Familiar faces shine in Big 12 men’s basketball
By Sam McKewon
Senior editor
Seems like old times at the top of the
power structure in the Big 12
Conference in men’s basketball.
So old, in fact, it dates to before the
Big 12 was even formed.
Four traditional powers from the old
Big Eight - Kansas, Missouri,
Oklahoma and Oklahoma State - have
positioned themselves atop the league
standings along with Texas.
Monday night Missouri played
Kansas ina late game, while Oklahoma
(12-3) and Oklahoma State (11-3), both
3-0 in the conference, meet tonight to
further separate the undefeated ranks
from die rest of the pack.
Texas, which was part of the
Southwest Conference before the Big
12, stands at 3-0 as well, but is still has a
losing record overall at 7-8.
The early league proceedings
harken old Big Eight fans back to the
battles in the 1980s and early 1990s,
when die Waymon Tisdales, the Danny
Mannings, Bryant Reeves and Anthony
Peelers of the conference competed in
games every week that had national
prominence.
While there’s no team in the Big 12
figured in the national title race current
ly, Kansas’s demotion from national
power to merely mortal because of grad
uation has left the conference crown up
for grabs among the classic war horses.
“You can probably Say that four or
five teams got a shot at the title,”
Oklahoma Coach Kelvin Sampson said.
“There’s Missouri, Oklahoma State,
Kansas, us and Texas. We all fit that cat- -
egory.”
The conference itself suffered a bit
of a knock on its image in the nOn-con
ference games. Many of die elite teams
in the conference didn’t fare well
against the upper crust of other confer
ences. Kentucky pounded KU by 18,
Southwest Missouri State beat
Missouri, and Oklahoma State lost to
UCLA, Qeighton and Florida Atlantic.
In die past, the Big 12 has had the
look of a one-team conference, with
Kansas beating enough top 10 teams to
make the rest of the conference look
good It’s not happening now.
Still, as Kansas State’s Tom Asbury
said, it might be better to see more bal
ance within die league and no one major
power.
“It’s healthy for us, no question,”
Asbury said. “I don’t know if there’s
parity yet with five teams undefeated
and die rest losing, but I can see where
it’s going.”
It’s hard to say which team is the
most surprising. It might be Texas,
which started the conference season 4
8, but has since won its three Big 12
contests under new Coach Rick Barnes,
including a 89-76 win over Nebraska
Sunday.
Barnes, whose half-court, defense
oriented coaching got Clemson to the
Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament in
1997, said UT is starting to adapt to a
pace worlds apart from Tom Penders’
free-wheeling, fast-break offense.
“They’re starting to see what we
want to do with the basketball,” Barnes
said. “Even when we weren’t doing so
well, the great thing about these kids is
that they come back and want to learn
die very next day.”
Oklahoma; too, might be consid
ered a surprise. After losing leading
scorer Corey Brewer to graduation, OU
has brought out possibly the best front
court in the conference, with Eduardo
Najera (16.4 points per game and 7.4
rebounds per game) and Ryan
Humphrey (13.6 and 7.9) and guard
play that has been stable.
“We’re weaker than we’ve been at
the guards,” Sampson said. “Our inside
game is there, though, and Eduardo is
learning how to be that top player that
Corey Brewer and Ryan Minor used to
be.”
OU Sports Information
SOPHOMORE FORWARD Ryan Humphrey leads an Oklahoma team that is
undefeated in the Big 12 Conference so far this season. Humphrey joins for
ward Eduardo Hajera as one of the best frontcourt tandems in the Big 12.
Low scoring hinders NU
HOOPS from page 9
“You’re going to give up some
more points,” said senior Andy
Maikowski. “In return, you hope to get
more offense.”
Florence said the NU press had
problems of its own.
“We should have stuck to one thing
rather than done several things,”
Florence said. “We just put in a new
press. We’re not 100 percent sure on
one press, and then we go to another.
Florence also said defense isn’t the
problem.
“I know our defense is capable of
shutting down teams,” Florence said.
“If we can’t score, our defense isn’t
doing any good. If you can’t put up
points, you can’t win.
“It’s a matter of being consistent. If
we start one way, we have to keep it
going. This team still has a long way to
go.”
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