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Coaches say Big 12 still tough,
competitive conference it’s been
ByAdamKunker
Senior staff writer
There’s not a hint of March
Madness in the Big 12 Conference.
Fateful February might work better.
Call it what you will -in a season
where anyone can beat anyone at any
time and anywhere, the Big 12 is
experiencing a different kind of
men’s basketball insanity.
Though the conference as a
whole has slipped in the ratings per
centage index from last season (sixth
last year, eighth this year as matched
against other conferences), coaches
around the league agreed that the
level of competitiveness has not been
thinned but rather, has stepped up.
“There’s no doubt the league is
down a little bit,
said Oklahoma
State Coach
Eddie Sutton.
“But there are
five or six teams
that are really
good ball clubs
that go out and
play with a lot of
people. And
those five or six
teams are playing
a lot better than
they were earlier
in the year.
And as
February begins, Sutton said, those
teams will be vying for NCAA
Tournament berths as each confer
ence game could possibly be the
determining factor in a team’s bid
hopes.
But halfway through the league
season, the conference picture isn’t,
shaping up so sharply in the Big 12
as evidenced by several ties in the
league standings, including a three
way draw for second place between
Missouri, Oklahoma State and
Kansas, all deadlocked at 6-2.
Oklahoma and Nebraska are tied for
third with 5-3 records.
Big Twelve standings
Conference Overall
W L PCI W L PCT.
Texas 7 1 .875 12 9 .571
Missouri 6 2 .750 15 4 .789
Oklahoma St 6 2 .750 15 5 750
Kansas 6 2 .750 14 6 .700
Oklahoma 5 3 .625 14 7 .667
Nabrasfca 5 3 .625 13 8 .619
loin St 4 4 .500 13 6 019
KansasSt 3 5 .375 14 7 .667
Colorado 2 6 .250 11 10.524
Texas A&M 2 6 .250 9 9 .500
Texas Tech 2 6 250 10 11 .476
Baylor 0 8 .000 6 15 286
66
There was a gap between us and everybody
else. The record proves that. It's not me
trying to brag.”
Roy Williams
Kansas coach
Unranked Texas, at 7-1, leads the
league. .
UT Coach Rick Barnes, a former
coach at Clemson in the Atlantic
Coast Conference, said he has found
the Big 12, despite the drop in Top 25
teams and the loss of one or two dom
inant teams, is still among the best in
the nation. „
As a league,
we’re going to have
to do everything we
can to let people
know how we feel
about our league,”
Barnes said. “This
month is a big
month, and we’re
going to have to
figure out a way to
project that we
have good basket
ball in this league.”
Barnes said that
Jon Frank/DN he expects to see a
surge in the next
few weeks that should land some
more Big 12 teams a better shot at an
at large bid into the NCAA
Tournament.
Still, though Texas has a lead and
other teams are hovering around
breaking loose, some things remain
to be seen.
Missouri Coach Norm Stewart
said the Big 12 picture can be quite
deceiving.
“If Texas continues to win all
their ballgames, they go 15-1 - it’ll
look like there was nothing to it -
that’s yet to be determined. But right
now, it’s got everybody’s interest
piqued pretty well.”
All the questions seem to levitate
around the absence of a clear-cut
favorite, a position normally held by
KU. But the Jayhawks, though still an
esteemed threat, stumbled twice last
week with a 70-61 loss at Nebraska
and a close 77-74 victory at
Colorado.
“It’s more wide-open,” KU Coach
Roy Williams said of this year’s Big
12. “We’ve been very fortunate the
last two years - we were really good.
There was a gap between us and
everybody else. The record proves
that. It’s not me trying to brag. But
this year, it is so competitive on every
night.”
With somewhat of a balance
being recognized in the conference,
though the Big 12 has no teams in the
Top 20 and only Missouri, at No. 24,
in the Associated Press poll, the
coacnes said it nas maae ior a more
exciting and dynamic year.
“Overall, we have much more
parity in the league,” Baylor Coach
Harry Miller said. “We don’t have the
super team like we’ve had with
Kansas the last couple of years, but
we’ve got some very good teams that
people may underestimate. It’s mak
ing for a much more fun season when
anybody can knock anybody off on a
given night.”
While it’s exhilarating for the
fans, Williams said he could do with
out all the melodrama.
“It’s making for a lot of excite
ment for the fans and a lot more gray
hairs for the coaches.”
San Jose State agrees to play
Nebraska during 2000 season
From staff reports
Another team from sunny
California has signed on to play the
Nebraska football team.
San Jose State, a member of
Western Athletic Conference, has
agreed to play at Memorial Stadium
on Sept. 2, 2000. The Spartans are
filling a spot left vacant by Texas
Christian, another WAC team,
which opted out of its contract.
The Spartans were 4-8 last year
with its biggest win coming over
Stanford, a 35-23 victory.
NU also plays at Notre Dame
and plays Iowa at home in 2000.
The Cornhuskers are still
searching for a team to fill slots
open in 2001 and 2002. Nebraska is
searching for a home-and-home
series and has been rumored to be
talking with Pittsburgh about such a
possibility
Nebraska also plays Notre Dame
and Rice in 2001, and Penn State
and Utah State in 2002. The Huskers
play Iowa, Southern Mississippi and
California next year.
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Notre Dame,
debates move
to Big Ten
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Bob
. Davie likes a national schedule,
unmatched exposure and the multi
million-dollar TV contract that goes
with Notre Dame’s independence.
But the Fighting Irish coach also
knows it’s becoming more difficult to
stand alone in college football, espe
cially as more bowls align them
selves with conferences.
In 1995, Notre Dame took a 6-4
1 record to the Fiesta Bowl, and the
next year, thje 9-2 Irish made the
Orange Bowl.
This season, however, a 9-2
record qualified the team for a spot in
the second-tier Gator Bowl, because
of an agreement with the Big East to
participate in its bowl rotation.
Without that agreement, Davie
joked, the Irish might have played in
the Music City or Motor City bowls.
“That’s why I think there’s a point
where you face reality,” Davie said.
It’s also part of the reason Notre
Dame is considering ending its 111
year history as a football independent
by joining the Big Ten.
The decision could affect rev
enues while potentially threatening
Notre Dame’s reputation as a nation
al, independent, Roman Catholic
university - both academically and
athletically.
Which way the university will go
could be determined Feb. 5, when its
president, the Rev. Edward A.
Malloy, presents a recommendation
to the Board of Trustees on affiliation
with tiie Big Ten.