This Thursday the Big XII tourney comes to town. I haven’t had cable television for about the past three years (which has done wonders for my reading habits), so I don’t watch as much NCAA and NBA action as I did at one time. I’ve been thankful for ESPN’s addition of short highlight clips to the write ups for most all televised sporting events, so I’ve kept track of my favorite teams through the web. Since I don’t watch the full games I also get the chance to read some sports reporting, and I still look at the complete box score in both basketball and baseball. I’ve kept up with Baylor athletics (my alma mater (did you know that is Latin for “nourishing mother”?) through the internet. Fortunately I can still catch those games for free. Unfortunately the voice of the Bears is a guy named John Morris. He has little idea how to describe the game of basketball. Football isn’t much better. Sorry John.
Yesterday on WHB810′s Between the Lines Kevin Kietzman put together a great list of reasons to be excited that the Big XII tourney is in KC this year. Unfortunately they did not post that list on their website. Among his reasons were the Sprint Center, the KC Power & Light district, the competitiveness of the Big XII this year, a number of extremely talented players (first among them Michael Beasley), and the fact that KU will have to win the tourney to have a shot at a #1 seed in the Big Dance. You can check out the matchups for the weekend here.
I have tickets to Thursday’s Baylor vs. Colorado matchup. Baylor handled Colorado in Boulder earlier this year 68-57, and should be in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 20 years. Winning this weekend will only solidify their bid. The Bears went 21-9 this year and finished 9-7 in conference. A victory Friday would put them up against Oklahoma on Friday, whom the Bears haven’t beaten in 20 years, or something like that. Baylor lost an overtime heartbreaker to the Sooners back on February 19.
I also have tickets to the Championship game on Sunday. A Kansas vs. Baylor matchup would be ideal, for me. Weird stuff always happens in this tournament, so I’m looking forward to the weekend matchups, the fanfare surrounding the games, and the opportunity to take in the experience. I’m praying for good weather this weekend!
