Big 12 Quoteboard - Firing Line Edition

Your team may be about to embark on the quest for the NCAA, NIT or CBI Tournament championship while Oklahoma has embarked on the journey for a new men's basketball coach. The reason why is that while teams like St. Bonaventure and Duquesne are at least still playing in the CBI the Sooners are without a post season appearance for two consecutive seasons now.  

The 09-10 campaign was supposed to be a strong one for Capel and the Sooners they had Willie Warren returning and a strong recruiting class led by Tommy Mason-Griffin and Tiny Gallon. Instead the team finished 13-18 and after the season the majority of the team left the program.

The decision by OU to fire Capel is a costly one. In 2009, the school rewarded him with a 7 year extension. When all the financial information and other details emerge we will update this developing story.

Get ready for the Billy Gillispie rumors to start flying around. - Big 12 Hoops

Today is the day that billions of dollars worth of productivity is lost while millions of Americans pore over their tournament brackets for hours in an attempt to be the masters of their office pool. I completed my bracket a few minutes ago in my attempt to beat Snoop Dog over on the world wide leader's site. I doubt his dogginess possesses my keen eye for upsets and encyclopedic basketball knowledge. If he does, I picked a second bracket also just in case I am wrong. I think there are a lot of opportunities to make a little cash on the side this year in the first round because the odds makers have made some glaring mistakes. This is a thread to discuss your bracket, and any possible side wagering you see fit for the tourney. - I Am The 12th Man

We have certainly heard it all over the past 24 hours as to why the Colorado Buffaloesdid not get selected by the selection committee to participate in the NCAA tournament. Theories exist that Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe, who was on the selection committee, gave CU one last parting shot before moving to the Pac-12. Or the theory that committee head and current Ohio State athletic director was a) distracted with the Jim Tressel controversy and b) showed heavily skewed favoritism towards the Big Ten after seven received a bid from the conference and only five from the Big 12 earned (the Big 12 was undefeated against the Big Ten this regular season). - The Ralphie Report

If you're like me, you've spent most of basketball season watching a game or two, probably involving your favorite team, or your conference, and not much else. 

Then this 2011 March Madness thing rolls around and you're faced with 231 invitations from "Pick Your Bracket" games and you realize (again) that you haven't a clue as to who might win this thing. 

I'm not going to give you any tips on who to do this because I don't want you blaming me for the resulting suck. However, you're still in luck in that SB Nation is full of smart people who have way more ideas than I do about what it takes to be a successful bracket-picking guy. - Corn Nation

Sure nitpicking who gets to lose their first round game is a little silly, but I think we are all still floored about the Colorado screw job.  And for some time-traveling analysis, Missouri being one of the last teams in, and CU being left out, points out that the committee really didn't love the Big 12, and the Pokes probably wouldn't have been in at 7-9 no matter what they did in the Big 12 tournament.  So the Bedlam loss didn't matter.... ya us! - Cowboys Ride For Free

Today's news  that the Big 12 is close to agreeing to a new contract with Fox for television rights comes as yet another sign of encouraging news that the Big 12 is in a much more stable position than once thought. I alluded to the fact last week that the option to market third tier television rights could help the Big 12 stay together. With today's newest tidbit, we now see that FOX is willing to come to the table with a deal that not  only doubles, but triples what they are willing to pay for second tier rights. And, those third tier rights we were discussing? FOX wants them too. - Clone Chronicles

• • Jay Bilas properly eviscerated the committee yesterday, but VCU in this field over Colorado is indefensible. And that's likely why Gene Smith couldn't defend it yesterday. 
    
  • Kansas has the longest active streak of tournament appearances, now at 22. 
    
  • Louisville coach Rick Pitino is the only coach to have taken 3 different schools to the Final Four
• At the 2007 Final Four, Purdue alums were saying that Bill Self didn't have what it took to make a Final Four. Among other things, I loudly retorted that they were ones to talk, considering they were depending on Matt Painter to take them there. Matt Painter was 2 feet away. Here's to hoping he doesn't exact his revenge this year. - Rock Chalk Talk

As I said before the brackets were announced, seeding doesn't matter all that much, but match ups do. Unfortunately, Texas got hosed with its seed, and in the process fell into terribly challenging match ups.  The Longhorns will open the NCAA Tournament in Tulsa playing the No. 13 Oakland Grizzlies, with a potential second round match up with Pac 10 champion Arizona. 

Oakland just finished brutalizing the Summit League, both during a 17-1 regular season and the conference tournament, which they dominated with three wins by a combined 50 points. They check in at No. 69 on Ken Pomeroy's ratings, they are the 12th tallest team in the entire country, feature an enormous NBA prospect, and shoot the ball exceptionally well.  Scipio thinks they're the best No. 12-16 seed in the tournament, and except for Utah State, I agree.  If Texas isn't sharp, they'll lose, which isn't the case for, oh I don't know, say, Florida, who could play like absolute garbage and beat UC Santa Barbara by 20. - Burnt Orange Nation

As a kid, I always remember having favorites, despite not having a thing to do with the school and it's common for fans to love the underdog.  I rarely get the opportunity to write about those sorts of teams on DTN, but with Texas Tech taking this one out, we've got a little bit of time to figure out which team should be the official team of Double-T Nation.  There are a couple of things to consider.  We don't want to pick a team that is going to lose in the first round, but we also don't want a team that's relatively popular or already has a team blog that covers them.  So here are some of my candidates . . . after the jump. - Double T Nation

It's always interesting when a coach is let go and the fan base is left to speculate as to who will replace them.  The interesting part I'm referring to is the names that fans will throw out there and the attached perception of where they see their program.  Some people outside said fan base will think they are ridiculous for bringing up Coach A and think they can do no better than Coach B.  So here we, as OU fans, are with our basketball coach being let go Monday afternoon. - Crimson And Cream Machine

The Big 12 and Fox are close to finalizing a long-term deal that will pay the 10-team league more than $60 million a year, well up from the $20 million it now receives from its cable contract, industry sources say.

Fox, meanwhile, has been in discussions with eight of the league's schools about establishing a conference-specific channel for a handful of football games, up to 60 basketball games and Olympic sports. The channel would not include programming from the University of Texas, which has partnered with ESPN on a new Longhorns channel, or the University of Oklahoma, which is planning its own channel, as well. - Rock M Nation

Oklahoma fired coach Jeff Capel on Monday after he followed a trip to the NCAA Tournament's regional finals with the program's first back-to-back losing seasons since 1967.

Capel was 96-69 in five seasons in charge of the Sooners, but just 17-36 the past two after Blake Griffin entered the NBA draft early and became the No. 1 overall pick. - Bring On The Cats