The Cowboys started Big 12 play off on the right foot Saturday night at GIA, taking down the #17 team in the country in the Kansas State Wildcats 76-62. For most of the first half, it didn't look like it was going to be the Pokes' day, as KSU held a lead for the majority of the first 20 minutes. The opening minutes of the second half didn't look any better, but then J-P Olukemi decided he had had enough of all this, and took the game over. A clutch lay-up-and-one followed a couple minutes later by a 3 from NBA-range and OSU had wrestled momentum away from the KSU team.
I was really impressed with the composure the team kept through basically the first 31 minutes of the game. After falling behind by their biggest margin of 8 with about 10 minutes left, the Cowboys finally woke up and found out they could really play with KSU if they played as a team. A 37-15 run over the final 9:45 had GIA rocking and an unproven OSU squad swelling with pride over their first "good" win of the year. This is the kind of win that should (depending on if/when KSU turns this once-promising season around) look good to the committee come March.
Let's not forget, this is a KSU team that virtually every writer who covers the Big 12 expected to win the conference this year. What I found appalling was the lack of a team-concept the Wildcats play with. It seems the plan is to either let Jacob Pullen find his own shots, or hope that Samuels or someone else gets hot for a stretch. For a team expected to be elite, and one who started the season ranked inside the Top 5 in the country, this was not a team worthy of such high praise. I know it's early in the conference season, but the 2011 KSU team reminds me a whole lot of the 2010 Texas team. High expectations, bloated ranking, and crashed back to reality violently. The Wildcats have now lost 4 of their last 5 games.
Looking ahead to Wednesday night, the Pokes have another huge test in College Station against the 14th-ranked Texas A&M Aggies. A&M traveled to Norman for their Big 12 opener against the Sooners, and quickly showed they are in the top quarter of teams in the league, while OU is - how delicately can I put this - just awful. I know Blake Griffin was a freak of athletic ability and they had some good role players on their Elite 8 team a couple years ago, but the decline in which basketball has fallen for the Sooners is shocking. Texas A&M on the other hand looks to be the same kind of team they've been since Mark Turgeon arrived at Reed Arena in 2007; tough, defense-first, patient offense, great rebounding, play hard for 40 minutes. It seems the Aggies fly under the radar almost every year, and yet consistently finish in the top 1/2 of a very strong conference.
In my initial prediction, I have OSU losing this game due to a couple of reasons:
#1 - It's on the road
#2 - Texas A&M is probably the first or second-best defense OSU will face all season (Missouri being the other, in my opinion).
OSU hasn't played a quality road-opponent yet (it took double overtime to beat LaSalle) and was blown out in its last road game at Gonzaga. Texas A&M is 17-7 in the last 2 years at Reed Arena (compare to OSU's mark of 18-6 at GIA) and Reed Arena is becoming recognized as one of the tougher places to play (nowhere near as tough as GIA, but give them their due).
Prediction:
Aggies 71
Cowboys 65
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