Times, channels set for Big 12, AAC tournaments

Kansas behemoth Undoka Azubuike sprained the MCL in his left knee in practice on Tuesday, and will reportedly not be available for any of the Jayhawks’ action in K.C. this week.

Picked during the preseason to finish last in the Big 12, Mike Boynton’s Cowboys are 19-13 overall and were 8-10 in regular-season conference play.

The reason was simple.

On the season, Oklahoma State basketball averages 76.9 points, 36.6 rebounds and 14.4 assists per game.

After opening the season with a 12-1 record, including winning 10 straight after losing to Arkansas, Oklahoma lost seven on the final nine games.

– Two top basketball universities from Kansas will play at the the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament Thursday at the Sprint Center. Kendall Smith was the game’s high scorer with 25 points on 9-for-15 shooting.

So something has to change, right? In a year where the Big 12 beat up on each other pretty badly, Iowa State seemed to be the one team that trailed behind for the entire season.

What’s that Albert Einstein quote about the definition of insanity? The Cowboys were 11 of 26 from beyond the arc, improving to 16-2 when they make at least nine 3s. The Cowboys are coming off an upset win over the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday. OSU won, 71-60. “He’s really made a remarkably high percentage of good plays and good decisions”. I think the only question is if they end up on the 8/9 line, where a team with their general profile would typically fall (if we had no idea of the ordering of their results) or if the poor recent form influences the committee to seed them down further. It’s who we are. In games that the Mountaineers committed 23 or more fouls, they went 9-6.

The quality of play, unsurprisingly, has led to the top conference RPI in the country.

While their importance goes up a great deal in this one, neither player has to be great for Kansas to win.

Lightfoot and De Sousa should understand that. “Even if you don’t have a ticket into they venue, there is something to do downtown”. It’s not anything you did wrong, it’s just the other team was a little bit better.

Whether Charlie Brewer or Gerry Bohanon start at quarterback next season, they must cut down their interceptions from last season. He is one of three guys scoring double digits per game for the Cowboys. They’re now on a 6-game losing streak, their 5th multi-game losing streak this year. “I don’t operate that way, and for people who have been around me, I just control the things I can control”.

There also hasn’t been a freshman who has taken on more of a burden than Young, who’s second in the nation in usage (37.1 percent). But those silly ones – moving screens, fouling 80 feet from the OSU basket, etc. – must be avoided. If the Cowboys win both games, they are a likely NCAA Tournament team.

The schedule begins with the play-in round Wednesday evening.

The Cowboys led from wire to wire, which has become more the norm than the exception over Oklahoma’s last three losses away from Norman.

In the first game of the night, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma faced off, with the Cowboys showing dominance all over the court.

“Obviously we have some losses, but they’re all to teams that are by everybody’s estimation going to be in the field”, Boynton said. They have really good length. “We’ll worry about what next week brings next week”.