Junior Jeff Withey has been selected as the Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week, chosen by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, it was announced Tuesday morning. The USBWA's weekly honor is presented by Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook and will be handed out each Tuesday through Feb. 21 this season.
As the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week, Withey was nominated for the weekly award, which was chosen by a representative of the USBWA board of directors from a list of Division I conference players of the week.
KU AD
No one projected Kansas to be this good - my vote today 4 COACH of the Year @CoachBillSelf -Loss so much from last yr!
https://twitter.com/#!/DickieV
Game of the Night: Anyone not in high school right now remembers when Kansas State had a bad basketball program. The Kansas-Kansas State rivalry had approximately no national appeal. Thank God for Bob Huggins and Frank Martin getting the program back to relevance, because the games have been pretty great for the past half-decade. The two went at it again in Manhattan, Kan., tonight, and for the 22nd time in the last 24 meetings there, Kansas emerged victorious, 59-53.
It's certainly a big brother over little brother ordeal with these two programs, but at least K-State puts up a good fight. I always want to see how K-State brings it, even if it's normally the same result. What concerns me with the Wildcats now is, I'm not sure this team has the makeup to make a tourney run. It falls tonight, and now it gets Baylor and Missouri on the road. It's a 6-9 Big 12 team by next Tuesday night most likely, and so then it'll have to win out, finish 9-9 and get at least a Big 12 tourney win to have hope. Tall task.
…Player who deserves improper benefits: It’s Jeff Withey. Eighteen points, 11 boards, NINE BLOCKS. First guy with that kind of stat line in three years. This junior is transforming into prototypical Reliable and Forceful White Kansas Center. I didn't see it coming. He's genuinely awesome and fun and unpredictable to watch. His play makes me believe Kansas can make a Final Four run and not have it be a fluky thing. Love Withey. Gotta get Withey on the phone. Gotta get Withey to tell me how to live my life. Incredible turnaround. He's the most improved player in hoops this season.
CBS Norlander
The Wildcats commit a lot of fouls, but that same physical interior style, the one that held Thomas Robinson to just 10 points on 3-of-7 from the field, typically earns K-State its own fair share of trips to the line. But Kansas defended K-State brilliantly, which is to say the Jayhawks knew to challenge shots without committing too much contact, and knew that if they did, K-State's chances of keeping the offensive pace would falter eventually.
Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor was brilliant down the stretch, hitting two key threes at the 11-minute mark, finishing backcuts and drives around the rim, and locating open teammates in scoring position. After that flurry, Kansas had opened a wide-enough margin to take the tough road win. And that's not just a throwaway word here, "tough." In this instance, it perfectly describes the style Kansas State forces you to play, and the one the Jayhawks willingly adopted to get the win. Ugly? Oh yeah. Impressive? You bet.
ESPN Brennan
Withey is now one of KU’s most productive players, a continued threat defensively and a suddenly potent scorer. He was also KU’s best post player in Monday’s 59-53 KU victory against Kansas State, a team known for its physical style of play.
A year ago in Manhattan he scored four points and grabbed three rebounds in relief of the Morris twins, but he couldn’t really hang with the Wildcats’ rough and bruising style.
He couldn’t hang with most teams inside.
“That was a guy who couldn’t get in a game last year,” K-State coach Frank Martin said. “Bill used to try to play him. He couldn’t. He would put him in the game, and he’d have to take him out.”
In a game that was dominated by loose balls and rebounds and in which both teams shot worse than 40 percent, Withey anchored the Jayhawks inside.
K-State locked up Thomas Robinson, sending waves of defenders at him. That left Withey with room to work, but he wasn’t just Robinson’s sidekick in this one.
While K-State certainly wanted to keep the ball from Robinson, Withey asserted himself, matching K-State’s toughness and collecting 11 rebounds and nine blocks to go with 18 points.
TCJ
Jeff Withey had a double-double (18 points, 11 boards) and Tyshawn Taylor scored 20 points as no. 5 Kansas defeated rival Kansas State 59-53 on the road. Wildcat coach Frank Martin took the loss in stride by doing some deep-breathing exercises, listening to a meditation tape, and beating a lacquered mahogany desk to pulp over 10 rage-filled hours.
Grantland
Let's look ahead. If the NCAA Tournament began today, which five teams would present the strongest challenge to Kentucky earning its eighth national title?
Not Missouri. Too small. Not Duke. Not good enough on defense. Not Wisconsin. Not good enough on offense. Not Baylor. Too flaky.
My five: Syracuse, Ohio State, Kansas, Michigan State and (yes) North Carolina.
Let's break them down.
…Not many expected the Jayhawks to be hunting another national title, but Thomas Robinson is a National Player of the Year candidate, averaging 17.8 points and 12 rebounds per game.
Kansas boasts the required point guard in Tyshawn Taylor, who averages 16.9 points per game. The development of 7-foot center Jeff Withey, who's average is now up to 9.5 points per game, has been an added bonus. The Jayhawks also shoot 48.3 percent. (UK is at 48.7 percent.)
Kansas has one bad loss, Davidson in December, even though Sagarin's computer says it has played the second-toughest schedule in the nation. (UK is 69th.) That bodes well for March.
Lexington HL
Bill Self (33), Kansas. Record: 21-5. AP ranking: 4th. What he’s done right: Self had to replace so many talented bodies after last season that The Minutes thought this was finally – finally – the season the Jayhawks slipped from atop the Big 12. It hasn’t happened. All the leftover parts have gotten better – most prominent Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor, but the supporting cast as well. Missouri at Kansas on Feb. 25 could decide the league race, and the Big 12 Coach of the Year race as well.
…Ted Valentine (3) and the fans. Who else would lead this list but a guy named Valentine? “TV Teddy,” as he’s known, is a basketball official. A high-profile, high-visibility, high-theatrics basketball official. Sometimes not content to simply call a game, Valentine has been known to hijack a game. At the least, he usually can be counted on to make at least one showboat call against the home team, just to show he’s in charge.
He likes the attention.
Contrary to many people out there, The Minutes does not think Valentine is a bad official. He is not the worst ref in the world, as some assert – in fact, he wasn’t even the worst one on the court Saturday for the Michigan State-Ohio State game. But he did have a “TV Teddy” moment.
In a heated, physical game between Ohio State and Michigan State that at times had both teams upset, Valentine made a fairly grandiose show of assessing a bench warning to the Buckeyes for having a coach (or coaches) out of the box. In fact, it appeared that Valentine assessed the same warning twice during a media timeout, just to get the point across. The Minutes suspects that Valentine specifically was peeved at Ohio State assistant Jeff Boals, whose habit of mockingly clapping after calls go against the Buckeyes does not endear him to the stripes.
From that point on, Valentine was the object of Ohio State fans’ ire – which appears to be just the way he likes it. At game’s end, a fan leaned over the railing to heckle Valentine as he headed into the tunnel. Without looking up or breaking stride, Teddy saluted twice. It was a military-style salute, not the one-finger variety, but it still wasn’t a professional moment.
The Minutes has said this before and will say it again: Officiating a basketball game is incredibly hard, and the refs do a better job than most of us want to acknowledge. (Seriously, every fan in America says the conference their team plays in has the worst refs.) But the adage that nobody pays to see the refs show off is true – especially when it comes to “TV Teddy.”
Yahoo Forde Minutes
For nearly 20 minutes of basketball, there was nothing. So what, exactly, was behind the technical issues that left ESPN looking green and fuzzy during Monday night’s KU-K-State game?
On Tuesday, Time Warner Cable officials clarified the problem, saying a faulty receiver was to blame for knocking out the first half of basketball at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.
“[Monday] night, Time Warner Cable’s receiver failed to respond to a change in satellite frequencies initiated by ESPN,” said Dave Borchardt, Time Warner media-relations manager in Kansas City. “Our engineers worked diligently to resolve the issue, and we were able to restore service for the second half of the game.”
The technical issues set off an instant firestorm of complaints on Twitter and other social media, and late on Monday night, as KU finished off a 59-53 victory in Manhattan, Time Warner officials were still trying to identify the root cause of the problem. On Tuesday, Borchardt and Matt Derrick, Time Warner’s director of communications, said the issue stemmed from a glitch in the receiver. Satellite frequencies, or specific feeds, are often changed before live sporting events, Derrick said, and the process happens automatically. Derrick said Time Warner will continue to proactively test its equipment to prevent future outages.
For now, there are no plans to replay the game locally. And Time Warner, Derrick said, has no plans for any uniform compensation for customers that weren’t able to watch Monday’s game, saying that those type of things are generally done on a “case-by-base basis.” Derrick said calls and complaints spiked on Monday during the game, but the number of complaints or threats to cancel had tailed off by Tuesday afternoon.
Borchardt added that Time Warner Cable customers that own computers, tablets or smartphones were still able to watch via the “WatchESPN” app and WatchESPN.com. As of Tuesday evening, a full replay of the entire game was also still available at WatchESPN.com.
KC Star
First Round Voting for the Naismith Student Section of the Year is complete. Congratulations to each of the schools below for advancing to the Semifinal Round.
-Kansas
-Purdue
-Gonzaga
-San Diego State
-Utah State
-Indiana
-Duke
-Syracuse
-West Virginia
-Kentucky
-Illinois
-Cal
-Pitt
-Drexel
-Colorado
-Arizona
Beginning today, Monday, February 13, the Semifinalists enter a new round of public votes on the I Love College Hoops Facebook page. Voting in the Semifinal Round ends on February 24, 2012. Vote totals have gone back to zero for this round.
On February 25, the eight institutions with the highest popular vote total in the Semifinal Round will get put in front of the Naismith Board of Selectors for a final vote, which will be partially based on overall votes (both rounds), video, photo, essay, and other information submitted during the nomination process back in November.
VOTE for the Kansas Jayhawks student section
VOTE for Coach Self's Assists Foundation (C'mon people, he's losing to Sean Miller and Dave Rose!) Voting ends 2/27 Rose 33%, Miller 15% Self 8%
But it’s not just LeBron that’s powering the Heat’s lineup. Once overlooked point guard Mario Chalmers is also having a career year from behind the three-point line.
Chalmers leads the Heat with 54 three-point shots made this season and is shooting better than 45 percent from behind the arc. He’s doing this while averaging nearly 30 minutes a game, thanks to the improved play of rookie Norris Cole off the bench.
Chalmers missed a game with an injured wrist, but once he returned to the lineup, he hasn’t missed a beat. Chalmers credits LeBron for his improved shooting.
“I’m just moving without the ball and finding various spaces,” Chalmers told CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald. “I know what LeBron is going to do. I know where his vision is going to be.”
CBS
Three Kansas women’s basketball student-athletes were named to the 2012 Academic All-Big 12 Women’s Basketball Team, the league office announced Tuesday. Junior point guard Angel Goodrich and sophomore Tania Jackson earned spots on the first team while junior Carolyn Davis grabbed a place on the second team.
Goodrich earns the honor for the third time in her career. The point guard from Tahlequah, Okla., averages 12.6 points and 7.8 assists in 34.4 minutes per game for the Jayhawks. Goodrich’s 187 assists so far this year are just 20 shy of Kansas’ all-time single-season record.
…To qualify, student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or in the two previous semesters and must have participated in 60 percent of their team’s scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.
Kansas women’s basketball concludes a two-game road swing when it travels to Iowa State on Wednesday, Feb. 15 for a 7 p.m. tip. The game will be broadcast live over the airwaves of the Jayhawk Radio Network.
KU AD
As the Big 12 Conference Player of the Week, Withey was nominated for the weekly award, which was chosen by a representative of the USBWA board of directors from a list of Division I conference players of the week.
KU AD
No one projected Kansas to be this good - my vote today 4 COACH of the Year @CoachBillSelf -Loss so much from last yr!
https://twitter.com/#!/DickieV
Game of the Night: Anyone not in high school right now remembers when Kansas State had a bad basketball program. The Kansas-Kansas State rivalry had approximately no national appeal. Thank God for Bob Huggins and Frank Martin getting the program back to relevance, because the games have been pretty great for the past half-decade. The two went at it again in Manhattan, Kan., tonight, and for the 22nd time in the last 24 meetings there, Kansas emerged victorious, 59-53.
It's certainly a big brother over little brother ordeal with these two programs, but at least K-State puts up a good fight. I always want to see how K-State brings it, even if it's normally the same result. What concerns me with the Wildcats now is, I'm not sure this team has the makeup to make a tourney run. It falls tonight, and now it gets Baylor and Missouri on the road. It's a 6-9 Big 12 team by next Tuesday night most likely, and so then it'll have to win out, finish 9-9 and get at least a Big 12 tourney win to have hope. Tall task.
…Player who deserves improper benefits: It’s Jeff Withey. Eighteen points, 11 boards, NINE BLOCKS. First guy with that kind of stat line in three years. This junior is transforming into prototypical Reliable and Forceful White Kansas Center. I didn't see it coming. He's genuinely awesome and fun and unpredictable to watch. His play makes me believe Kansas can make a Final Four run and not have it be a fluky thing. Love Withey. Gotta get Withey on the phone. Gotta get Withey to tell me how to live my life. Incredible turnaround. He's the most improved player in hoops this season.
CBS Norlander
The Wildcats commit a lot of fouls, but that same physical interior style, the one that held Thomas Robinson to just 10 points on 3-of-7 from the field, typically earns K-State its own fair share of trips to the line. But Kansas defended K-State brilliantly, which is to say the Jayhawks knew to challenge shots without committing too much contact, and knew that if they did, K-State's chances of keeping the offensive pace would falter eventually.
Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor was brilliant down the stretch, hitting two key threes at the 11-minute mark, finishing backcuts and drives around the rim, and locating open teammates in scoring position. After that flurry, Kansas had opened a wide-enough margin to take the tough road win. And that's not just a throwaway word here, "tough." In this instance, it perfectly describes the style Kansas State forces you to play, and the one the Jayhawks willingly adopted to get the win. Ugly? Oh yeah. Impressive? You bet.
ESPN Brennan
Withey is now one of KU’s most productive players, a continued threat defensively and a suddenly potent scorer. He was also KU’s best post player in Monday’s 59-53 KU victory against Kansas State, a team known for its physical style of play.
A year ago in Manhattan he scored four points and grabbed three rebounds in relief of the Morris twins, but he couldn’t really hang with the Wildcats’ rough and bruising style.
He couldn’t hang with most teams inside.
“That was a guy who couldn’t get in a game last year,” K-State coach Frank Martin said. “Bill used to try to play him. He couldn’t. He would put him in the game, and he’d have to take him out.”
In a game that was dominated by loose balls and rebounds and in which both teams shot worse than 40 percent, Withey anchored the Jayhawks inside.
K-State locked up Thomas Robinson, sending waves of defenders at him. That left Withey with room to work, but he wasn’t just Robinson’s sidekick in this one.
While K-State certainly wanted to keep the ball from Robinson, Withey asserted himself, matching K-State’s toughness and collecting 11 rebounds and nine blocks to go with 18 points.
TCJ
Jeff Withey had a double-double (18 points, 11 boards) and Tyshawn Taylor scored 20 points as no. 5 Kansas defeated rival Kansas State 59-53 on the road. Wildcat coach Frank Martin took the loss in stride by doing some deep-breathing exercises, listening to a meditation tape, and beating a lacquered mahogany desk to pulp over 10 rage-filled hours.
Grantland
Let's look ahead. If the NCAA Tournament began today, which five teams would present the strongest challenge to Kentucky earning its eighth national title?
Not Missouri. Too small. Not Duke. Not good enough on defense. Not Wisconsin. Not good enough on offense. Not Baylor. Too flaky.
My five: Syracuse, Ohio State, Kansas, Michigan State and (yes) North Carolina.
Let's break them down.
…Not many expected the Jayhawks to be hunting another national title, but Thomas Robinson is a National Player of the Year candidate, averaging 17.8 points and 12 rebounds per game.
Kansas boasts the required point guard in Tyshawn Taylor, who averages 16.9 points per game. The development of 7-foot center Jeff Withey, who's average is now up to 9.5 points per game, has been an added bonus. The Jayhawks also shoot 48.3 percent. (UK is at 48.7 percent.)
Kansas has one bad loss, Davidson in December, even though Sagarin's computer says it has played the second-toughest schedule in the nation. (UK is 69th.) That bodes well for March.
Lexington HL
Bill Self (33), Kansas. Record: 21-5. AP ranking: 4th. What he’s done right: Self had to replace so many talented bodies after last season that The Minutes thought this was finally – finally – the season the Jayhawks slipped from atop the Big 12. It hasn’t happened. All the leftover parts have gotten better – most prominent Thomas Robinson and Tyshawn Taylor, but the supporting cast as well. Missouri at Kansas on Feb. 25 could decide the league race, and the Big 12 Coach of the Year race as well.
…Ted Valentine (3) and the fans. Who else would lead this list but a guy named Valentine? “TV Teddy,” as he’s known, is a basketball official. A high-profile, high-visibility, high-theatrics basketball official. Sometimes not content to simply call a game, Valentine has been known to hijack a game. At the least, he usually can be counted on to make at least one showboat call against the home team, just to show he’s in charge.
He likes the attention.
Contrary to many people out there, The Minutes does not think Valentine is a bad official. He is not the worst ref in the world, as some assert – in fact, he wasn’t even the worst one on the court Saturday for the Michigan State-Ohio State game. But he did have a “TV Teddy” moment.
In a heated, physical game between Ohio State and Michigan State that at times had both teams upset, Valentine made a fairly grandiose show of assessing a bench warning to the Buckeyes for having a coach (or coaches) out of the box. In fact, it appeared that Valentine assessed the same warning twice during a media timeout, just to get the point across. The Minutes suspects that Valentine specifically was peeved at Ohio State assistant Jeff Boals, whose habit of mockingly clapping after calls go against the Buckeyes does not endear him to the stripes.
From that point on, Valentine was the object of Ohio State fans’ ire – which appears to be just the way he likes it. At game’s end, a fan leaned over the railing to heckle Valentine as he headed into the tunnel. Without looking up or breaking stride, Teddy saluted twice. It was a military-style salute, not the one-finger variety, but it still wasn’t a professional moment.
The Minutes has said this before and will say it again: Officiating a basketball game is incredibly hard, and the refs do a better job than most of us want to acknowledge. (Seriously, every fan in America says the conference their team plays in has the worst refs.) But the adage that nobody pays to see the refs show off is true – especially when it comes to “TV Teddy.”
Yahoo Forde Minutes
For nearly 20 minutes of basketball, there was nothing. So what, exactly, was behind the technical issues that left ESPN looking green and fuzzy during Monday night’s KU-K-State game?
On Tuesday, Time Warner Cable officials clarified the problem, saying a faulty receiver was to blame for knocking out the first half of basketball at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.
“[Monday] night, Time Warner Cable’s receiver failed to respond to a change in satellite frequencies initiated by ESPN,” said Dave Borchardt, Time Warner media-relations manager in Kansas City. “Our engineers worked diligently to resolve the issue, and we were able to restore service for the second half of the game.”
The technical issues set off an instant firestorm of complaints on Twitter and other social media, and late on Monday night, as KU finished off a 59-53 victory in Manhattan, Time Warner officials were still trying to identify the root cause of the problem. On Tuesday, Borchardt and Matt Derrick, Time Warner’s director of communications, said the issue stemmed from a glitch in the receiver. Satellite frequencies, or specific feeds, are often changed before live sporting events, Derrick said, and the process happens automatically. Derrick said Time Warner will continue to proactively test its equipment to prevent future outages.
For now, there are no plans to replay the game locally. And Time Warner, Derrick said, has no plans for any uniform compensation for customers that weren’t able to watch Monday’s game, saying that those type of things are generally done on a “case-by-base basis.” Derrick said calls and complaints spiked on Monday during the game, but the number of complaints or threats to cancel had tailed off by Tuesday afternoon.
Borchardt added that Time Warner Cable customers that own computers, tablets or smartphones were still able to watch via the “WatchESPN” app and WatchESPN.com. As of Tuesday evening, a full replay of the entire game was also still available at WatchESPN.com.
KC Star
First Round Voting for the Naismith Student Section of the Year is complete. Congratulations to each of the schools below for advancing to the Semifinal Round.
-Kansas
-Purdue
-Gonzaga
-San Diego State
-Utah State
-Indiana
-Duke
-Syracuse
-West Virginia
-Kentucky
-Illinois
-Cal
-Pitt
-Drexel
-Colorado
-Arizona
Beginning today, Monday, February 13, the Semifinalists enter a new round of public votes on the I Love College Hoops Facebook page. Voting in the Semifinal Round ends on February 24, 2012. Vote totals have gone back to zero for this round.
On February 25, the eight institutions with the highest popular vote total in the Semifinal Round will get put in front of the Naismith Board of Selectors for a final vote, which will be partially based on overall votes (both rounds), video, photo, essay, and other information submitted during the nomination process back in November.
VOTE for the Kansas Jayhawks student section
VOTE for Coach Self's Assists Foundation (C'mon people, he's losing to Sean Miller and Dave Rose!) Voting ends 2/27 Rose 33%, Miller 15% Self 8%
But it’s not just LeBron that’s powering the Heat’s lineup. Once overlooked point guard Mario Chalmers is also having a career year from behind the three-point line.
Chalmers leads the Heat with 54 three-point shots made this season and is shooting better than 45 percent from behind the arc. He’s doing this while averaging nearly 30 minutes a game, thanks to the improved play of rookie Norris Cole off the bench.
Chalmers missed a game with an injured wrist, but once he returned to the lineup, he hasn’t missed a beat. Chalmers credits LeBron for his improved shooting.
“I’m just moving without the ball and finding various spaces,” Chalmers told CBS4 news partner the Miami Herald. “I know what LeBron is going to do. I know where his vision is going to be.”
CBS
Three Kansas women’s basketball student-athletes were named to the 2012 Academic All-Big 12 Women’s Basketball Team, the league office announced Tuesday. Junior point guard Angel Goodrich and sophomore Tania Jackson earned spots on the first team while junior Carolyn Davis grabbed a place on the second team.
Goodrich earns the honor for the third time in her career. The point guard from Tahlequah, Okla., averages 12.6 points and 7.8 assists in 34.4 minutes per game for the Jayhawks. Goodrich’s 187 assists so far this year are just 20 shy of Kansas’ all-time single-season record.
…To qualify, student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or in the two previous semesters and must have participated in 60 percent of their team’s scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.
Kansas women’s basketball concludes a two-game road swing when it travels to Iowa State on Wednesday, Feb. 15 for a 7 p.m. tip. The game will be broadcast live over the airwaves of the Jayhawk Radio Network.
KU AD
Big 12/College News
Big 12 Schedule & Results
Elston Turner scored 16 points and Khris Middleton had 11 to lead Texas A&M over Texas Tech 47-38 on Tuesday night, ending a four-game skid for the Aggies in their final Big 12 matchup with the Red Raiders.
The Aggies (13-12, 4-9) overcame a 15-point deficit and pulled ahead for the first time during an 18-5 run that included eight points from David Loubeau and five from Middleton.
KBTX
Big 12 scoring leader J'Covan Brown had 19 points and Texas extended its winning streak to four games, rallying from an eight-point deficit to beat Oklahoma 69-58 on Tuesday night.
Oklahoma (13-12, 3-10) dropped its fifth straight game, its fourth straight at home and its fifth straight in its series against Texas (17-9, 7-6), which is seeking a 14th straight NCAA tournament appearance under coach Rick Barnes.
Myck Kabongo and Sheldon McClellan scored 13 points each for Texas.
Steven Pledger led the Sooners with 18, and Cameron Clark and Romero Osby had 13 apiece.
Oklahoma led 33-25 in the final minute of the first half, but Texas used a 10-0 run spanning intermission to go ahead.
Oklahoma rallied briefly to go up 37-35, but Brown hit three 3-pointers in a 3-minute span as the Longhorns seized control with a 19-5 run and went up 54-42 with 10:56 left.
Texas Sports
TCU's seniors had never experienced what it's like to be a part of a court storming victory by TCU. There have been wins over the past four years, of course, but none that were so unexpected, or so important to a program that the die hard TCU basketball fans have stormed the court over. UNLV came into Fort Worth with a tie for the MWC lead, a well-earned top 11 ranking and more swagger than Chris Del Conte coming into a press conference to announce TCU's move to the Big 12.
Link
Kansas coach Bill Self said that West Virginia adds tremendous value, and with TCU the Big 12 schools can recruit in the Metroplex area even more.
"It all adds stability to an already great league," said Self.
Kansas State's Frank Martin said the addition of West Virginia ensures that the Big 12 will be even stronger going forward.
"We're adding a Final Four team, and a Hall of Fame coach," Martin said.
Martin's praise is understandable. He's one of Huggins' closest friends, having worked for him at Cincinnati and heading to Kansas State with him for one season before Huggins went to his alma mater at West Virginia. Martin then replaced him at Kansas State.
"I have tremendous respect for that league," Huggins said Tuesday. "We're going from one great league to another."
Huggins said the travel won't be an issue for West Virginia.
"We've got a lot further to go than everybody else, but we'll just charter in and out," Huggins said. "I tell you what impressed me [in the Big 12] is the student turnout is terrific. When the students are in there, there is such enthusiasm."
Huggins is right. The Big East's college campus arenas don't come close to the Big 12's arenas. The Big 12 blows the Big East away, save a few places like Louisville and Pitt.
Huggins said the Mountaineers will be in the mix immediately in the Big 12 with the transfer additions, even with the departure of senior Kevin Jones.
ESPN Katz
West Virginia and fellow newcomer TCU will be phased into the Big 12’s TV deals, with each receiving a 50 percent share of what is expected to be $18 million-$19 million per team for 2012-13. The amount increases to 67 percent in 2013-14 and 80 percent in 2014-15.
The Big 12 begins a 13-year deal with Fox Sports Net this season that will pay the conference about $90 million annually, and its deal with ABC/ESPN, which pays the league about $65 million a year, goes through the 2015-16 school year.
The Big 12 expects to open negotiations on that deal, for network rights, in two or three years, and the league has expressed confidence that a new network deal could at least double the current contract.
“We are very excited about the financial security that the television arrangements will provide us for all of our athletic programs,” said West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck.
West Virginia already has paid $2.5 million to the Big East as an exit fee.
The Big East and West Virginia had filed lawsuits over the issue, with the Big East intending to require the school to adhere to the conference’s bylaw that requires a 27-month notice for departure.
…Left to be resolved: The exit fees for Missouri and Texas A&M. Big 12 bylaws call for a penalty that is 90 percent of projected distribution revenue over two years for schools that give between six and 12 months notice. That amount could be as high as $23 million, according to a confidential document previously provided to The Associated Press.
KC Star
The Big 12 is still going, with Texas A&M and Missouri on their way out the door and TCU and West Virginia coming aboard. But ESPN is still struggling to find wide distribution for a sports channel that is all Texas, all the time.
Texas officials are pleading with Longhorns fans to be patient.
Since launching the network in August 2011, "delays in distribution have overshadowed the network's many positive aspects and impact," Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds and women's athletic director Chris Plonsky said in a joint statement last week.
"We ask our fans for patience and understanding," they said. "Distribution will happen, but the business negotiations process is painfully slow." "
ABC
Ronnie Lott and J.T. Snow helped put up a wall, Marshawn Lynch cleared space with a sledgehammer and the Pac-12 got started building the studios for its new television network.
The conference held the groundbreaking for the Pac-12 networks in downtown San Francisco on Monday, about six months before it will hit the air with a national cable television network, six regional networks and a digital network.
"It's truly a seminal moment for the conference," Commissioner Larry Scott said at a ceremony featuring former great athletes from the conference, as well as San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee. "It's an exciting time for college sports in general and there's no more exciting place to be than the Pac-12. We've got a great dynamic and bold vision for the future of college sports and the future of our conference."
This network is a major part of that. After reaching a 12-year contract worth about $3 billion last May with Fox and ESPN, Scott announced plans to launch a new conference-owned network to supplement coverage and create more exposure for Pac-12 athletes.
It will be a national network that will air 34 football games next season, at least 125 men's college basketball games, at least 40 women's basketball games and more than 650 Olympic sports events.
The six regional networks will focus more on local schools, providing increased exposure to a conference that has often lacked it despite on-field success.
AP
Although West Virginia is bolting from the Big East early, Pittsburgh and Syracuse will not leave the Big East this fall for the Atlantic Coast Conference, college football industry sources told CBSSports.com.
West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse were scheduled to leave the Big East in 2014, but the Mountaineers filed a lawsuit to exit early. CBSSports.com reported last week that West Virginia and the Big East reached a verbal agreement that would pay the Big East $20 million and resolve the issues between the two parties, allowing the Mountaineers to join the Big 12 on July 1.
Sources told CBSSports.com that Pittsburgh and Syracuse won’t try to leave this summer, but will attempt to negotiate deals to allow them to join the ACC a year early in 2013. Unlike West Virginia, Pittsburgh and Syracuse have not pursued any legal action to get out of the Big East’s 27-month exit requirement and leave before 2014.
The main reason Pittsburgh and Syracuse are not trying to leave the Big East this season is both schools don’t want to be “any more disruptive to the Big East” for the coming season. If Pittsburgh and Syracuse left for the ACC this summer, the Big East could be down to only five football members.
Another reason, Pittsburgh and Syracuse aren’t trying to join the ACC this fall, is because the ACC doesn’t desperately need the teams to fill out this year’s league schedule, like the Big 12 needed West Virginia to replace Missouri in its 2012 schedule.
With West Virginia paying $20 million to leave the Big East two years early, Pittsburgh and Syracuse each would likely have been required to pay the same amount to leave this summer. Also by waiting until 2013, they likely can negotiate a deal to only pay $10 million – double the $5 they initially paid when they announced they were leaving. That $10 million figure is the Big East’s current exit fee since Navy announced it was joining the league last month.
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USA Today: Is the Calhoun era at UConn near its end?
Recruiting
Shabazz Muhammad has scheduled an official visit to Kansas. #kubball, #scoop
6:50 PM - 14 Feb 12 via TweetDeck ·
https://twitter.com/#!/JayhawkSlant/status/169584227086643200
Ballislife.com Muhammad video highlights
No beats, just the squeak of sneakers in my Jayhawk Invitational highlights w/Shabazz Muhammad and Dream Vision (SM #15)
Probly will be visiting Kansas the 25th
https://twitter.com/#!/cwalkertime23/status/169787913318567936
Chris Walker video
The target on Heights’ back had never been bigger then it was on Tuesday as the Falcons made history by winning their 60th consecutive game in a 54-42 victory over Bishop Carroll. The win snapped Moundridge’s record set in the early 90’s.
“You’ve just done something that no one has done in 100 years of Kansas high school basketball,” an emotional Joe Auer told his team following the win. “To do it in this league is unbelievable and nobody can ever take it away from you.”
The victory was one of their hardest to come by as Heights could feel the pressure to win mounting on top of them. “To know you’ve done something no one else has done before is a pretty special feeling,” Auer said. “Tonight was probably the toughest game we’ve had all year. There was a lot on our shoulders tonight.”
…Perry Ellis, who has been the foundation of Heights’ program during the streak, once again led the charge down the stretch and finished with a game-high 19 points.
“It’s real tough, the radar is on us every game,” Ellis said of the struggle to continue to win night after night. “It’s just a great feeling to have and to be looked at like one of the great teams. I’m real blessed to be a part of it.”
…Ellis, who surpassed 2,000 career points in the first half, carried the load in the final minutes scoring nine points in the fourth quarter. “I just wanted to come out and win games and that was just an accolade that came with winning,” Ellis said of becoming the first City League player to record 2,000 points.
“He just continues to get better,” Auer said of his senior standout. “I think his best is yet to come this season and beyond. He’s our leader and the kids know that and he’s been a terrific player for us for this whole streak.”
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North’s Conner Frankamp poured in 41 points in his team’s 63-53 win over Southeast. Frankamp now has 1,603 points for his career, which is just 64 points behind South great Ricky Ross for fourth all-time in the City League.
Heights (Ellis) vs North(Frankamp) will be on Cox 22 & Metro Sports Feb. 23 @ 7:30.
Link
Mike Bethea walked out of a locker room at Ingraham High School and, before a question could be asked, before mentioning his 400th career win, the Rainier Beach boys basketball coach wanted to make one thing clear.
"We need to learn how to finish," Bethea said after Tuesday's 69-58 win over Bellevue in the Sea-King 3A District Tournament.
The Vikings (22-2), who booked a trip to the regional round of the state playoffs, led by double figures most of the game but, each time they took control, they relaxed. They let the Wolverines (18-6) back in the game.
"We just got careless," Bethea said. "We get complacent with a big lead. We've just got to be smarter."
Rainier Beach advances to play O'Dea in the district semifinals at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Bellevue College. Bellevue plays a loser-out game against Mercer Island at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Bellevue College.
…Anrio Adams scored a game-high 28 points for Rainier Beach, while Cole Walton scored 19 for Bellevue.
Seattle Times
The latest installment of what has become one of the great rivalries in Central Virginia provided yet another fantastic finish, as Blue Ridge survived a last-second, potential game-winning jumper from Miller star forward Andrew White to give coach Bill Ramsey his 300th career victory, 64-63, on Tuesday night.
...The visiting Barons jumped out to an early 8-2 lead over the opening two minutes, until University of Kansas-bound White — who entered the contest with 999 career points — completed a three-point play as part of a personal 7-3 run by the talented forward to get back in it. The game was stopped to present White with the game ball, which he ran into the stands to give to his family.
“I was looking forward to this game for multiple reasons,” said White. “A big rivalry, senior night, a thousand points, it was all great, but what I wanted the most was to bring this win home… I’ve had a great career here at Miller, it was good to get the 1,000th point in such a big game, so it made my family and I proud.”
In the midst of the action, White was whistled for his second offensive foul of the first quarter and had to watch from the bench for much of the remainder of the half. The Barons took advantage of White’s absence by scoring 10 straight points to lead 27-17 after a Travis Hester 3-pointer tied the game at 17-all early in the second quarter. White and the Mavericks (15-8, 2-3) closed to within four, but Blue Ridge ended the half on a 6-2 spurt to take a 35-27 advantage into the break.
Junior guard Jarod Williams and White led their respective teams with 11 points apiece at halftime.
…After a hectic scramble, White got off a solid look from the baseline just before the horn sounded, but the shot just missed breaking the hearts of the Blue Ridge faithful, which then poured onto the floor in celebration.
“We had a great look,” Willard said. “It just went in-and-out… tough way to lose.”
Added White of the play: “I wouldn’t have it any other way — a wide-open shot from point-blank range. I wasn’t too aware of the time on the clock since I had my back to the basket, but like I said, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m proud of my team’s effort. I could have made a big shot and put my name in the history books, so as far as the shot, shoot it — make it or miss it… You never shy away from a moment like that, so that’s the way it goes. That’s basketball.”
White finished with a game-high 26 points, while Jenkins added 11 and five assists. The Mavericks will close out the VIC slate on Thursday at Liberty Christian before a pair of games in the nation’s capital this weekend to finish the regular season.
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