Quick Tournament Update

OK - Sorry I did not send out updates yesterday; the hotel lost their internet service and I had no way to fire up the database otherwise.

Here a few thoughts on the last couple day's worth of games.

Baylor vs. Kansas
Goodness gracious, never in a million years did I think that we would see the day where Baylor would take it to a team as strong as Kansas for 40 minutes. From the opening tip, Baylor came out and controlled nearly every single aspect of the game. The mighty Bears jumped out to a 30-13 lead before KU went on a huge run to only be down 37-33 at the halftime break.

In the 2nd half, KU kept on pluggin' away and actually pulled ahead to a 58-53 lead, a point at which just about everyone in the arena began to think the game was over. That was, everyone except the Baylor Bears. Baylor went on an 18-6 closing run to become the first ever 9 seed to advance to today's semifinals.

The game was wildly entertaining as just about everyone in the arena not wearing blue/red was rooting for Baylor to pull the upset.

LaceDarius Dunn led baylor with 24 points and 6 rebounds. Sherron Collins led Kansas with 16 points despite going 6-for-20 from the field.

Texas vs. Kansas State
For the most part, this was a terrible basketball game as Texas finally held on at the end to win by a final score of 61-58. Dexter Pittman was simply outstanding for the 2nd day in a row in scoring 19 points and 20 rebounds for Rick Barnes. Jacob Pullen led K-State with 21 points, but it was all for naught as K-State has for sure lost any hope of making it to the NCAA tournament.

Texas will face Baylor today in the first semifinal at 6:00.

The evening session got off with a bang as OSU and OU put on a heck of a show in front of a packed Ford Center crowd (which was split just about 50/50 by the way).

Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State
In what can only be described as a brutal 12 round prize fight, the Cowboys and Sooners put on the best show I can remember in a long time at this tournament. The lead changed hands 7 times (5 times in the last 5 mintues), and the game featured 9 ties. The arena was split 50/50 and both fan bases roared to near deafening levels throughout most of the entire game.

James Anderson hit two free-throws for the Cowboys to secure the 71-70 win, and OSU has also now essentially secured an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

Blake Griffin (and his parents) were sent packing from the Ford Center, and I am looking forward to him moving on to the NBA. Griffin had 17 points and 19 rebounds.

Byron Eaton led 5 Cowboys in double digits with 16 points.

Missouri vs. Texas Tech
Bye bye dirt monkeys. Have fun in Lubbock. Missouri wins 81-60.

Missouri and Oklahoma State meet in today's second semifinal game which tips at 8:30.

OK - We'll have one more update for you guys tomorrow.

Hope you all had a good week.

Carry on.
-sb