Baylor a Team No One Wants to Face

Once a doormat in the Big 12, Baylor has become the team this season every conference coach hates to see coming.

Just look at the Bears' work so far against the league's top three teams. They pushed the Kansas Jayhawks to the limit before succumbing to an 81-75 defeat at Allen Fieldhouse Jan. 20. Last Tuesday, they controlled 10th-ranked Kansas State much of the night before the Wildcats escaped with a 76-74 win.

Then, finally, this past Saturday, Baylor got one when point guard Tweety Carter and the Bears outlasted sixth-ranked Texas for an 80-77 victory in overtime on the road. Not only was it the highest-ranked road win in Baylor's history, but it also sent a resounding message that the program is a serious threat.

"It was really big for us from the standpoint we had such a tough loss to Kansas and we had a tough loss at home to Kansas State," seventh-year Baylor coach Scott Drew said during Monday's Big 12 conference call. "Both of them were decided in the last minute of the game. You need to win some close ones because after a while that can really wear on you.

"All year long we've done well in close games and won more than our share but in conference you definitely don't want to lose too many of them in a row because they can add up quick. You also don't want that for the morale."

The Bears' confidence might be the least of his worries after Saturday. Baylor, which controlled much of the game against the more celebrated Longhorns, got big performances all over the place. There was Michigan transfer Ekpe Udoh, who was 0-of-11 from the field in regulation, knocking down the first six of the Bears' first seven points in overtime. Carter had a couple big turnovers against Texas' press in overtime, but came up big on the defensive end and in getting the ball to freshman A.J. Walton at the end.

As strong as the Bears are this season, 17-4 and 4-3 in the Big 12, they aren't a threat to win the regular-season conference title but they could make things interesting in the Big 12 Tournament as one of the top four teams. Those are the possibilities that came open with Saturday's rare win over Texas.

"It's big, it's big," said Carter, who led the way with 27 points against Texas. "I don't when is the last time we (beat Texas at home), but it's big for this team and this program. But it don't stop here."

The Bears, who were saddled with probation back in 2005 after messy situation brought on by former coach Dave Bliss, certainly have the appearance of a team capable of making some noise from this point until March Madness. This week, they jumped to No.20 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and entered the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll at No. 24.

It's only the second time in school history Baylor has been ranked in the Top 25 in February. The last time being in 1969.

"You love the compliment that people think you are one of the Top 25 teams but I think our program has matured enough that we realize that just gives you a bigger target on your back, as well," said Drew, whose team hosts Iowa State on Wednesday. "I would love to see more Big 12 teams ranked in the Top 25 because I am a little biased. I think it is the best conference in America. In the non-conference we proved that."

Longhorns Up Against Ropes

Texas coach Rick Barnes hinted Monday that while his Longhorns' recent struggles may have surprised much of the nation, it wasn't much of a shock to him.

Before Monday night's 72-60 road win against Oklahoma State, UT had lost three of its last four. Not quite the mark of a team that entered the season a top three team and just a few weeks ago held the No. 1 ranking.

Suddenly, instead of discussing winning the Big 12 and securing a No.1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the focus has narrowed to one game at a time.

"I don't know where I thought we would be," Barnes said. "With our scheduling being what it is, I don't know if I knew. But I do know that sometimes when things are going really really well, things get masked a little bit."

Those things could include the recurring theme of poor free-throw shooting, or inconsistency at guard play or the inability of 6-foot-10 senior Dexter Pittman to be a consistent presence offensively and defensively inside. Even star forward Damion James, who a few weeks ago looked like the leading candidate for National Player of the Year, has faded at times.

Barnes said that maybe going through tough losses at Kansas State and UConn in back-to-back games and then coming home and losing this past Saturday to Baylor may help his team down the road.

"I don't think there is a problem getting stung, having a little adversity because all I know I'd rather go through some of things right now as opposed to later on when you don't have time to fix it," said Barnes, whose team sits in second place in the league standings at 19-3, 5-2 Big 12. "Now we have been able to bring some things out that needed to be brought out amongst our team and their attitude has been great."

It would seem that winning Monday night's game against a dangerous Oklahoma State team was huge in keeping the Longhorns in line for one of the top seeds in next month's Big 12 Tournament. How they come out these next two games, a road win at Oklahoma followed by a Monday night showdown against No.1 Kansas, could be even more critical.

Barnes, however, doesn't share that belief.

"I don't look at it like that," said Barnes, whose team dropped to No.9 in the AP poll this week. "I look at it that our job right now is to continue to build our team, I'm not looking further than the game we have here (Monday night against Oklahoma State). I know we can win a basketball game, but what I'm look for is that we grow and that we improve ourselves as a team. If we continue to do that we will be fine."

Kansas on the Rise

If there is a team that has seemed to benefit more from a loss, it's been Kansas.

Since the then-No.1 Jayhawks lost on the road to Tennessee, 76-68, on Jan. 10 in their final scheduled non-conference game, they've put together seven straight wins in Big 12 play to emerge as the top team. KU coach Bill Self saw that game as something of a wakeup call.

(Consider Wednesday night's scare against Colorado something of a snooze button.)

"I do think we've perform better since then and we've had some individuals step up their play since then," said Self, whose team reclaimed the No. 1 ranking this week after a three-week absence from the top. "I don't think anybody is going to run the table obviously in today's time. I think that sometimes people, coaches included, and fans can make a bigger deal out of one loss. We lost to a team that even though they were short-handed, they were playing their best ball at that particular time. We didn't play very well and we had the ball down three, but just couldn't do it.

"It was a poor performance for us, but I do think it did kind of get our guys attention. We have played better since then. That's one of the reasons. That means we learned from a loss and made it not such a bad loss because we learned something from it."

Senior guard Sherron Collins has consistently been incredible all season, so much of the credit for improvement has to go to junior post Cole Aldrich, who has really stepped up these last few weeks. Kansas (20-1, 6-0) has also received a huge lift from sophomore forward Marcus Morris and junior guard Brady Morningstar.

Morris has led the Jayhawks in conference play, averaging 17.1 points and 8.2 rebounds while shooting a league-best 62 percent from the field. Aldrich has asserted himself as one of the premiere big men in the country, averaging 13.2 points and 9.7 rebounds since Big 12 play began.

And this past Saturday, Morningstar came through with a huge second half that helped propel Kansas to an 81-79 win at Kansas State on Saturday night.

"Sherron is a good player, a competitor and he's going to play most every night where his numbers are at least average to above average," Self said. "Some nights he doesn't need to score as much. But I would say Cole, Marcus and Brady have been the three performers that are playing at a higher level than maybe they were when we were laboring in January."


Knight To Use Time Wisely

Nobody has been as frustrated with Texas Tech's 2-5 league mark than head coach Pat Knight.

An impressive non-conference run has not translated into the Big 12 success Knight had hoped so far. A big part of the problem has been defensive lapses, which Knight aims to correct this week in practice because the Red Raiders are off until Saturday afternoon's home game against Oklahoma State.

"We are going to hammer them," Knight said. "We are going to get after guys defensively. We have to get back to the way we were playing defense in the preseason and get a little more pride back into our defense. So we are really going to break down. We may not spend any time on our offense for a couple days. We've got to get back to guarding people and just being able to defend. I was just not pleased with our defensive effort, especially after watching the tape.

"We can be so much better defensively. It's nothing technical, it's just simple stuff: Get it into the ball, ball pressure. It's just an effort deal. I have drills and everything that can take care of that."

Missouri Breaks Free of Shooting Slump

It's amazing the record the Missouri Tigers have managed with the way they've been shooting the ball in conference play.

But they received a boost with a highly productive outing during Saturday's 95-80 home win over Oklahoma State. The Tigers knocked down 52 percent of their shots from the field, which was their highest shooting percentage since a 54 percent eruption against Georgia on Jan. 2.

Missouri, known for its full-court press defense under Mike Anderson, is averaging 76.5 points per game but is last in the Big 12 in field goal percentage shooting just over 38 percent in league play.

"You want to put the ball in the hole, no question about it," said Anderson, whose team is 16-5, 4-2. "Usually with a team like ours, someone will be open. But it just happened in the games we've played, we've just had to find other ways to win. We didn't shoot the ball particularly well but we had some good shots. Then I thought we've had some games where we were pressing and taking some not-so-good shots."

Sophomore guard Kim English was the primary catalyst with 20 points. But overall, the Tigers converted 16 3-pointers for a 55 percent showing from behind the arc.

"Tempo has something to do with it," Anderson said. "I thought Saturday's game we were able to get out in transition and get some easy buckets. The ball movement was totally different. We looked like the team from last year, we were sharing the ball and trusting each other. When that takes place, obviously you are going to have some much better looks at the basket. It was good to see, hopefully there is a lot more chance of that happening as we continue to play."