Part way through Big 12

Conference play, teams

are showing what really

defines them.

2

Men’s Big 12 Update Page 2 | Women’s Big 12 Update Page 3 | Column Page 4

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KAnSAS StAte CollegIAn WeDneSDAY, JAnUARY 28, 2009PAGe 2

On the men’s side, the Big 12 is also a strong conference with every team — except for Colorado — holding a winning record and at least one win in conference play at press time. K-State will try to build on its first victory as the team takes on Missouri on Wednesday night in Bramlage Coliseum.

North divisioN

Colorado (8-10, 0-4) AP Rank: NRUp next: at KansasKey Player: Sophomore guard Cory Higgins. Higgins leads the Buffs in scoring with 17.5 points per game and in re-bounding with 6.1 per game.

Iowa State (12-7, 1-3) AP Rank: NR Up next: vs. OklahomaKey Player: Sophomore forward Craig Brackins. Brackins scored 42 points in the Cyclones lost to the KU Jayhawks last Saturday.

Kansas (15-4, 4-0) AP Rank: NRUp next: at NebraskaKey Player: Sophomore center Cole Aldrich. Aldrich does the dirty work for the Jayhawks averaging 9.8 rebounds per game, which is second best in the conference.

K-State (12-7, 1-4) AP Rank: NR Up next: vs. MissouriKey Player: Junior guard Denis Clemente. Clemente scored all 15 of his points against Colorado in the second half, leading the Wildcats to their first conference victory of the season.

Missouri (17-3, 4-1) AP Rank: NRUp next: at K-StateKey Player: Senior forward DeMarre Carroll. The senior leads the Tigers in points at 16.3 points per game.

Nebraska (12-6, 2-3) AP Rank: NR Up next: vs. KansasKey Player: Senior guard Steve Harley. Harley leads the Cornhuskers in scoring with 12.1 points per game, but Ne-braska has lost three of the last four.

south divisioN

Baylor (15-4, 3-2) AP Rank: NRUp next: at MissouriKey Player: Senior guard Curtis Jerrells. The Bears dropped out of the Top 25 with their lost to Oklahoma on Satur-day.

Oklahoma (20-1, 6-0) AP Rank: No. 5Up next: at Iowa State Key Player: Sophomore forward Blake Griffin. Griffin leads the league in scoring and rebounding and had an-other double-double against OSU on Monday night.

Oklahoma State (13-6, 2-3) AP Rank: NRUp next: at Texas A&MKey Player: Sophomore guard James Anderson. Anderson leads the Cowboys in scoring with 17.9 points per game. The Cowboys have five players averaging double-digits in points.

Texas (14-4, 3-1) AP Rank: No. 12This week: vs. K-StateKey Player: Senior guard A.J. Abrams. Abrams leads the Longhorns in scoring with 16.9 points per game. He has shot 133 3-pointers this season.

Texas A&M (15-5, 1-4) AP Rank: NRUp next: vs. Texas TechKey Player: Senior guard Josh Carter. Carter leads the Ag-gies in scoring with 12.9 points per game. The Aggies have lost three straight games.

Texas Tech (11-8, 1-3) AP Rank: NRUp next: at Texas A&MKey Player: Sophomore guard John Roberson. Roberson leads the Aggies in scoring with 14.1 points per game and also in assists with 5.9 per game.

Big 12 Men’s PreviewCats hope 1st league win can propel team as conference play continues

KAnSAS StAte CollegIAnWeDneSDAY, JAnUARY 28, 2009 PAGe 3

The Big 12 Conference is littered with teams ranked in the Top 25 poll. Iowa State joins K-State in the polls, which makes this Saturday’s matchup between the two that much more important.

North divisioN

Colorado (9-8, 1-4) AP Rank: NRUp next: vs. Texas TechKey Player: Sophomore forward Brittany Spears. The sophomore forward scored 21 points for the Buffaloes against Oklahoma despite the loss.

Iowa State (15-4, 3-2) AP Rank: 20Up next: vs. Kansas StateKey Player: Senior guard Heather Ezell. Ezell is leading the Cyclones in scoring, averaging 11.7 points per game.

Kansas (12-6, 1-6) AP Rank: NRThis week: at Texas A&MKey Player: Junior guard Danielle McCray. Leading the Jayhawks in scoring, McCray will look to get the Jayhawks back on track on the road against a tough Texas A&M team.

K-State (17-1, 4-1) AP Rank: 14Up next: at Iowa StateKey Player: Senior forward Marlies Gipson. Gipson is the anchor for the Wildcats’ Big 12 leading defense. She leads the Big 12 in blocks with 3.72 per game.

Missouri (10-8, 1-4) AP Rank: NR Up next: vs. Oklahoma State Key Player: Junior forward Jessera Johnson. Johnson had 14 points and six rebounds in the Tiger’s 61-56 loss to Col-orado on Saturday.

Nebraska (10-8, 1-4) AP Rank: NRUp next: at Colorado Key Player: Junior guard Yvonne Turner. The quick guard will prove to be a tough matchup for the Nebraska’s op-ponents on the perimeter.

south divisioN

Baylor (17-1, 5-0) AP Rank: 4Up next: vs OklahomaKey Player: junior post Danielle Wilson. Wilson is averag-ing a team-high 15.1 points per game for the Lady Bears.

Oklahoma (14-2, 3-0) AP Rank: 2This week: at Baylor Key Player: Senior center Courtney Paris. Paris registered her 110th consecutive double-double against Texas and has led the Sooners to a No. 2 ranking in the country.

Oklahoma St. (12-5, 1-3) AP Rank: NR Up next: at Missouri Key Player: Junior guard Andrea Riley. Riley is the Big 12 leader in scoring with 22.6 points per game. Riley will look to get the Cowboys back on track after a two game losing streak.

Texas (14-4, 2-2) AP Rank: 16Up next: vs. Texas A&M Key Player: Senior forward Ashley Lindsey. Lindsey lead the Longhorns in scoring in their loss to Oklahoma and will look to get them back on track against in state rival Texas A&M.

Texas A&M (15-3, 3-2) AP Rank: 11Up next: at TexasKey Player: Senior guard Takia Starks: Starks is the center-piece to the Aggies’ squad and will look to lead the Aggies to their second consecutive win on the road against instate rival Texas.

Texas Tech (11-7, 2-3) AP Rank: NRUp next: at ColoradoKey Player: Senior forward Dominic Seals. The forward from Dallas is leading the Lady Red Raiders in scoring and will look to snap a two-game losing streak on the road against Colorado.

Big 12 Women’s Previewiowa State joins K-State, 4 other conference teams in Top 25

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KAnSAS StAte CollegIAn WeDneSDAY, JAnUARY 28, 2009PAGe 4

Wildcats’ winning woes behind them after playing ranked teams

The K-State men’s basket-ball team is 1-4 in confer-ence play after its first Big 12 victory this past Satur-day. The Wildcats beat the Colorado Buffaloes in an overtime thriller 77-75. Though the Wildcats won their first conference game in five tries, don’t ex-pect more losses to be a trend for these Wildcats.

Frank Martin and com-pany started off league play with one of the tough-est schedules around. Their first four games came against two ranked teams in No. 6 OU and No. 23 Bay-lor. The Wildcats also had two rough road tests during their four-game skid. The Cats traveled to arguably one of the toughest venues in all of college basketball when they traveled to Kan-sas. Then the Wildcats also went to Nebraska, where they have lost four years in a row in the Bob Devaney Sports Center. With the Wildcats picking up their first victory in a road test over Colora-do, they could pick up some steam heading down the stretch of the season since

three of the next five games are against teams with one conference win. Also five of the next seven games for the Wildcats will take place in Bramlage Coliseum. If the Wildcats can protect home and steal some wins on the road, don’t be surprised to see K-State in postseason play. The Wildcats will need solid play from their guards, though, since these players have been cold since league games started. K-State guards have made 22-of-78 3-pointers for a combined percentage of 28 percent from behind the arc. To go along with the guards’ poor shooting per-formance from behind the arc, the Wildcats will also need to play smarter. Dur-

ing the OU game, the Soon-ers exposed K-State’s weak-ness on offense, which is playing against a zone de-fense. The Wildcats will need to find the open man to start knocking down shots and also limit turn-overs. The Wildcats have turned over the ball 83 times since league play started, an average of more than 16 turnovers a game. The big guys will have to play big if this young men’s basketball team can improve, starting with scor-ing in the paint. The guys on the front court need to start being more consis-tent if they wish to improve upon their 1-4 conference record and shake up the Big 12 conference by rattling off a couple of wins.

I look for Martin to ral-ly the troops and get his guards to start playing con-sistently by knocking down shots and limiting turn-overs. Also, I wouldn’t be sur-prised to see a change in the starting line-up since redshirt freshman Jamar

Samuels has started to seem like a good scorer for the Wildcats, reaching double-digit scoring 10 times this season.

Steve Berklund is a junior in pre-jour-nalism. Please send comments to sports@spub.ksu.edu.Steve

berklund