Friday Afternoon Update - Big 12 Tournament

Howdy guys - Greetings from Kansas City.

First things first, the brand new Sprint Center in downtown KC is an awesome building. The city built the arena on spec in hopes of being able to lure a NHL or NBA team to move to Kansas City. If the city can be patient I don't see how this building will be able to stay without an anchor tenant for too long. It is a great place that sets up nicely and has tons of seats with great views in the lower bowl.

OK - Here are a couple of quick notes from the day's first two games.

#9 Oklahoma State 76
#8 Texas Tech 72

The OSU Cowboys overcame a very slow start and held on late to take down the Red Raiders 76-72 in the first game of the day. Freshman James Anderson led the Cowboys with 18 points and hit a pair of HUGE free throws with 4 seconds left to seal the deal for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys jumped out to a 6-0 lead before they missed their next 10 shots. The Red Raiders took advantage of the ice-cold OSU shooting and scored 14 straight points to take a 14-6 lead about midway through the first half.

Both teams finally settled in after the half and played some very entertaining basketball for most of the 2nd frame. The Cowboys were able to take advantage of Tech's miscues in the final 3 minutes and will take on the top seeded Texas Longhorns tomorrow morning at 11:30.

Byron Eaton and Terrell Harris added 12 points a piece for the Cowboys.

#5 Baylor 84
#12 Colorado 91
(Double Overtime)

Everyone's favorite "overtime" team, Baylor, was at it again this afternoon. Colorado let Baylor hang around, and the game went into double-overtime before the Buffs were finally able to make history by becoming the first ever 12 seed to win a game in this tournament.

Colorado led by as many as 15 points in the second half, but Baylor came roaring back to make a game of it and force the overtime periods. By losing the game Baylor may have very well just played their way into the NIT, which in all actuality would be a bad blow for the Big 12.

Richard Roby had 32 points and 12 rebounds for the upstart Buffaloes. Also playing VERY well for Colorado was Marcus Hall who added 25 points. Colorado was able to kill the Baylor defense with a non-stop dose of backdoor cut after backdoor cut.

Colorado will take on Oklahoma in tomorrow's second game.

On the slate for tonight is the Nebraska/Missouri game and the Aggies' game vs. Iowa State. There is a lot of Red and Gold in this town, and I would suspect it will feel like a home game for the Cyclones.

The A&M vs. ISU game is on ESPN2 ~8:30.

We'll have much more for you guys later tonight or tomorrow morning.

Carry on.
-sb