over then No. 7 Kansas State and No. 11 Baylor are important for a number of reasons. The most important reason revolves around bolstering a No. 1 seed resume.

For starters, only one No. 1 seed has lost to its first opponent in a tournament model of 64 teams or more. Virginia fell to UMBC in 2018.

Escaping past the next opponent has been difficult in recent years, but the odds of a first round exit are slim for most teams.

On top of that, No. 1 seeds are nearly twice as likely to reach the Final Four as No. 2 seeds. Since the tournament grew to over 64 teams, over 52% of tournaments have seen two or more No. 1 seeds reach the Final Four.

Put simply, Texas can do nearly as much to determine its fate during the regular season as it can in March. With wins over Gonzaga, Kansas State, Baylor and TCU in hand, a win at No. 9 Kansas can inch the Longhorns closer to a deep tournament run.

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No. 10 Texas vs. No. 8 Kansas preview and predictions

Texas is eyeing an undefeated road trip.

No. 10 Texas wraps up the second half of its weekend road trip with a big Monday matchup against No. 8 Kansas.

The Longhorns are hoping to make it an undefeated trip after taking down Kansas State on Saturday. Texas erased a 14-point Wildcat lead to leave with a victory.

Kansas is looking to bounce back after an upset loss to Iowa State. The Cyclones dominated the Jayhawks from the jump, winning 68-53.

Going into the rowdy environment at Allen Fieldhouse is no easy task. Kansas is 11-1 when defending its home court this season.

A win would put Texas in the driver’s seat in the Big 12 Conference standings and a high seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Longhorns are 8-2 in league play, holding on to a one-game lead over Iowa State.

Texas’ defense faces the tough challenge of slowing down Jalen Wilson and Grady Dick. The duo are some of the best scorers in the Big 12 and serve as the focal point of Kansas’ offense.