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Four teams took to floor today for the Big 12 looking not only to advance to the Round of 32, but also salvage what little reputation that Big 12 had left. The talk all year was about the strength of the conference, how each team would be battle tested and ready to make deeps runs in the tournament. Then Iowa State happened. Then Baylor happened. Then Texas happened (which was awesome by the way), unless it leads to the firing of Rick Barnes #KeepRickBarnes.
Today the Big 12 looked much much better.
West Virginia
Our couch burning brothers from Morgantown jumped out to a 20-7 lead on the back of Juwan Staten (who finished with 15 pts and 7 assists). WVU struggled at times with the Bulls, but still managed to go into halftime with up 36-26. The Bulls made things interesting in the 2nd half getting within 3 points only to see the Moutaineers run off 5 straight points. Again as the game neared the end, Buffalo tied things up at 62 only to see WVU run off 6 straight to finish off the Buffalo Bulls 68-62. Next up for WVU is the 4 seed Maryland Terrapins on Sunday.
Kansas
Rock Chalk blow out the New Mexico State Aggies. This wasn't even close as the Jayhawks led by 13 at half. The Jayhawks hit six 3-pointers in the first half and cruised in the 2nd half stretching the lead out to 23 before finishing of the Aggies 75-65. Kansas will now face the Wichita State Shockers on Sunday (thank you NCAA for this matchup).
Oklahoma State
What to say about this game? The uniforms were bright....
This game was a track meet at times, but in the end the Cowboys couldn't slow down Joseph Young who finished with a game high 27 points on 8 of 15 from the field. Again Phil "Frodo" Forte struggled hitting only 1 of his 7 three point shots. You've gotta feel for Le'Bryan Nash who again played his heart out (18 points/7 rebounds), but in the end the Cowboys fell to the Ducks 79-73. Gotta think this means Travis Ford's hot seat is on fire at this point.
Here come some awesome Oklahoma State tweets:
Under Travis Ford, Oklahoma State has now dropped five NCAA tourney games in a row.
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) March 21, 2015
Oklahoma State just can’t seem to compete against schools with abbreviations that include "O" and "U"
— Joe Buettner (@Joe_Buettner) March 21, 2015
— CC Machine (@CCMachine) March 21, 2015
AND Finally the Sooners
Congrats to Lon Kruger on his 1st NCAA Tournament win with the Sooners. He is now the 1st coach in NCAA history to win a tournament game with 5 different teams.
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The Big 12 rebounded (pun intended) from a dismal performance on Thursday to go 3-1 on Friday. 3 teams remain and all have a good chance to make the Sweet 16.