Back in New York, where everyone west of the Hudson River is viewed as an extra on “The Beverly Hillbillies,” some of Royal Ivey’s friends can’t differentiate between one Texas school and the next.
Texas. Texas A&M. What’s the difference?
No matter how many times Ivey explains that he plays for Texas, they think he means A&M.
“Wrong Texas, I tell them,” Ivey said. “When I go back this year, they will know the difference. People are starting to know that Texas is a great program, that we are going to be here for a long time.”
The same can be said for the Big 12. The conference, which began competing in 1996-97, has not produced an NCAA champion in basketball.
But for the second straight season, two of the four finalists are from the Big 12: Texas and Kansas this time. Oklahoma fell one game short, losing to Syracuse in the East Regional finals.
During its first five years, the Big 12 did not send a team to the Final Four. Then that barrier came crashing down. Kansas and Oklahoma arrived on the doorstep last season, as Final Four contestants in Atlanta. Kansas lost to Maryland and Oklahoma to Indiana in the semifinals.
Now the Big 12 takes a leap at the final hurdle, winning that elusive national championship.
“Last year, I think we proved we are the best conference,” Oklahoma Coach Kelvin Sampson said. “Our league has been good enough to have an NCAA champion. It’s just a matter of time.”
That Kansas and Texas are left standing should not be a surprise.
Kansas was ranked No. 2 in the Associated Press preseason poll. Texas was fourth. Though Kansas struggled early in the season against nationally ranked opponents, starting 3-3, the Jayhawks are 29-7 and finished 14-2 in conference games. Texas, meanwhile, was steady throughout the season. The Longhorns are 26-6. They were 13-3 in the Big 12.
Texas received a No. 1 seeding in the South Region. Kansas was No. 2 in the West.
The Big 12 is not walking on new ground by securing half the Final Four bracket. Since 1976, two teams from the same conference have reached the Final Four 15 times. The Big East sent three in 1985 — St. John’s, Villanova and Georgetown. More recently, the Big Ten was represented by Michigan State and Ohio State in 1999. In 2000, Wisconsin joined Michigan State. The Atlantic Coast Conference placed Duke and Maryland in the 2001 Final Four.
When computers digested all the data this season — victories, defeats, strength of schedules — the Big 12 ranked a close second to the Southeastern Conference.
The SEC has no teams remaining in the tournament, the other two survivors, Marquette and Syracuse, having come from Conference USA and the Big East.
Much of the Big 12’s success in recent seasons has been attributed to a group of accomplished veteran coaches who stress defense above all else: Sampson, Kansas’ Roy Williams, Texas’ Rick Barnes, Oklahoma State’s Eddie Sutton, Texas Tech’s Bob Knight.
When Big 12 coaches, players and media convened in Dallas inlast November to discuss the season, Knight, a 37-year veteran, said, “I think that in all the time that I’ve been coaching, I don’t think I’ve ever been involved in a basketball situation where the coaching was any better than this is. That’s one of the reasons why, right now, this is probably the best conference in the country.”
Another reason the league is so strong is its experienced players. Texas began the season with five returning starters, Kansas had three starters and two top reserves back, and Oklahoma had four returning starters.
Sampson has said that the Big 12 tends to attract players just below the mega-star level in high school, the type less likely to leave college for the NBA after their freshman or sophomore seasons.
Kansas has two of those players. Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich were projected as first-round draft picks had they left school last spring. Instead, they returned for their senior seasons, leading Kansas to the Final Four.
Sampson’s best player, senior Hollis Price, is an undersized shooting guard whose future in the NBA is a matter of debate among scouts.
Texas has sophomore T.J. Ford, who is regarded as the best point guard in the country and a lottery pick should he submit his name for the draft this year. Some, however, believe Ford would be better off staying in school, continuing to work on his strength and his jump shot. Ford says he plans to return, and that would cast Texas as a national title contender again next year.
Big 12 coaches and administrators say that the league’s success will enable them to attract more good players.
“I think it would be good for Texas if Oklahoma was (in the Final Four), too,” said DeLoss Dodds, Texas’ men’s athletics director. “It helps recruiting if teams are in the Final Four.”
The coaches who are heading there seem to agree.
“Having two in the Final Four, three in the final eight, legitimizes who we are,” Williams said. “I think it helps the entire conference, and I do think it helps Kansas. There are a lot of 15, 16 and 17 year-olds who pay attention to the NCAA tournament.”
When the Big 12 was formed, it melded the Big Eight with four schools from the Southwest Conference. Some from the former Big Eight said SWC schools were the only ones fortunate for the merger.
“There were some mixed feelings,” Williams said. “I even made the statement at the time that the four schools (from the SWC) would benefit. I still believe that. But we do look at things together now. It’s a league we are all proud of.”
Barnes said he learned the importance of affiliation with a strong conference when he was head coach at Providence from 1988-94. Barnes said he once asked Dave Gavitt, then the Big East Commissioner, why it was so important to create a new league. The Big East began competition in 1979-80.
The answer: college coaches in the Northeast were frustrated about losing local high school stars to schools in other parts of the country in conferences like the Atlantic Coast and Big Ten.
“Now we have as good a league as any in the country,” Barnes said. “It allows us to recruit all over the country.”
James Thomas, the Texas center from Schenectady, N.Y., sees that potential.
“Every time I go home, I see somebody new with Texas gear on,” Thomas said. “I mean, they sell it in the malls now, so it’s hot.”
And burnt orange, not maroon.
