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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Breaking down the Friday afternoon games in the Music City:

No. 6 seed Cincinnati (24-10) vs. No. 11 Texas (20-13), 12:15 p.m. ET

What to watch: Seeing the way Cincinnati scrapped its way into the Big East Conference championship game, it’s hard not to peg the Bearcats as one of those teams in the field playing its best basketball right now. They’ve won seven of their past nine games and lead the country with seven victories over ranked teams. Texas, on the other hand, enters the tourney trying to find some consistency after losing four of its past seven games. There’s no better time to find that mojo than right now. There were a lot of people who wondered if the Longhorns would even make the tournament. Here’s their chance to prove that they belong.

Who to watch: Texas guard J'Covan Brown can score points in bunches, and when he gets it going, he’s a headache to defend. The 6-foot-1 junior has averaged 24.8 points over his past four games and has scored at least 21 in each of those four. He leads the Big 12 in scoring at 20.1 points per game, but hasn’t shot it particularly well from 3-point range coming into this game. In his past five outings, he’s just 6-of-30 from behind the arc. Brown takes 28 percent of his team’s shots.

Why to watch: The Bearcats have been one of the turnaround stories this season in college basketball, but it goes much deeper than just hoops. The ugly scenes from their fight with Xavier on Dec. 10 remain etched in a lot of people’s minds, but Cincinnati recovered from multiple player suspensions -- and showing a new resolve along the way -- and played its way into the Big East tournament final. One of the catalysts has been senior forward Yancy Gates, who was suspended six games for his role in the brawl. When he returned, the Bearcats tweaked their offense to better utilize Gates’ offensive rebounding prowess, and they took off as a team -- winning seven of their nine games against ranked foes.

What they’re saying: “We had a chance to win the Big East tournament, which nobody expected us to do, and hopefully, we’ll do the unexpected and win games here, which nobody probably expects us to do. We’ll just do what we’ve been doing and keep playing against the odds and trying to prove people wrong.” -- Cincinnati forward Yancy Gates

“I’ve told my team all year if we would work as hard on the offensive end as we do on the defensive end, we’d be a much better team. And at times where I don’t think we’ve improved or shown the improvement is with our offense.” -- Texas coach Rick Barnes

Around the rim: This is the sixth time that Texas has been a double-digit seed in the NCAA tournament. Each of the previous five times, the Longhorns won at least one game in the tournament. … The Cincinnati-Texas game will tip off at 11:15 a.m. local time in Nashville, and the Cincinnati players haven’t been crazy about playing early games this season. Nobody was complaining Thursday, though. “It’s the NCAA tournament. If you can’t get up at whatever time the game is, you shouldn’t be here,” Cincinnati guard Cashmere Wright said. … Before Cincinnati boarded the bus for Nashville, coach Mick Cronin took the players into the UC Arena and had them look up at the Bearcats’ national championship banners. “I just think you’ve got to believe that you can win it, and I think my guys need to realize that it’s possible and that it’s happened at the University of Cincinnati. We’ve got to believe that it’s going to happen again,” Cronin said.

No. 3 seed Florida State (24-9) vs. No. 14 St. Bonaventure (20-11), 2:45 p.m. ET

What to watch: Is Florida State as good as it looked last weekend in gunning down Duke and North Carolina in back-to-back days to win the ACC tournament title? Granted, Duke and North Carolina didn’t have a lot to gain in Atlanta, but it’s not the first time the Seminoles have turned Tobacco Road upside down this season. Leonard Hamilton’s club beat North Carolina 90-57 at home Jan. 14, then won at Duke 76-73 a week later. It’s the first time in 16 seasons that somebody has recorded two victories over both Duke and North Carolina in the same season. That’s some pretty heady stuff. The trick now for Florida State is playing that way in the March tournament that counts.

Who to watch: Florida State senior forward Bernard James served six years in the Air Force, including deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Qatar. Now 27, the 6-10 James has been as valuable to his basketball team as he was to his country. An All-ACC Defensive Team selection, James ranks third in the ACC with 76 blocked shots, while averaging 10.5 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. He will be honored at the Final Four along with Tennessee women’s coach Pat Summitt and presented with the Most Courageous Award by the United States Basketball Writers Association.

Why to watch: St. Bonaventure is back in the NCAA tournament for the first time since a scandal rocked the university during the 2002-03 season. The Bonnies played an ineligible player that season after a junior-college transfer was admitted to the university with a welding degree and no associate’s degree. The fallout included the firing of coach Jan van Breda Kolff and the resignation of the athletic director and school president. A few months later, Bill Swan, the president of the university’s board of trustees, committed suicide and left a note apologizing for the pain he caused St. Bonaventure as well as his family and friends. The next four seasons saw the Bonnies win a combined 24 games, but coach Mark Schmidt was hired in 2007 and has steadily led the program back to respectability. St. Bonaventure won its first Atlantic 10 tournament championship last Sunday.

What they’re saying: “Andrew (Nicholson) is the player of the year, so he does what players of the year do, and that’s put the team on their back and kind of sail the ship.” -- St. Bonaventure guard Matthew Wright

“We’re definitely expecting a punch right out of the gate. We’re going to throw one ourselves.” -- Florida State forward Bernard James

Around the rim: Florida State is ranked sixth nationally in field goal percentage defense (.381) and seventh in blocked shots (5.9 per game). … In the Seminoles’ past four games, they’re shooting 50 percent (34-of-68) from 3-point range and keeping their opponents to 29.2 percent (26-of-89) from behind the line. … The Bonnies received quite a send-off before leaving their campus in western New York. Schmidt said it seemed like 15,000 of the 20,000 people who live in the Allegheny community lined the roads. “They let the kids out of schools, and we had our bus go through all the little towns, by all the elementary schools, all the businesses, and it was special,” Schmidt said. … Nicholson, a senior forward and the Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, has been on a tear. He averaged 25.3 points and 11.5 rebounds in his final eight conference games.

AUSTIN, Texas -- Three months into the season, two hours into the practice, Rick Barnes was pushing his players to quit.

It was a practice like none had seen or experienced before. And Barnes, always a stick before the carrot coach, was even more unrelenting than usual.

"He was just really hard on us at that practice," point guard Sterling Gibbs said.

In Barnes' mind, he had no other choice. This was a young team, void of cohesion, clouded by confusion. There was no clear leader. There was no common voice or goal. They were directionless. They were without focus. They were lost. And they were losing.

So Barnes would step in. He would force them to make a choice. Right then. Right there.

"Instead of just falling apart, we came together even more," Gibbs said. "That was one of the turning points in our season."

Read the rest of the story here.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Moments before a final half of basketball that may have decided the fate of Texas’ season, coach Rick Barnes stood before a dry-erase board in the Longhorns’ locker room.

On one side, Barnes scribbled three letters: “N-I-T.”

Then he took a step to his right and jotted down four more: “N-C-A-A.”

Barnes put down the marker and looked at his team.

“Who are we?” he asked the Longhorns. “Which one would you put your name under?”

By the time Texas left the Sprint Center, the question had been answered.

In a game that so many predicted they would lose, the Longhorns fought back from an 11-point deficit and defeated Iowa State 71-65 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament. Along with propelling them into Friday’s semifinal against Missouri, the victory significantly enhanced the résumé of a Texas team that entered the contest on the NCAA tournament bubble.

Now 20-12, the Horns feel much better about their chances of earning a 14th consecutive bid under Barnes, who isn’t the type to politick to the selection committee.

He shouldn’t have to.

Texas finished 9-9 in what is generally regarded as the second-best league in the country behind the Big Ten. The Longhorns’ strength of schedule is No. 20 in the country according to ESPN's InsideRPI, and they have only one defeat (at Oklahoma State) that can be viewed as a “bad loss.”

Thursday’s victory over Iowa State also should turn some heads considering the Cyclones -- who tied for third in the Big 12 standings -- entered the game touting wins in four of their previous five contests. Texas’ win Thursday came before 18,792 people, most of whom were in support of Iowa State.

“You love to walk into other gyms and quiet their fans,” UT guard J’Covan Brown said.

Texas led 65-59 with 2 minutes, 55 seconds left before Iowa State scored six consecutive points to force a tie. But rather than flounder in the face of adversity, the Longhorns flourished.

With 36 seconds left, Brown spun into the lane and swished a floater as he was fouled. He sank the ensuing free throw to convert the 3-point play to give Texas a 68-65 lead. It was yet another huge shot for a player whose career has been defined by gut-check moments.

Brown scored seven of his game-high 23 points in the second half.

“A few seconds before I hit that shot, Coach was like, ‘Are you feeling it?’” said Brown, a junior. “I told him I was, and he let me go out and do my thing. It gives you a lot of confidence when your coach has your back like that.”

Brown’s performance this season -- he averages a Big 12-best 20.1 points -- is even more impressive considering he’s on a team that features five freshmen among its top seven players. Opposing defenses are geared to stop Brown, yet he still finds ways to score. His game winner Thursday came against Iowa State’s Chris Babb, who is regarded as one of the top defenders in the Big 12.

“[Brown] is a gifted offensive player,” Barnes said. “He has such great vision. On that last play he had three or four different options, and he picked the right one to get the ball where it needed to be.”

The Cyclones still had a chance after Brown’s clutch basket, but standout Royce White lost control of the ball on the perimeter, and it ended up in the hands of Texas forward Jonathan Holmes. Iowa State immediately fouled Holmes, and the freshman made both free throws to make it 70-65 with 22 seconds left.

Ballgame.

As proud as he was of Brown, Barnes was also ecstatic about the play of freshman point guard Myck Kabongo, who has been on a steady incline all season. Kabongo finished with 11 points, five assists and no turnovers -- Texas had only six turnovers as a team -- and he played excellent defense on Iowa State 3-point ace Scott Christopherson.

A senior, Christopherson entered Thursday’s game averaging 21.8 points in his previous five contests and had made 19 of 36 3-point attempts during that span. Pestered by Kabongo, he scored just 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting and missed four of his six attempts from beyond the arc.

As a team, the Cyclones made just five 3-pointers Thursday. They came in averaging nine per game.

Texas now advances to play another strong shooting team in Missouri. The Tigers are shooting 49.9 percent from the field, a mark that ranks third in the nation. Mizzou defeated Texas 84-73 in Columbia on Jan. 14 and 67-66 in Austin on Jan. 30.

“We feel good about this win,” Brown said. “But we can’t let our young guys celebrate too much. We’ve got another big one tomorrow.”

Rick Barnes discusses the Longhorns' big come-from-behind win over Kansas State on Saturday.

Here are this week’s Big 12 power rankings:

1. Missouri: The Tigers have played the two toughest teams in the league (Kansas and Baylor) and defeated them both. Guard Marcus Denmon had made just five of his previous 31 attempts from 3-point range before going 6-for-9 from beyond the arc in Saturday’s win against Kansas.

2. Kansas: The Jayhawks blew an eight-point lead with just more than 2 minutes remaining in Saturday’s loss at Missouri, but with Baylor up next on Wednesday, there’s no time to mope about the loss. Kansas is 16-2 all-time against the Bears, who it defeated by 18 points last month at Allen Fieldhouse.

3. Baylor: The Bears’ Big 12 title hopes depend largely on what happens this week. Baylor hosts Kansas on Wednesday and travels to Missouri Saturday. Baylor’s only two losses are against those two teams. The Bears' offense looked sloppy and disorganized in last week’s victories over Texas A&M (63-60) and Oklahoma State (64-60).

4. Iowa State: The Cyclones won at Oklahoma Saturday despite getting just three points from leading scorer Royce White. Fred Hoiberg's squad has won five of its past six games overall and could continue that streak this week against Texas A&M and Oklahoma State.

5. Kansas State: The Wildcats got back on the winning track by defeating Texas A&M Saturday at home. And the good times should continue when Kansas State hosts Texas Tech on Tuesday. Leading scorer Rodney McGruder has made just four of his previous 20 3-point attempts.

6. Texas: Rick Barnes’ squad hasn’t caught many breaks in conference play. Texas’ six league losses have come by an average of five points. The Longhorns had lost five of their previous six games before defeating Texas Tech on Saturday. Monday’s road game against a beat up Texas A&M squad is winnable.

7. Texas A&M: The Aggies almost defeated Baylor without Khris Middleton and Dash Harris on Wednesday, and they led Kansas State at halftime before falling 64-53 Saturday in Manhattan. Considering all of the injuries, Texas A&M deserves credit for competing as well as it has.

8. Oklahoma: The Sooners have dropped four of their previous five games heading into Monday’s contest against Missouri. All of a sudden the team that got off to a 9-1 start is 3-7 in league play. Steven Pledger and Andrew Fitzgerald are averaging a combined 31.1 points.

9. Oklahoma State: Three weeks after losing to them by 41 points, Oklahoma State nearly upset the Baylor Bears before falling 64-60 Saturday in Stillwater. Freshman Brian Williams had 23 points in the loss. On Tuesday, Oklahoma State hosts the same Iowa State squad that it lost to on a buzzer-beater Jan. 18 in Ames.

10. Texas Tech: Last week’s home game against Oklahoma State appeared to be the Red Raiders’ best chance of picking up a Big 12 win. Instead, Billy Gillispie’s team was throttled 80-63. Jordan Tolbert leads Texas Tech in scoring with 11.9 points per contest. But he’s averaging just 6.3 points in his past three games.

Texas head coach Rick Barnes discusses his team's win over Boston University in the Longhorns' season opener.

Who does Dickie V like to cut down the nets after the 2011-12 college basketball season? It's no surprise that it's one of the teams on Tobacco Road, but it might be surprising where he has the Texas Longhorns heading into the season. Watch above.

ESPN Insider has teamed with Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook to provide a comprehensive look at all 335 Division I teams. Here is the next of our Insider series on the Big 12 and schools in the Metroplex:

Texas Longhorns

It has always been popular around the Big 12 to dislike Texas, and for that reason new records for schadenfreude were set when the Longhorns fell from No. 1 in the nation to the middle of the Big 12 pack last year.

Coach Rick Barnes publicly accepted blame, though he now wishes to point out that even though his team did not live up to even its own expectations, its season did not become quite the disaster some seem to think it did.

"We're not ever going to apologize for how high we set the standard and the bar here at Texas," Barnes said.

Perimeter scoring shouldn't be a problem this season, but Texas does have some issues to sort out at point guard and center. The good news is that all of the players involved are talented and should presumably be playing pretty well by January.

To read the rest of this Insider content on the 2010-11 Texas basketball team, click here.

Texas coach Rick Barnes has deep affection for power forward Damion James and he thinks James will excel at the next level.

"I tell people all the time, I would love to have Damion James on my team because he's just getting started," Barnes said during the season. "He's improved so much and I don't care what you say, when there needs to be a big rebound, he's the best I've ever seen...Damion wants to be a pro for a long time. People pick players apart, but sometimes you've got to look at what guys do and say here's what he does. He does what he does."

At 6-foot-7, 225-pounds, the Nacogdoches native went through NBA workouts the summer after his junior year and decided one more season at Texas would improve his game. No one is arguing with the results. Everyone loves his determination, hustle, intensity, strength, athleticism and drive, but what is in question is exactly where he fits in the NBA game, particularly on offense. Defensively, scouts believe he can defend multiple positions, which could be his calling card upon entering the league.

"If you look at our game right now, we've got small ball, tall ball, all sorts. The teams are looking for players, not necessarily 6-10 power forwards, 6-6 two-guards and stuff like that. They look at guys they think can play," NBA director of scouting Ryan Blake said. "And again, when you get guys that are coming in, most of the first-round draft picks, [teams are] not looking for go-to-guys. These guys aren't going to go, 'OK, you're going to be our No. 1 option.' They're looking for guys that can fit in a role."

That could fit James to a T. Projected as the 20th pick to the San Antonio Spurs by ESPN.com's Chad Ford -- as well as on other mock drafts -- James would go to a solid, veteran club where he could gain tremendous experience and have time to learn about the NBA game, much the way DeJuan Blair did this year with the Spurs.

Baylor basketball coach Scott Drew will be the guest of honor on June 29 at 1660 ESPN Radio's sixth annual Celebrity Roast at the Texas Sports Hall of Fame's "Great Hall."

Drew led the Bears to a school-record 28 wins this season and a first-ever appearance in the Elite Eight.

Let's just assume that among those who won't be there to roast Drew is Bob Knight, Rick Barnes and Bill Self.

Those who will roast the coach include former Houston Rockets coach and general manager Carroll Dawson (former Baylor player, assistant coach and head coach), Big 12 associate commissioner for men's basketball John Underwood, former Baylor basketball coach and current FOX Sports Southwest analyst Jim Haller and Baylor football coaching legend Grant Teaff.

For ticket information, click here.

Kansas coach Bill Self was right. Kansas did land in a BCS conference, maybe just not the one he envisioned when the Big 12 was considered dead.

The Big 12 is alive and by shrinking to 10 teams without Nebraska and Colorado, Big 12 helps hoops actually grew tougher.

The league completed a banner year last season. The Big 12 had the best winning percentage (30-18) amongst the six major conferences when playing each other. Three teams placed in the top eight and four among the top 13 of the final NCAA RPI ratings and seven teams advanced to the NCAA tournament. As many as nine Big 12 players could be selected in the first round of the NBA draft next week.

When the Big 12 officially begins play as a 10-team league, it will lose two of its worst teams in Nebraska and Colorado. Those teams combined to win eight conference games last year, or fewer than the conference's top seven teams.

Add to that an 18-game, round-robin conference schedule as opposed to the 16-game schedule in which teams in the same division faced each another twice, but played the other division teams just once. Now, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will face Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri and Iowa State twice. It also allows for all 10 teams to visit each Big 12 arena every year instead of every other year.

"When it comes to the specifics of men's basketball in the new 10-team Big 12 Conference, our staff is most excited about the possibility of using a full round-robin schedule during the regular season," Texas coach Rick Barnes said in a release. "This should create even more excitement about our league, and we know the fans will appreciate the opportunity to see a home-and-home series between all teams in the conference every year."

NEW ORLEANS -- So President Obama likes the No. 8 Texas Longhorns to advance against the No. 9 Wake Forest Demon Deacons in a game pitting two teams on the skids.

The one-liners for Thursday's 8:35 p.m. matchup featuring the former No. 1 Horns, who went 7-9 in their last 16, and the Decons, who've lost five of six are piling up:

*Now there's two teams in need of a Wake (bada-bing).

*New Orleans is the perfect site, they're great at funerals (bada-boom).

OK, you get the point.

For the past two months, Texas has been singing the same tune. A fresh start is all it needs. If it can just put it all together its collective talent will take over. Well, it just hasn't happened. Now they get one more chance to make good on a season that initially looked like Final Four or bust.

Texas coach Rick Barnes still thinks one game -- one play, even -- can turn momentum -- especially in the NCAA tournament.

"We see it happen all the time. We see teams come into [the tournament] that have been down and out and they catch it and they kind of ride the wave," Barnes said. "And there’s other teams that come in with a lot of pressure on them and maybe not play to win as opposed to just trying to keep from losing and those are the teams that can be bit a little bit. So yeah, momentum is a big part of it and I think confidence; so yeah, I do think that this time of year one game here or there, one play here or there, can really swing it."

Maybe it can. Maybe Texas drew the perfect foe in a Wake Forest team that's won just once since Feb. 13.

But, Texas' issues seem to run too deep. They've dealt with offensive inefficiency, poor perimeter defense and a bizarre quality in which the team splinters when adversity strikes in a game with no recourse to pull it back together. Whether two months of team breakdowns that's often left Barnes grasping for explanations can be fixed overnight would leave some skeptical.

Some are so tired of discussing the slide from No. 1 to the ranks of the unranked they're done discussing it: "No comment on that," forward Damion James said.

Others can't stop analyzing the issues. Just listen to Texas junior Gary Johnson, who believes momentum can swing, but it will take more than some New Orleans voodoo.

"I think it can, but guys have to be willing to buy into it. I think we are," Johnson said. "It’s not the fact that we’re a selfish team, it’s just the basketball IQ of a lot of players aren’t as high. With that being said, we try to cover it up by running certain sets for guys and try to keep the focal point on certain aspects of the game instead of having a free-wheeling type of offense."

In the end, Barnes said, you're left with hope.

"Again, you hope. You hope they grow. What you want this time of year is energy I think more than anything. I think attitude is important as anything right now, that you're excited. I think you have to be rested both mentally and physically.

"But, yeah, you hope."

The winner will likely face No. 1 Kentucky, which plays No. 16 East Tennessee State at 6 p.m.

In the Big 12 Conference games, the Texas Longhorns went 10-8. Out of conference they won 14 of 15. Maybe the start of the NCAA tournament will put the Horns back in their comfort zone.

At this point, they have little else to cling to.

"You’d like to win regular-season championships and tournament championships, but the bottom line is we talk about the NCAA championship, which is why we put so much emphasis on our non-league schedule and how important those games are in November," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "You’re going to be rewarded or not rewarded by what you do in the nonleague."

The jury will be out. Texas (24-9) certainly showed itself well in the nonconference, rolling to a 14-1 record, including wins over North Carolina, Michigan State, USC, Iowa, Pittsburgh and Arkansas. The lone loss came at Connecticut, one game after Kansas State handed Texas its first loss after a 17-0 start. Then everything unraveled.

Having dropped all the way to a No. 8 seed (the second-lowest of the seven Big 12 teams in the tournament -- Missouri is No. 10), Texas will at least stay close to home, opening the tournament Thursday in what should be fan-friendly New Orleans against No. 9 Wake Forest, a team that's nosedived over the past three weeks, losing five of six. So two struggling teams will do battle for the right to face No. 1 Kentucky. The Wildcats will tune up with No. 16 East Tennessee State.

Texas is moving forward with the belief that every team is operating with a clean slate, zero-and-zero.

"Anyone can win it. There are 65 teams going out there with a shot to win the national championship," senior forward Damion James said. "It’s give a little, take a little, so you’ve got to be ready to go out and give it all or nothing."

Which is exactly what Texas' season has been about to this point.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Baylor coach Scott Drew has certainly learned how to take a punch or two and so has his team. The Bears bowed out of the Big 12 tournament Friday night with an 82-75 loss to Kansas State in a tremendous game.

Baylor, 25-7, still hasn't lost by more than seven points, but it will need to win an NCAA tournament game to set a new school record with a 26th victory. The last time the Bears won a tournament game? 1950 (56-55 over BYU) when the bracket included eight teams.

The good news for the Bears is they have yet to lose consecutive games this season.

Baylor dearly wanted a second consecutive title game appearance, but they're not done yet. Some inside the Baylor program believe a 3-seed is coming Sunday when the selection committee reveals the 65-team NCAA Tournament bracket. Wherever the Bears land, they learned Friday night, as they have all season, that they'll be a tough out.

"This was a great experience," Baylor power forward Ekpe Udoh said. "Basically, we played an away game up here in Kansas City. Towards the end of the game I think we kind of lost our mojo. It's something you can't have happen from here on out and we're going to learn from that. In the tournament, if you slip up one time you go home."

Udoh will have decision to make
Ekpe Udoh is widely regarded as a lottery pick in June's NBA Draft and he only enhanced his stock at the Big 12 tournament. The 6-foot-10 junior power forward averaged 21.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in the two games. The Big 12's new shot-blocking king chewed up Texas for 25 points and eight rebounds.

Rule of thumb for draft prospects is if you're a lock to be a first-round pick, then go grab the guaranteed money. If Udoh trusts he'll be a lottery pick (sorry Baylor fans) it should make that decision easier. The money is too good and with an impeding lockout looming in 2011-12 and impending salary restructuring once the NBA re-opens for business, this might be the time to maximize dollars.

Is Baylor's Jerome Tang head-coaching material?
Baylor athletic director Ian McCaw thinks so: "He's really matured as a coach. I see him being a head coach in the very near future."

Coach Scott Drew made Tang one of his first hires seven years ago, plucking him from controversial Heritage Christian, a small-private school near Houston that had a reputation as a basketball factory. Tang also didn't have a college degree when hired, a prerequisite at Baylor (and most universities) in the past. Since, Tang received a Bachelor of Science degree from Charter Oak State College, an online program.

Clip and save
Baylor guard LaceDarius Dunn will lead the Big 12 in scoring next season and will win Player of the Year honors. Along the way, he'll likely become Baylor's all-time leading scorer.

He already holds school records for most 3-pointers in a game, season and career.

"You know, Anderson was great this year, he scored consistently, and Lace scored consistently, so it was a toss-up on who should have got it this year," said Baylor senior guard Tweety Carter, referring to Oklahoma State's James Anderson, the Big 12's Player of the Year. "I'm pretty sure that next year he'll get it."

Texas less than its parts
Texas coach Rick Barnes called the ugly quarterfinal loss to Baylor a microcosm of the season: a few minutes of scatterbrained play and then the Horns panic and lose all ability to execute. The Bears buried Texas with a 13-2 to run to open the second half and you could see in the Horns' body language and frustration how their spirit was crushed.

"Like coach says, we don't play together sometimes," center Dexter Pittman said. "Once we start playing together, we'll be unstoppable and untouchable, but, man, we just got to go back to that."

It would appear it is too late. Junior forward Gary Johnson summed up the disappointing situation best.

"When you have a team full of guys with as much talent as we do, it's hard to give each guy a role, like you have to do this when a guy feels like he could do other things," Johnson said. "At times, guys feel like they can do everything on this team and it just isn't the right decision at that moment. Guys know their roles, but it's like a panic factor and guys try to go out and do other things that they're not capable of and we find ourselves in deep holes."

Red Raiders to NIT?
Caach Pat Knight hit the campaign trail hard at the Big 12 tournament, determined to get the Red Raiders into the NIT.

Knight said it would be a "shame" if the NIT ignored the 17-win Raiders out of the top-rated RPI conference in the nation. Tech's chances didn't look good after losing their final seven regular-season game, but it proved it belonged after putting a scare into top-seeded Kansas in the quarterfinal.

The last time Tech went to the NIT under Bob Knight it made it to the final four in New York and rode the momentum to a trip to the NCAA Tournament the following season (much like Baylor this season). It could happen again. Tech will be a senior-dominated team in 2010-11 and returns four of its top five scorers, including its top two in Mike Singletary and John Roberson.

If Tech gets in, it would give the Big 12 eight teams in postseason play -- assuming other tournament upsets don't leave Oklahoma State out. The Cowboys should be able to breath easy.

A&M star in making?
Texas A&M has to be excited about the future of freshman Khris Middleton. The 6-foot-7 forward from North Charleston, S.C., had a breakout in two games in Kansas City.

Having averaged 6.7 points a game during the regular season, he dropped 31 combined against Nebraska and Kansas, making 10-of-19 from the field and 5-of-11 from 3-point range. One weakness? Turnovers. He had eight in the two games.

With scoring leader Donald Sloan graduating, Middleton looks poised to take over as a No. 1 scoring option.

So long, Mr. Killian
After 23 years working in the Texas A&M media relations office, Colin Killian will hang 'em up after the NCAA tournament. He's accepted a job with the city of College Station. Killian has an 8-year-old son and while the new gig won't be as exciting as Texas A&M hoops has become the past five years, it will have its perks -- namely no work at night or weekends or holidays and no travel.

Good luck, Colin.

Is Oregon tugging at Turgeon?
Oregon basketball coach Ernie Kent isn't officially out, but the writing is on the wall. Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon has come up as a possible replacement. Turgeon was a Ducks assistant from 1992-97. Unless Oregon is tugging at the Topeka, Kan., native, A&M is a better job and the Big 12 is a better conference.

Roland hoping for one more year
First-class A&M senior Derrick Roland is hopeful the NCAA will grant him a medical redshirt and allow him to return to the Aggies next season.

The shooting guard from Seagoville broke his leg during a late-December game in Washington and is out for the season after undergoing surgery. Remarkably, he is already walking around as if nothing happened as he continues a grueling daily rehabilitation process.

"Hopefully the NCAA has some sympathy for me," Roland said. "It would give me the opportunity to graduate and that's important to my family."

Roland said if he's not granted an extra year of eligibility he will try to complete his degree during the summer.

Wednesday's first-round games in the Big 12 Championship is a day for the underdogs and unranked to catch lightning in a bottle and play on as long as possible.

The Baylor Bears did it a year ago and it's exactly what the Texas Longhorns hope to do.

Once No. 1, the sixth-seeded Longhorns are looking for any momentum it can find to take into the NCAA Tournament. But, don't count on a walk in the park Wednesday at Kansas City's Sprint Center against 11th-seeded Iowa State with those pesky Baylor Bears awaiting the winner.

The Cyclones are 2-4 in their last six, but all four losses have come by fewer than five points and they stunned Kansas State in Manhattan in the regular-season finale. Iowa State gave Texas a good run ealry in the conference season before losing, 90-83.

"The last six [games] we've been right there with an opportunity to win," Iowa State coach Greg McDermott said. "I give great credit to my team."

Texas Tech Red Raiders coach Pat Knight said he one of the lower-seeded teams will get hot and advance. Why not Tech?

It happened last year when Mike Singletary set scored 29 consecutive points in the second half and set a Big 12 record with 43 points to lead No. 11 Tech past No. 6 Texas A&M.

The ninth-seeded Red Raiders are coming off a horrendous three weeks and drag a seven-game losing streak into its game against eighth-seeded Colorado

Knight is still holding out the carrot of an NIT berth.

"We’re in the best conference, finished with a winning record, I think we’re deserving," Knight said. "So you don’t want to shut the door on it, kind of lead them with that carrot a little bit that they’re still playing for something, that each win that they can add to their record just helps them play in the NIT."

Here's the Big 12 Championship schedule:

Wednesday's first round
8 Colorado vs. 9 Texas Tech, 11:30 a.m. (Big 12 Network - KTXA/Ch. 21)

5 Missouri vs. 12 Nebraska, 2 p.m. (Ch. 21)

7 Oklahoma State vs. Oklahoma, 6 p.m. (Ch. 21)

6 Texas vs. 11 Iowa State, 8:30 p.m. (Ch. 21)

Thursday's Quarterfinals

1 Kansas vs. Colorado/Texas Tech winner, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN2)

4 Texas A&M vs. Missouri/Nebraska winner, 2 p.m. (Ch. 21)

2 Kansas State vs. Oklahoma/Oklahoma State winner, 6 p.m. (Ch. 21)

3 Baylor vs. Texas/Iowa State winner, 8:30 p.m. (ESPN2)

Friday's semifinals

6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. (Ch. 21)

Saturday's championship

5 p.m. (ESPN)