Big 12 to concede all future titles to Kansas after it signed nation's top player

Baylor, nice try.
Same for Oklahoma State.

Just when the Big 12 was ready to crown a new men's basketball champion for the first time since 1934, Kansas just had to step in and go all Kansas on the conference yet again.

In a highly, highly anticipated decision, top prep basketball prospect Andrew Wiggins said he will attend the University of Kansas to play basketball beginning in the fall.

Wiggins is listed as a 6-foot-7 small forward; he has been called one of the top recruits in the past decade.

HOORAY FOR KANSAS, and specifically the institution of higher learning and edumicashion.

This has to be KU's biggest name recruit since Larry Brown hired assistant coach Ed Manning so his son, Danny, would play basketball in Lawrence. Ed apparently was a dynamite coach.

Wiggins is the best prep player in the country, and he was attracting interest from every blue blood program in the nation. He picked KU over Kentucky, North Carolina and Florida State to play college basketball.

He may even attend class, although I don't why.

(* It should be noted that I am a KU undergrad alum, class of ... just very recently.)

This guy is so gone to the NBA this time a year from now the only classes he should be taking are How to Change My Cell Phone Number Every 15 Minutes, The History of Groupies and Entourage Studies.

KU could potentially have the No. 1 pick in the 2013 NBA draft - Ben McLemore - and '14 draft, Wiggins.

Both Baylor and Oklahoma State should have an edge in terms of preseason conference ranking because of the number of quality returning players, but the addition of a talent like Wiggins to Kansas changes everything.

Just prepare now for another KU Big 12 title.

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The detail in the AP men's college hoops poll that will surprise you about the state of game in Texas

Even with Perry Jones III gone to an NBA bench, the Baylor men's basketball team is the class of the great state a Texas. 

The preseason AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll is out, and Scott Drew's Baylor Bears are the only ranked team from this entire great state - the Bears are No. 19. The Big 12 features two ranked teams: Baylor and No. 7 Kansas.

The good thing for Texas coach Rick Barnes is that nobody cares enough in Austin to complain.

The state of the game has been in better shape than it is now in Texas. Not only is there but one Top 25 team from Texas, but the rosters of the other top 24 teams are not littered with Texans; it's not as if other teams are raiding Texas of its best players. 

Looking at all 25 rosters of the Top 25 teams viw ESPN.com, below are the players who list Texas as their hometown.

1. Indiana
2. Louisville
3. Kentucky
4. Ohio State
5. Michigan
6. NC State
7. Kansas - Justin Wesley (Fort Worth); Zach Peters (Plano)
8. Duke - Rasheed Sulaimon (Houston)
9. Syracuse
10. Florida
11. North Carolina
12. Arizona
13. UCLA
14. Michigan State
15. Missouri -  Phil Pressey (Dallas)
16. Creighton -  Austin Chatman (The Colony); Nevin Johnson (Houston)
17. Memphis -  Anthony Cole (Arlington); D.J. Stephens (Killeen)
18. UNLV
19. Baylor. 8 players.
20. San Diego State -  Winston Shepard (Houston)
21. Gonzaga
23. Wisconsin
24. Cincinnati. Titus Rubles (Dallas)
25. Florida State 

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Baylor's Brittney Griner is the best player in the history of her sport

 Harry: Yeah I called her up. She gave me a bunch of crap about me not listening to her, or something. I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention. 

For those fans who enjoyed Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels in the immortal "Dumb and Dumber" good news - a real sequel starring these two is scheduled to begin filming this year.

... ... ... ...

Women's hoops doesn't generate a lot of headline-worthy material, but there is exception because one particular player is just so exceptional.

The NCAA women's tournament ends tonight with top-seeded Baylor going 40-0 by defeating Notre Dame in the title game in Denver. A sincere congrats to an incredible athletic year by Baylor:

* Heisman winner in RGIII and an Alamo Bowl win for the football team, plus wins against Oklahoma, Texas and TCU.
* Men's basketball team that finished in the Elite 8 where it joined the ranks of getting spanked by Kentucky.
* The women's team will win it all, and features the best player in the nation.

Baylor people, enjoy this. This doesn't happen very often.

Baylor has the best women's basketball player to come around since, since ever.
Brittney Griner is better than:

1. Sheryl Swoopes
2. Diana Taurasi
3. Lisa Leslie
4. Rebecca Lobo
5. Ann Meyers
6. Swin Cash
7. Katrina McClain (played like a really mean dude)

Forget Griner's dunks, no woman's player has ever affected an entire game the way she does, defensively or offensively. She embarrasses people.

About the only one I can think of who could compare is Cheryl Miller, but the competition she faced at USC in the '80s is not an apples-apples comparison.

Griner is so good because:
a.) She is 6-foot-8.
b.) Griner moves like she is 5-foot-8. Historically taller women who play basketball tend to be play stationary, and normally aren't blessed with the greatest eye-hand coordination. Griner is not some gangly, awkward young woman.

There is nothing another team can do to stop this Griner from doing whatever she wants. It speaks to her ability, and the giant gaps that exists in this game from one player to the next. 

Women's basketball doesn't generate a lot of pop these days, but Griner is truly the exceptional exception that makes tonight's particular game worth a look.

 

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Re-visiting the Big Mac Blog NCAA bracket: Almost perfect

The NCAA tournament is down to one more game, and once again I have just about completely nailed this thing. Again. Click on this to get a better look at my NCAA bracket.

As you can see, I am really kicking myself for only half picking No. 15 Lehigh to beat No. 2 Duke before I changed my mind. Everything else? Pretty much nailed.

BTW - I have KU as my winner. Maybe it's UK. 

 

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Of Bill Parcells, Bob Knight, Terrell Owens & Kentucky

ESPN ostensibly hired former college basketball coach Bob Knight to provide analysis and commentary, but after having watched him work games where he mails it in I am convinced he was brought along for autographs.

The man does not know the teams he watches and obviously does no preparation. He sits there saying, "That's a really big bucket right there." 

The irony is that he is making what is very likely a fat check working for a network he used to rail against when he was the head coach at Indiana.

Now he has created a "controversy" when talking about this NCAA tournament field. He won't say "Kentucky" when talking about Kentucky; rather he says, "The team from the SEC."

Very clever, coach.

Knight's feelings towards UK and coach John Calipari are well documented - basically, he thinks his teams are not loaded with student athletes. Say this for Bob, his teams did graduate. Now, he was a horses rear and behaved like a spoiled, enabled, boorish 8-year-old but ... that's a different rant.

This no mentioning by name trick is not new. In fact, one of Knight's closer friends used to do this often.

When Bill Parcells, who has been friends with Knight since their days at Army, coached the Dallas Cowboys he routinely did not call Terrell Owens by name. Instead, he said, "The Player".

This is their way of saying they don't approve of, or like, said subject.

And it's also another way of a pair of older guys proving they are always young at heart.

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