STF Conference Reports: The Big 12 1/18/2008

The Big 12 season finally got off to the roaring start I had hoped for. Baylor stayed strong at 2-0 in the conference, as did Kansas. Everyone else... will be taking a mulligan. Texas A&M handled Colorado, then handed Bobby Knight his 900th win a few days later. Missouri beat ranked Texas and then flopped against mediocre Iowa State. A whole bunch of other teams just kept treading water to see how this thing shakes out.

And then there were these guys.

Best Week: Baylor. For Kansas to start the Big 12 at 2-0 is expected. For Baylor to do so, especially after the way the program started the millennium, is a out-and-out miracle. Scott Drew is showing Waco the kind of rock-solid character and upbeat coaching that his father has brought to Valparaiso, and that's exactly what was needed after the gut-churning Dave Bliss administration. The Big 12 South just got a whole lot more interesting.

Worst Week: As tempting as it is to say Nebraska, Oklahoma takes the anti-prize by going 0-2 vs. both neighbors from the wheat state, and losing leading scorer Blake Griffin for the next few weeks of conference play. That's going to be a tough hole for second-year coach Jeff Capel to dig out of.

Best Player: This may come as a shock, but the best individual effort came in a loss. Texas' Damion James put up 27 points and 16 rebounds in just 29 minutes as the Longhorns dropped their conference opener to Mizzou. My other candidate was Baylor Guard Henry Dugat, who notched 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 steals in a win over Oklahoma State. Michael Beasley was dominant as usual, but his 8 turnovers vs. Oklahoma took him out of the running this week.

Games to Watch
#3 Kansas at Missouri - Jan. 19 (ESPNU) Football season stoked this rivalry
#9 Texas A&M at Kansas State - Jan. 19 (ESPN) Over- vs. Under-achievers
#19 Texas at Oklahoma State - Jan. 23 (ESPN) Can Texas rebound? Can we stand all of the orange?