Though the state of Tennessee may be the current capital of the college hoops world, the success of the Big 12 conference has many turning their attention to the heartland. While teams such as the Kansas Jayhawks historically have been powerhouses, only in the last decade or so has the Big 12 shed its reputation as purely a football conference. This year, the league's firepower and depth make it one of the most impressive in the country.
In Lawrence, Kansas, coach Bill Self has the Jayhawks running wild at their typical fast pace. Kansas (24-3, 9-3 Big 12) has an extremely balanced scoring attack led by sophomore forward Darrell Arthur, who averages a team-high 13.5 points a game.
Another of the team's biggest threats has been junior Brandon Rush. The silky-smooth guard has dropped 12 a game to go along with five boards. Rush isn't the first in his family to star in the Big 12 either; his older brother Kareem starred for the Missouri Tigers in the early part of the decade.
While this year's Tigers are mired at the bottom of the league, the younger Rush has Kansas at second place in the conference, ranked No. 7 nationally and primed to do some serious damage next month. All three of Kansas' losses came on the road, and two of those games were decided by a total of four points. The other loss came at the end of January to one of the Big 12's new forces, the Kansas State Wildcats.
The newfound success of the Wildcats (8-5, 18-9), while a far cry from the school's mostly futile basketball history, is not altogether unexpected. Last year's coach, Bob Huggins, managed to land some huge recruits to play at KSU. While Huggins is now head coach for the West Virginia Mountaineers, K-State has reaped the spoils of his recruiting efforts in a big way.
The chief example is of course Michael Beasley, who has arguably been the most dominant player in the country this year. Averaging a stunning 26.2 points and 12.6 rebounds per game, Beasley has managed to exceed the hype that surrounded him before he ever stepped foot in Manhattan, Kansas.
While they have a solid hold on third in the conference, the Wildcats have had a rough week. Once 7-1 in league play, KSU has dropped its last three games, including a road loss to the lowly Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Beasley has sustained his absurd performance during this tough stretch - he tallied a Big 12-record 44 points in Saturday's loss to the Baylor Bears - but the play of his supporting cast has left something to be desired. Take the team's other hyped freshman, Bill Walker, a 6-foot-6 swingman from Cincinnati. The Wildcats' second-leading scorer only managed 12 points at Nebraska, and a head-scratching one point in Monday's home loss to the conference-leading Texas Longhorns. Kansas State will only go as far as their über-talented freshmen will take them. If the last week is any indication, though, that won't be very far.
Meanwhile, in Austin, coach Rick Barnes has the fans saying, "Durant who?" Texas (24-4, 11-2), ranked No. 5 in the country, has a new go-to guy in sophomore guard D.J. Augustin. Only six feet tall, the New Orleans native leads his team in points per game, assists and minutes played.
His partner in crime has been the equally diminutive guard A.J. Abrams, who is listed at 5-foot-11. Abrams averages over 16 points per game, including a 25-point outburst in a road win over the Iowa State Cyclones earlier this month. D.J. and A.J. present one of the most formidable backcourts in the country this year, making UT a team to beat in the coming weeks.
While Augustin's performance has been very consistent all year, there is one team that he has struggled against: the Big 12's feel-good story of the year, Baylor. It has only been a few years since former Bear Patrick Dennehy was murdered by his teammate Carlton Dotson, but coach Scott Drew has sparked an impressive turnaround that has Baylor (18-8, 6-6) in serious contention for an NCAA bid.
The Bears have an excellent floor leader in guard Curtis Jerrells, who averages 15.7 points per game to go with 3.6 dimes. After a recent four-game losing streak, Jerrells dropped 24 in Saturday's victory over KSU to help get Baylor back on track. With four league games left, Jerrells, along with freshman guard LaceDarius Dunn, will have to carry the load. Having gone through one of the worst episodes in sports history a mere four years ago, a tournament appearance for Baylor would mark one of the most incredible turnarounds in recent memory.
Baylor is currently in a four-way tie for fourth place in the Big 12 with the Texas A&M Aggies, the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Tech Red Raiders. This logjam will surely make for an exciting end of the season, and an even more riveting conference tournament in Kansas City beginning March 13. Just in time for March, the Big 12 has epitomized how entertaining parity can be.
