The debate about which conference is the best basketball league usually heats up in December.
But the Big 12 coaches set fire to the debate early by staking claim as the best basketball conference Tuesday, some five months before the 2009-10 season begins. So the Big East, ACC, Pac-10 and SEC will have to just lineup for second best.
"I do think it's going to be the best with what we have retuning and the things that we've done in the last few years," Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon said during the Big 12 summer teleconference call Tuesday. "I've talked to some so-called experts out there and they think we are going to be the best league, too.
It's a win some, lose some kind of day for Oklahoma. On the downside, the Sooners suspended forward Juan Pattillo for Saturday's game against Texas Tech, further weakening an already depleted frontcourt.
But on the upside, that might be Oklahoma's temporarily depleted frontcourt.
While the Sooners were announcing news of Pattillo's suspension for violating an unspecified team rule, according to the Oklahoman, player of the year candidate Blake Griffin was doing something he hadn't done in almost a week -- playing basketball.
Note to Pat Knight: When you have the pedigree your father did, temper tantrums are endearing -- even lovable -- to some of your team's fans. When you are 2-10 in Big 12 play, however, tantrums are just annoying. They come off as childish gum-flapping.
Bob Knight is famous for his expletive-laced tirades and out-of-control behavior towards referees. And, judging by his son, Pat Knight's, reaction to some bad news on the court, they're not too terribly different.
Texas Tech was struggling to make layups against Stephen F. Austin to other night. So during a timeout, Knight looked in the crowd and welcomed a 12-year-old fan to join his team's huddle.
Knight asked the boy whether he could make layups. The boy said he could.
"I was just tired of having 18- or 21-year-olds miss layups that a 12-year-old could hit, so I brought a 12-year-old in to let them know that he could hit layups," Knight said. "He's 12 and he can hit layups, so why can't you when you're 18 to 21?"
The tactic seemed to work. Tech would start hitting their layups and pulled out a 69-55 win over SFA.
No word on if Kentucky's Billy Gillispie has offered the young man a scholarship.
Most of the hype around Texas Tech these days surround their No. 2 ranked football team and their showdown at No. 4 Oklahoma on Saturday. But today, the Tech hoops team decided to make some noise of their own.
The Red Raiders beat East Central Oklahoma, 167-116 setting a school record for points. They scored 90 points in the second half alone.
Ten players scored in double figures and the 167 points are easily the highest output in Texas Tech history (the old mark was 128). They put up an amazing 113 field goal attempts, hit 13-of-25 three point attempts and forced 29 turnovers.
This was part of the Legends Classic, which is one of those "tournaments" where big-name schools pound on smaller schools and then advance to a neutral site to determine a champion. Even if the small school beats them, they still get to go.
The East Central Oklahoma Tigers are part of Division II's Lone Star Conference.
While giving a speech in April, former Indiana and Texas Tech coach Bob Knight's phone rang. So he answered it and had a profane conversation (with Knight, is there any other kind?) in front of everyone in attendance:
There was a brief kerfuffle early in the presidential campaign when Rudy Giuliani answered his cell phone while giving a speech to the NRA. The Giuliani campaign tried to spin it as evidence that he's a dedicated family man -- the call was from his wife -- but it was painted by many as a sign that Giuliani is arrogant, aloof and much more concerned about his own time than the time of those around him.
I'll leave it to the political pundits to determine whether that's true of Giuliani, but I'd certainly say that describes Knight.
Texas has three main offensive weapons: D.J. Augustin, A.J. Abrams and Damion James. When at least two of the three players are having good games, Texas wins. When only one of the players is putting up the points, they struggle against anyone. Today, it was Augustin trying to do it all, and the Longhorns lost to Texas Tech 83-80.
Augustin had 30 points, shooting better than 50%. Abrams and James combined for 24 points but shot 9-29 to get there. The Longhorns did not move the ball well and only had 9 assists on 31 field goals.
Texas Tech after starting out 1-3 under Pat Knight have now won 3 of 4. Texas Tech was aggressive on offense the entire game. Pushing the tempo and making Texas hurry their shots. They seemed to have full control of the game in the second half, as Texas could not get the stops nor slow the game. With 3:28 to go, the Red Raiders had a 70-56 lead.
To the Longhorns' credit they really made a late run. They stretched the game, by fouling and the Red Raiders missed 4 of 6 free throws to allow Texas to close to within 4 points. Texas got even closer, but Texas Tech went 11-11 on free throws in the final minute-and-a-half to keep the pressure on Texas to score.
Texas now needs help to win the Big 12 regular season outright, as they fall into a tie with Kansas. Texas had won 8 straight and 11 of 12 in the Big 12. The Longhorns are still in excellent shape to receive a #3 or even 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
That Knight would be sought after for March and college basketball punditry, in general, is no surprise. Given the nature of the TV media coverage it would be either ESPN or CBS. Beyond simply the money, ESPN was the obvious choice. Given Knight's stormy relations with much of the media, he has been on very good terms with ESPN personalities. From the late Dick Schaap, to the present ex-coaches and players at ESPN there was a better comfort level.
[ESPN's executive vice president for production, Norby] Williamson said Knight's relationships with ESPN commentators such as Dick Vitale and Digger Phelps helped make him comfortable with the idea of joining the network. "This isn't just a few token appearances; Knight will work a packed schedule for ESPN. He's the type of person who wouldn't do it any other way," Williamson said.
Knight will start working during the ESPN "Championship Week" (the conference tournaments -- that Knight hated as a coach) and the sundry "Selection Sunday" specials ESPN will have the entire day.
No word on who ESPN has hired to work the 7 second delay and bleep button.
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The debate about which conference is the best basketball league usually heats up in December.
Note to 
We knew that 
Texas has three main offensive weapons: D.J. Augustin, A.J. Abrams and Damion James. When at least two of the three players are having good games, Texas wins. When only one of the players is putting up the points, they struggle against anyone. Today, it was Augustin trying to do it all, and the Longhorns lost to Texas Tech 83-80.
John 
