The first piece of the 2009-10 Longhorn lineup puzzle has fallen into place, as Dexter Pittman announced his decision to return for his senior season in an April Fools Day press conference. Despite joking about being courted by football coach Mack Brown at the start of the presser, Pittman was completely serious in discussing the progress he still hopes to make with strength coach Todd Wright. “This season was only me scratching the surface,” the big man told reporters.

With freshmen Jordan Hamilton, Shawn Williams, and Avery Bradley joining the team next season along with transfer Jai Lucas, one Longhorn will have to leave the team or play without a scholarship. Now that Pittman has announced his decision, that leaves only Damion James as an early-entry candidate for the NBA.

On a side note, Texas fans who want a glimpse of the future can see Bradley in tonight’s McDonald’s All-American Game at 7 P.M. CDT on ESPN2.

The Texas Longhorns and Duke Blue Devils meet for the fourth time in the history of the two programs, but tonight’s match-up comes with much more on the line. While Duke has won all three previous “neutral” site meetings between the two teams, none of those wins came in the NCAA tournament. Tonight’s winner, though, will move on to a berth in the Sweet 16 and a meeting with UCLA or Villanova.

Texas comes into this one playing some very good basketball, if you can choose to overlook the first two-and-a-half minutes of the first-round game against Minnesota. And considering the way the rest of that game turned out, I can certainly choose to do that. A.J. Abrams went absolutely bananas from behind the arc, knocking down eight three-pointers en route to a 26-point night. The reason the perimeter was so wide open for A.J. was the dominating play of big man Dexter Pittman, who logged another double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds and forced the Golden Gophers to switch to a zone in hopes of shutting down the post.

The play of those two men will be huge in tonight’s contest, as the Longhorns are facing a Duke team which lacks a true inside presence. The Blue Devils love to double down on bigger post players to mitigate the disadvantage, which means that A.J. must be hitting from outside. If Abrams is cold and Duke can contain Pittman with their doubling on the block, Texas will have a very rough time winning this game.

By the numbers

The Blue Devils have a very efficient offense, but what makes them scary is that they have an equally efficient defense to go along with it. Duke ranks 5th in the nation in offensive efficiency according to Ken Pomeroy’s number-crunching, and their defense checks in at 16th in the country. Being so strong on both sides of the ball led the Blue Devils to a menacing average margin of victory of 14.5 during regular-season play.

Those strong defensive numbers are fueled by an aggressive man-to-man defense that forces steals and pushes opponents out of their comfort zone. Duke ranked second in the ACC this season with nearly nine steals a game, and they forced opponents into just under 17 miscues per contest. While the Longhorns have actually handled pressure fairly well this season, they have had some issues with unforced turnovers. Tonight, Texas simply can’t afford to be dropping passes and rebounds or getting whistled for three-second calls and travels.

On the glass, Duke is nothing spectacular. As mentioned earlier, they lack a true post presence, so bigger teams are able to easily abuse them on the boards. But the Blue Devil players are ridiculously quick and hustle all over the floor, so they make up for it by grabbing a bunch of hustle rebounds that they have no business corralling. Their offensive rebounding numbers actually put them in the top 25 nationally, so the Longhorns can’t afford to be lazy when they box out following Duke misses. On the year, the Blue Devils posted a +3 rebounding margin per game.

Duke loves to slash to the basket, force the defense to react, and then move the ball around to find the open man. That has resulted in a lot of open three-point looks and seemingly endless runs where the Blue Devils torch their opponents from long range. But what many fans forget is that Duke has missed a lot of three-pointers as well, and their 35.2% success rate from behind the arc barely puts them in the top third of NCAA teams. Texas has had quite a problem letting teams get hot from long range, though, so they cannot afford to push their luck by giving easy looks to the Duke gunners.

The Blue Devils also love to draw the charge, so Pittman, Damion James, and Varez Ward will all need to watch their control with the ball. All three players have picked up more than their fair share of offensive fouls, and with Duke flopping all over the floor on the slightest bump, they are likely to pick up a few more tonight. These three guys will have to be careful and aware of their position on the court.

The starting five

The Duke lineup is an incredibly interesting one, as Coach K has been tinkering with rotations and starters for much of the season. Throughout the post-season, he has spread out the minutes even further, giving some of his bench players just as much time on the court as a few of the starters.

Guard Elliott Williams is one Blue Devil who is sharing a lot of the work load with other talented backcourt players off the bench. He is a speedy player who has great ups and hustles all over the floor, and he plays tough, hard-nosed defense that is incredibly popular with the Blue Devil faithful. Williams is only a freshman who averages about 15 minutes per game, but his role has expanded throughout ACC play and into the post-season. He’s going to make a few plays tonight that cause you to do a double-take, but look for Williams to become a true breakout star in the next few years.

Joining him in the backcourt is junior Jon Scheyer, a 6′5″ string bean whose length could cause some problems for the shorter Texas guards. Scheyer is a prototypical Duke player, the scrappy white guy with a deadly shot and a knack for hitting the clutch bucket every time your team is trying to make a run. The Blue Devils are at their best when he is hitting from long range, where he’s leading the team at a 38.8% clip. If the Longhorns let Scheyer heat up, they can likely kiss their upset chances goodbye.

The lanky forward Kyle Singler is Duke’s other key long-range gunner, hitting 38% of his long-range attempts. He’s another scrappy, hustling Blue Devil, and his 7.7 rebounds per game lead the team. Even though he’s often found taking jumpers from beyond the perimeter, Singler always crashes to the glass and punishes teams who are lazy at boxing out on the long J.

Junior swingman Gerald Henderson is an exciting player to watch, but he could very likely frustrate Texas fans tonight. He’s excellent at creating off the dribble and slashing to the rim, but he’s still an effective jump shooter as well. The Longhorns will find success against Henderson if they can head him off at the arc and force him to take long-range jumpers. While he can knock them down, Henderson is a much better finisher at the iron, and Texas can’t afford to give him a ton of points (and fouls) inside.

Lance Thomas is one Blue Devil who isn’t going to prove his worth on the stat sheet. Like most of his teammates, he is a hustle guy who annoys opponents by seemingly existing in eight different places on the court at once. But since Thomas only averages five points and three boards a game, so you won’t be reading about his huge role in tomorrow’s newspaper. If you watch the game, though, you’ll see him causing havoc with his pressure defense and gritty determination.

Off the bench

The real X-factor in tonight’s game is going to be big man Brian Zoubek. At 7-foot, 1-inch, he could be the best answer that the Blue Devils have to Pittman inside. Zoubek only averages about 12 minutes per game, though, so it will be interesting to see if Coach K elects to give him more minutes at the expense of a better offensive player. In addition to shutting down Pittman, Zoubek also changes the game simply with his length down low. He forces guards to take different angles and adjust their shots, so giving him more minutes could also make Dogus Balbay, Justin Mason, and Varez Ward less effective when they try to penetrate off the dribble.

Guard Greg Paulus is a selfless player who has been relegated to the bench in his senior year after being a team leader for most of his time on campus. He provides heady play when he’s on the court, and has more unbridled passion and energy in a 6′1″ frame than I think I’ve ever seen. He’s not a big-time scorer, although he’s a serviceable long-range threat, but his on-court leadership and ability to manage the game are huge.

One reason Paulus has seen a lot less playing time is the emergence of Nolan Smith, an off guard who has been asked to add point duties to his job description. He’s learning the one on the fly and is doing an impressive job of it, while averaging about five points and two assists per game. He’s an incredibly quick guard who loves to attack the rim, and when teams foul him on the layups, he makes them pay with a solid 85% success rate at the line.

David McClure is the only other Blue Devil who is likely to get a significant chunk of minutes tonight, but like Thomas, he is an intangibles guy who runs all over the court. Against Binghamton on Thursday night, McClure scored only two points in 16 minutes, but he added three rebounds, two steals, and a host of other hustle plays that don’t show up in the box score.

Keys to the game

Let Dexter dominate - As we mentioned in the lead, the Blue Devils have proven to be soft inside and big men have eaten them up this season. If Dexter is scoring a ton of points, not only does Texas reap the benefits on the scoreboard, but they also will enjoy the added benefit of more open looks for Abrams and James.

Defend the three - While we pointed out that Duke can get hot from three, it cannot be stated enough that the Longhorns love to let one opponent have the game of his life from long range. Texas cannot let Singler or Scheyer burn them for a bevy of three-pointers if they hope to pull the upset tonight.

Quality guard play - The post-season has been a stage for the emergence of Varez Ward as a consistent slasher who can create off the dribble. But the Horns will also need Balbay and Mason to continue to attack the paint and draw defenders away from Pittman and James. This attack worked wonders in the first half against Kansas, and the Longhorns should look to do the same against the smaller Blue Devils.

It should also be noted that Gary Johnson is questionable for tonight’s game thanks to back spasms, and on Saturday team reps put his chances of playing at 50/50.

Who knew that trying to cram four days with a 40-hour work week, a 20-hour drive to Greensboro, a little bit of sleep, and a lot of game watching would be next to impossible? Unfortunately, I’m only about 30 minutes from hitting the road for this weekend’s game(s?) in North Carolina, and I’ve spent maybe a total of 15 minutes looking at the brackets since the selection show. As a result, the bracket I just threw together in the last five minutes looks like…well, a bracket thrown together in five minutes.

If you want to challenge (and destroy) that bracket in a free pool, click on over to the Longhorn Road Trip group in the SI Bracket Challenge on Facebook. Winner will earn unending fame on LRT and their choice of one of next year’s two t-shirt designs.

We’re going to be cutting it close on the back end of this trip, as we should be pulling into Greensboro about four hours before the Longhorns tip against the Gophers. I’m not sure what kind of preview (if any) I’ll be able to write for the game, but you can get your hoops fix covered by reading the preview from the fine folks at Burnt Orange Nation and seeing what fellow our blogpollers at The Daily Gopher think about Thursday night’s match-up.

In the meantime, think fondly of us as we travel the long, purple line below. Because while you might wish that you were skipping work to criss-cross the country on a basketball sojourn, the fact of the matter is that we’ll be in the middle of nowhere running on a refined mixture of Starburst, Wheat Thins, and energy drinks. We’re just living the dream.

We’re still recovering from a half-week of twelve-hour days of basketball, while also trying to lock down accommodations and travel plans for the Greensboro pod this weekend. Our take on the bracket plus photos and pictures from Missouri’s Big 12 title win will be headed your way in the late afternoon Tuesday night. In the meantime, have fun filling out those brackets!

Over the final thirteen games of the conference season, the Baylor Bears mustered just three wins while steadily dropping to the bottom of the league standings. But in only three days of the Big 12 Championship in Oklahoma City, those same Bears have reeled off just as many wins and are now a step away from doing the unthinkable — claiming four victories in four days to steal the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

When Coach Scott Drew led last year’s team to the Big Dance, it was the first appearance for the Baptists from the Brazos in 20 years. After an offseason in which the Bears added highly-touted freshmen Quincy Acy and Anthony Jones, the preseason polls had tabbed them as third-best in the conference. But after that brutal 13-game stretch which began in late January, this Baylor team was being mentioned in “biggest disappointment” discussions with the likes of Georgetown and Notre Dame. It wasn’t just the NCAA tournament that was off the radar for this scuttling team. There were doubts as to if they could even to slip into the NIT.

And that’s the beauty of March. With three days of inspired basketball and a storyline that seems like something out of a Disney movie, the embattled Bears are on the brink of something spectacular. But standing in their way are the Missouri Tigers, the other feel-good story of the Big 12 this season. After a year filled with off-court distractions, player dismissals and a disappointing record, they were again picked in the bottom half of the league during preseason polling. But the Tigers defied all odds, upset bitter rival Kansas at home in the Border War, finished a surprising third in the conference, and even ascended to the Top 10 in national polls.

Today’s game will be an interesting case study in which team can impose its will upon the other. Both squads are fantastic ball handlers and turn it over less than 18% of the time, putting them both in the top sixty nationally. But the Tigers are one of the best squads around when it comes to pressuring the basketball and forcing mistakes. Will Mike Anderson’s team be able to shake up the Bears and gobble up a solid chunk of points off of turnovers? Or will this be a well-controlled game whose winner is the one that plays the smartest, most efficient game?

One huge factor in the outcome could be the fatigue level of the Bears, who have played one more game than the Tigers this week. With Missouri loving to play an up-tempo style, there is a good chance that the Baylor players could get hit with dead legs late in the game. Kevin Rogers, who has averaged 14.7 points per game in the tournament, has also played nearly 37 minutes per game. Curtis Jerrells, the other senior leader in Baylor’s starting five, has played 34 minutes per game over the last three days. While the Missouri starters ate up a lot of minutes last night, the Tigers are a very well-conditioned team that can easily run 10 deep on the bench. If it’s a close game in the final minutes, this could be the deciding factor.

One way for Baylor to mitigate that disadvantage would be to jump out to a big early lead and get the crowd behind the underdogs. With the way Missouri has played the last two nights, that is a distinct possibility. The Tigers looked to be sleepwalking through their quarterfinal against Texas Tech before pulling away in the second half, and they shot just 25.8% in the first twenty minutes against Oklahoma State. Missouri is a team that will score in bunches, to if the Bears can take advantage of another slow start, it will give them the added cushion they’ll need to withstand those Tiger streaks.

Following Baylor’s historic win over Texas in the first semifinal of the day, fans were looking forward to another great game in the nightcap, a re-match that was expected to be a forty-minute offensive showcase. When Oklahoma State and Missouri first met at Gallagher-Iba Arena earlier this season, the Cowboys rallied back from nearly 20 points down but fell just short in an exhausting 97-95 shootout. Although it had been nearly two months, the game was still fresh on the minds of boosters from both universities. Unfortunately, things didn’t go exactly as scripted.

[3] Missouri 67, [7] Oklahoma State 59

The Cowboys came into this one shooting nearly 40% from long range on the year, putting them in the top 25 nationally for three-point shooting. The Tigers, meanwhile, boasted the country’s 15th-most efficient offense, and the 17th-fastest tempo of basketball. All signs pointed to another game testing the century mark, bound to keep the capacity Ford Center crowd on its feet. That was before they put lids on the rims.

Oklahoma State didn’t hit a three-pointer for the first 34 minutes of the game, while Missouri mustered only 21 points in the first half. The two teams were still sprinting up and down the court, forcing turnovers and creating havoc. But the two teams combined to shoot only 28% in the first twenty minutes, causing one Tiger fan behind us to wrack his brain trying to remember the last time his team had such a futile start.

The big moment of the night came after halftime, but it had an unfortunate beginning late in the first session. Byron Eaton injured his ankle on a fast break and laid on the court for what seemed like minutes. After being helped off the court by two teammates, he spent the rest of the half with his face buried in a towel as team medical staff tended to his foot. When the Cowboys returned to the court in the second half, their senior leader was nowhere to be found, and the orange-filled Ford Center was abnormally quiet. But moments later, Eaton sprinted out of the tunnel to a roaring ovation and joined his team for the shootaround.

While Eaton was largely ineffective the rest of the game and the upset bid ultimately fell short, his effort was gutsy. Most pundits already had the Cowboys in the NCAA field, so it may have been more prudent to play it safe and shut him down for the rest of the game. But Eaton, always a fierce competitor, wanted to go back out and help his team, and the lift he provided by returning was immeasurable.

For Missouri, the game was strange not only because of their early offensive struggles, but also because of the fact that Coach Mike Anderson stuck with a smaller core of players for a bulk of the minutes. While ten different Tigers average more than 12 minutes a game, the starters ate a huge chunk of the minutes in this one. Every one of the five starters played at least 25 minutes, while only Marcus Denmon cracked the 12-minute plateau from the bench. While it’s true the Tigers have played one less game than Baylor as the teams head into tonight’s championship, it will be interesting to see if there is enough fatigue from this up-tempo semifinal to affect Anderson’s rotation.

When the final buzzer sounded following Baylor’s third-straight win over a higher-seeded team in the Big 12 Championship, thoughts weren’t on the end of the Bears’ 24-game losing streak to Texas. “We came in here with a mindset, with a task,” Curtis Jerrells said. “Today was step three.” With their 76-70 win over Texas, the Bears have finished step three and have only one remaining — a win over 3rd-seeded Missouri on Saturday to reach the NCAA tournament.

Just a day after hitting six three-pointers in the huge upset victory over Kansas, LaceDarius Dunn was limited to just one long-range bomb in this one. But he timed it well, sinking the three with just over a minute left on the clock to give Baylor a 67-65 lead it would never relinquish. The sophomore finished with 16 points, including five out of six free throws as Texas desperately fouled over the final 24 seconds.

Once again, the big man for Baylor was senior Kevin Rogers. He abused the Longhorns for 20 points by getting to the rim, kissing jumpers off the glass, and even knocking down fifteen-footers without batting an eye. But most importantly, Rogers combined with Josh Lomers and Mamadou Diene to limit Texas to just 26 points in the paint, just over half its average for the tournament.

One reason the Longhorns couldn’t get anything going down low was the defense that trio played against Dexter Pittman. The big center had only seven points in this game, and was completely ineffective over the final six minutes after he injured his leg in a loose ball scrum. Pittman missed all four of his free throws after that point and grabbed just two rebounds.

His injury may have also played a factor on the crucial rebound where he failed to box out Jerrells after Dunn missed a free throw with 24 seconds left and Baylor leading by only three. With the offensive board secured, the Bears hit their next two free throws and kept the game out of reach for good.

For Texas, the biggest problem once again was an inability to close out halves. All season long, the Horns have had issues letting teams put together runs in the final few minutes of a half, and this game was no exception. Over the final 2:13 of the first half, Texas allowed Baylor to put together an 8-2 run, and the Longhorns gave up six straight points in the next-to-last minute of the game which allowed the Bears to seize the lead for good. Whether it is a lack of focus or a result of tired legs, the simple fact of the matter is that Texas has struggled with this issue all season long, and the Horns will have to address it if they plan to make any noise in the NCAAs.

One reassuring trend for this tournament was the play of A.J. Abrams, who was much more efficient with his shot selection. The senior guard was 14-of-27 over the three-game stretch, including a 40% success rate from behind the arc. If Abrams is still shooting close to 50% once the elimination games start next weekend, Texas has much better odds for success. But if he reverts to the early-season form in which he continued to force up bad looks when he was struggling, the Longhorns could be done after just one game.

For the Baylor Bears, the fourth step of their task awaits them this evening. We’ll be back with a wrap of the Oklahoma State/Missouri game and a quick look at tonight’s championship match-up.

Under Rick Barnes, the Texas Longhorns have never lost to the Baylor Bears, boasting a string of 24 consecutive victories spanning 11 seasons. To put it in perspective, the last time the folks from Waco enjoyed a win over the Longhorns, freshman forward Quincy Acy was in the second grade, Bill Clinton was in office, and Tom Penders still roamed the Erwin Center sidelines.

Sure, that streak includes two wins over Baylor earlier this season, too. And yeah, the Longhorns have made it to the Big 12 Championship’s final game in each of the last three seasons. But for Texas fans who are adding this all up to mean that an easy win awaits, we’d like to suggest exercising a little restraint when formulating those sugarplum dreams.

This Baylor team is essentially the same one that made the NCAA tournament last year, and as a result was selected as the third-best team in the conference’s preseason poll. They have neutral site wins over Providence and Arizona State, and a true road win against the Washington State Cougars. And of course, we can’t fail to mention that this evening’s game will likely feel more like a home contest, as everyone in the arena who isn’t wearing burnt orange will certainly be rooting for the underdogs.

Considering this is the third time these teams have met this season, there’s not much left to preview. If you want an in-depth look at the players that Coach Scott Drew is going to send out there, you’ll want to read the previous game preview for all the pre-game info you’ll need.

In the tournament

The Bears have looked very good over the last two days, as it seems they finally are playing with some energy and heart. Now just two wins away from an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, you can be sure that Baylor will be leaving it all out on the floor tonight.

Kevin Rogers has been huge for the Bears in their first two games, a pair of wins over Nebraska and Kansas. Against the Cornhuskers, Rogers ripped down 20 rebounds to go with 10 points, and followed it up with a 14 point, 5 board night against the Jayhawks. Texas has shown that it is committed to scoring in the paint, and in fact dropped 48 points inside the last time these two teams met. Rogers will have to step it up down low for Baylor tonight.

While the big forward has been clutch for the Bears so far, the real scene-stealer has been sophomore LaceDarius Dunn. His six three-pointers led the way in yesterday’s upset of Kansas, and he is clearly warming up to his new role in the starting five. In the first two games of the Big 12 Championship, Dunn has scored 42 total points and added five assists. If Texas doesn’t play solid perimeter defense against this sharpshooter, the Bears will likely be just one win away from the Big Dance.

Keys to the game

Limit the turnovers - As it was in the last match-up, ball control is a huge key for the Longhorns tonight. Baylor simply does not cough it up, and Texas is coming off of a game in which they turned it over 22 times. If the Bears enjoy a hefty turnover differential tonight, they will surely be feasting on a buffet of fast break points.

Stay out of foul trouble - Thanks to Damion James charging every time he touched the ball against Kansas State, Dexter Pittman was forced to play 34 minutes, more than twice his season average. With Pittman now having 62 minutes on his tournament odometer, and Gary Johnson still recovering from ankle problems, Texas cannot afford to have their post players pick up stupid fouls. The Baylor guards love to drive the basketball, so the Longhorn frontcourt has to play solid, vertical defense.

Push the tempo - Against a team that can score points in bunches, this might seem like a bad idea. But the Longhorns have more talent further down the bench than Baylor does, and the five Bear starters combined for 169 minutes against Kansas. The strength of Baylor’s offense is clearly in the frontcourt, so if Texas can further wear out Dunn, Curtis Jerrells, and Tweety Carter, those tired legs are a lot less likely to sink threes late in the game.

If you told most people that a team would post a minus-11 turnover differential, give up 20 offensive rebounds, and still win the game, you’d likely get laughed at. But somehow that is exactly what the Texas Longhorns found a way to do in an ugly, gutsy win over the Kansas State Wildcats in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals.

It’s often said at this time of the season that any win is a good win. That’s very true, although if Texas fans expect their team to play their way past the 7- or 8-seed line, a convincing win would have certainly helped things. Texas is 6-6 against teams currently in the RPI Top 50, and would have to get past Baylor — ranked 59th in this morning’s RPI approximations — to earn a shot at another Top 20 team in Oklahoma State or Missouri. A narrow win over a bubble team like K-State just three days before Selection Sunday could be something that sits in the back of the committee’s mind when they are making their final adjustments to the S-curve.

Of course, the most important aspect of this game was the fact that Texas managed to pull out the win when playing well below their capabilities. Those 20 offensive rebounds for the Wildcats were equal to 37% of the chances that KSU had on the offensive glass. While that might not sound like a large number, it gains importance once you realize that Pitt leads the nation in that statistical category by grabbing 42% of their chances per game. The fact that the Longhorns gave the Wildcats that many extra possessions and still won is a clear indicator of the high level of defense the team was playing yesterday.

Statistically, that defense was stifling. They allowed the Wildcats an effective field goal percentage — a measure of shooting percentage that gives added weight to the three-pointer — of only 33.9% That was the fourth-best outing from the Texas D all season, with the only better games coming against sub-par opponents Appalachian State, Stetson, and St. Joseph’s. If Texas can play that kind of defense the rest of the season, they won’t need to score many points in order to advance.

The leader for Texas once again was big man Dexter Pittman, who powered his way to 19 points and 20 rebounds. Although a bunch of Dex’s boards came off of his own misses of point blank shots, having him be a human vacuum underneath the goal ensures that Texas will get lots of second- and third-chance opportunities. He played a surprising 34 minutes in this game, which came just 24 hours after he played 28 minutes against Colorado. For a large man who averaged less than 15 minutes a game the rest of the season, this weekend will be a true test of how far he has progressed with his endurance.

The bench play for the Longhorns was also incredibly encouraging. With point guard Dogus Balbay struggling for a second straight game, Coach Rick Barnes looked to Varez Ward for some quality minutes in the backcourt. Instead of just hanging on to the ball, Ward attacked the basket for three buckets, and was a perfect 3-of-3 from the line. For a Texas team that has been searching for an answer to its backcourt woes all season long, this sudden flash of brilliance from Ward is a reassuring thing heading into the Big Dance.

Clint Chapman also gave some solid minutes from the bench, hustling for some early buckets on tip ins and awkward moves near the rim. While he was only on the floor for eight minutes, he managed nine points and sunk three free throws on only five attempts. That last stat is notable only because Chapman has been absolutely abysmal all season long at the charity stripe, having made just three other free throws all season for a pitiful 15.7% success rate at the line. I still wouldn’t want to see him at the line in crunch time (or really any time), but it’s nice to see him getting some kind treatment from the iron for once.

The win sets up a semifinal with the Baylor Bears, a team that is suddenly playing inspired basketball and would want nothing more than to end their seemingly interminable string of futility against the Longhorns. A game preview for that one will be headed your way within the hour.

With the semifinals upon us, it feels like a long, lazy day without an early 11:30 tipoff at the Ford Center. But with the level of excitement already packed into eight hours of basketball yesterday, we’re not sure we could take on another quadrupleheader so quickly. Sure, there weren’t any six-overtime thrillers in this league championship, but three of the top four seeds stumbled in the quarterfinals, leaving the path to the trophy wide open.

We’ll get to a quick wrap of the win over K-State within the hour, but here’s our take on yesterday’s action from section 107 of the Ford Center.

[9] Baylor 71, [1] Kansas 64

The Bears came into the tournament having lost 10 of their final 12 games, and it seemed when they faced Texas on March 2nd that the players had thrown in the towel on their season. But after a mudholing of Nebraska in their first-round game, the Bears defied all odds with an upset win over the conference champion Kansas Jayhawks.

Although Baylor jumped out to a huge early lead, it seemed like the crowd was simply waiting for the inevitable comeback. And while Kansas certainly made their surges throughout the game, the Bears were able to keep them at bay thanks to a career night for sixth man LaceDaruis Dunn. The sophomore hit 6-of-11 from long range, including a dagger of a three when the Jayhawks had narrowed the lead to only 4 points with 3:37 to play.

For Kansas, that marks a second loss in their last three games, and could ensure that they miss out on the opportunity to play their first two NCAA games in Kansas City. Most bracketologists are now slotting Memphis and Oklahoma to that pod, so it could come down to which Big 12 powerhouse the Selection Committee thinks is most deserving.

[7] Oklahoma State 71, [2] Oklahoma 70

The reason those Sooners still aren’t a lock for that Kansas City pod is because they suffered the same fate as the Jayhawks in Thursday night’s quarterfinal. The Oklahoma State Cowboys claimed a narrow victory in this neutral-site version of the Bedlam series, and for our first time witnessing the rivalry in person, it couldn’t have been any better.

The arena may have been slightly skewed in favor of the bright orange OSU supporters, but every play was met with a cacophony of noise as the mixing of boos and cheers filled the Ford Center. With the Cowboys hitting nine threes on the night, the game had a shootout feel to it, and Blake Griffin and Willie Warren added their own share of highlight-reel plays to keep the crowd on their feet.

But all of the tension and excitement came to a head in the bizarre final minute, when Griffin was whistled for a foul on a rebound attempt with 2.3 seconds left and stood frozen in place, bewildered by the call. James Anderson sunk both of the ensuing free throws to put the Pokes up by one. Then things got weird.

Taylor Griffin threw a baseball pass to his brother, who tried to do his best Christian Laettner impression from beyond the three-point line. The shot missed, and a Sooner sailed in for a follow-up shot on which he was clearly fouled. The clock still read 0.8 seconds left, but it had not started immediately upon the inbounds pass. The referees huddled for a review just feet from the Sooner bench, where Jeff Capel tried to keep his players away from the monitors. After a seemingly endless discussion and a few rounds of both school’s fight songs, the final call was made, leading to the celebration below…

[2] Missouri 81, [11] Texas Tech 60

With all of the Sooner and Cowboy fans out of the arena, this game felt like it was being played in an empty cave. And although Texas Tech hung with the Tigers for the entire first half, there was no mistaking who was the better team once the final buzzer sounded. Missouri absolutely abused the Red Raiders with drive and dumps into the post, backdoor cuts that went undefeated, and a dizzying 48 points in the paint. Unfortunately for Tech, sixth man Mike Singletary came back to Earth just a day after his Hurculean efforts in a first-round win, scoring “just” 17 points in the losing effort.

The win sets up quite an exciting match-up for the second semifinal, as the Tigers and Cowboys are going to run up and down the court in an absolute track meet. When these teams first met in Stillwater back in January, they combined for 195 points in a game that the Tigers won by a razor-thin two-point margin.