Big 12 Basketball

No. 6 Baylor pulled away from Michigan State in the second half to capture the 2021 Battle 4 Atlantis men's championship with a 75-58 win at Imperial Arena in the Bahamas.

The Bears carried a slim two-point advantage into halftime following a back-and-forth opening 20 minutes that saw neither team lead by more than six. They used an 8-0 run early in the second half to increase their lead to 13 and then cruised to the finish line to remain undefeated (7-0).

It's the second Battle 4 Atlantis title for Baylor, which won the event in 2016. The Spartans dropped to 5-2, with the other loss coming against then-No. 3 Kansas in their season opener.

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Notable Stats

G James Akinjo (BAY): 15 points, 5 assists, 3 steals

G Adam Flagler (BAY): 11 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds

G Matthew Mayer (BAY): 8 points, 7 rebounds

F Gabe Brown (MSU): 13 points, 5 rebounds

G Jaden Akins (MSU): 12 points

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Baylor Bench Continues to Provide Major Boost

Baylor has one of the deepest rosters in the nation, and that was on full display throughout its run to the Battle 4 Atlantis championship.

LJ Cryer, the Bears' leading scorer, tallied 15 points off the bench in Wednesday's win over Arizona State, and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua recorded 13 points and eight rebounds in Thursday's triumph over VCU in the semifinals.

Tchamwa Tchatchoua, Cryer and Jeremy Sochan all played pivotal roles in Friday's victory. The reserve trio combined for more than a third of BU's scoring (26 of 75 points) while knocking down 10 of their 18 shots (55.6 percent).

Having an offensive game-changer like Cryer as a sixth man is one thing, but featuring three different players who can provide high-end contributions off the bench gives the Bears depth that will be hard for opponents to match all season long.

In addition, the size of Tchamwa Tchatchoua (6'8", 245 pounds) and Sochan (6'9", 230) gives head coach Scott Drew the ability to mix and match his lineups. It helps alleviate concerns that teams with multiple talented bigs can give Baylor trouble.

While it's early in the campaign, the depth is a major reason Baylor is in position to defend its March Madness title.

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MSU's Stock on the Rise Despite Loss

Michigan State didn't generate much attention coming into the season. It was ranked outside the Top 25 and couldn't keep pace with the Jayhawks in a 13-point loss in the opener.

The Spartans have played well since that loss, though. They won their next three games by an average of 29.7 points and then scored hard-fought victories over Loyola of Chicago and No. 22 UConn to punch their ticket to the Battle 4 Atlantis final.

They went shot-for-shot with Baylor in the first half and appeared to have a chance for the upset before the Bears caught fire early in the second half. They still made a strong showing in the Bahamas.

Brown, Marcus Bingham Jr. and Malik Hall represent a matchup advantage over most teams on the interior. How far the Spartans go this season will depend on how much shooting they generate around those post players.

MSU entered the day shooting 32.7 percent from beyond the arc, and it made only four of 15 three-point attempts against the Bears. A few more makes and it's a competitive game down to the wire.

Michigan State has work to do if it wants to contend with the nation's elite by season's end, but it looks like a Top 20 team with upside.

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What's Next?

Michigan State returns home to the Breslin Center to host Louisville on Wednesday as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Baylor is off until Dec. 4 when it welcomes Arkansas-Pine Bluff to the Ferrell Center.

Drew Timme posted a career-high 37 points on 15-of-19 shooting to lead the No. 1 Gonzaga men's basketball team to a 86-74 win over the No. 5 Texas Longhorns on Saturday from McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, Washington.

Drew putting everyone on notice 🥵

37 pts
15-19 FG
7 rebs
3 ast @drewtimme2 pic.twitter.com/Ao4WgrZ3Md

— Gonzaga Basketball (@ZagMBB) November 14, 2021

Timme started the game with 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the first 4:15 of game action. He finished with 22 points by halftime as the Bulldogs led the Longhorns 47-27 at halftime.

He added 15 more points in the second half as the Bulldogs led the final 20 minutes by double digits the entire way.

Timme began the year as the Associated Press' lone unanimous selection for its All-American team as well as The Athletic's choice for the men's preseason player of the year.

Those picks are looking good through two games as Gonzaga looks for its first-ever national title.

It was an off-night for Gonzaga even-footer Chet Holmgren, who is a candidate to be called first on the next NBA draft night.

He finished with just two points on 1-of-3 shooting alongside five rebounds, two blocks and four fouls.

However, Holmgren started his collegiate career with a 14-point, 13-rebound, seven-block, six-assist night as the Bulldogs beat Dixie State 97-63. Evenings like Saturday should be few and far between as the talented big man traverses through this season.

For Texas, Timmy Allen led the way with 18 points.

Gonzaga will now host Alcorn State on Monday at 9 p.m. ET.

The NCAA announced Thursday its staff received "threatening and offensive messages after being identified by name" by Oklahoma State personnel after the organization handed the school a one-year postseason ban in the 2021-22 season for recruiting violations.

Oklahoma State's appeal against the ban was dismissed last week. 

The NCAA's statement read, in part:

Oklahoma State personnel encouraged individuals to circumvent the NCAA member-created process that every school agrees to participate in as part of their responsibility to each other. Further, there is a troubling trend of misstating facts about the infractions process by schools that disagree with the infractions outcomes. Each member has the ability to seek change to the Division I infractions process, and there is a review group underway looking at how to improve the process.

Oklahoma State was given the postseason ban after former assistant coach Lamont Evans pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy for accepting money and gifts in exchange for steering college basketball players toward a marketing agency being started by Christian Dawkins.

Evans was sentenced to three months in prison. 

According to Matt Norlander of CBS Sports, Evans did not participate in the NCAA's investigation, which reportedly was "a factor" in the school's punishment. 

He added: "Everything else the NCAA acted upon was based off of what was provided in federal court. Oklahoma State is being punished for lack of cooperation (strictly from Evans) and unethical conduct, plus the fact Evans accepted dirty money."

Alongside the postseason ban, Oklahoma State was hit with a three-year probationary period, the loss of three scholarships per year for an undisclosed period of time and other recruiting sanctions. 

"We are profoundly disappointed for our student-athletes, none of whom were here at the time of this case," OSU athletic director Chad Weiberg said in a statement last week. "This is an unprecedented decision by the NCAA. There are other strikingly similar cases that did not include postseason bans and had only minor penalties. We had a rogue employee carrying out actions that benefited him alone and he went to great lengths to assure his actions were undetectable. He was terminated when we learned of his actions."

https://twitter.com/Kyle__Boone/status/1455991598488170500

Men's head basketball coach Mike Boynton added that the punishment was "incredibly unjust and unfair" and called the postseason ban for his players "the greatest disappointment in my career as a head coach."

The Oklahoma State men's basketball team will reportedly be banned from postseason play during the 2021-22 season after the NCAA denied the program's appeal related to infractions from the FBI's 2017 investigation into corruption within college basketball.

CBS Sports' Matt Norlander reported the news Wednesday, six days before the Cowboys are scheduled to open the new campaign by hosting UT Arlington.

In September 2017, the FBI arrested 10 people, including former OSU assistant coach Lamont Evans, after detailing what it called the "dark underbelly of college basketball" that included fraud and corruption, per CNN's Shachar Peled.

"The picture painted by the charges brought today is not a pretty one," prosecutor Joon Kim said at the time. "Coaches at some of the nation's top programs soliciting and accepting cash bribes. Managers and financial advisers circling blue chip prospects like coyotes. And employees of one of the world's largest sportswear companies secretly funneling cash to the families of high school recruits."

In June 2019, Evans was sentenced to three months in jail, a $22,000 fine and 100 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy. Prosecutors had sought a minimum of 18 months in prison.

"In hindsight and upon reflection, I knew that it was wrong," Evans said at the sentencing.

The NCAA handed down the postseason ban, along with a reduction in scholarships, in June 2020.

Oklahoma State appealed the ruling, with athletic director Mike Holder saying it was an unfair punishment since the NCAA's findings suggested Evans acted alone to cause the infractions, per Frank Bonner II for the Tulsa World.

"I find it almost impossible to reconcile the severe penalties imposed by the NCAA for the violations that were detailed in today's report," Holder said. "The NCAA agreed that Lamont Evans acted alone and for his own benefit. The NCAA also agreed that OSU did not benefit in recruiting, commit a recruiting violation, did not play an ineligible player and did not display a lack of institutional control."

The Cowboys played the 2020-21 season without restriction during the appeals process, posting a 21-9 record and reaching the second round of the NCAA tournament, but they will now sit out the 2022 men's edition of March Madness.

Oklahoma State ranked just outside the Top 25 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches preseason polls. The Cowboys had a strong chance to earn another tournament bid before the ban was upheld.

Kansas sophomore forward Jalen Wilson was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Sunday, and as a result, he has been suspended for the Jayhawks' first three regular-season games.

Kansas head coach Bill Self told reporters that Wilson, who has also been suspended for Wednesday's exhibition against Emporia State, will "serve community hours during his suspension."

Wilson, whose 21st birthday is Thursday, was pulled over and arrested by a Douglas County sheriff’s deputy early Sunday morning. He was booked into jail before being released on bond.

Wilson apologized on Twitter.

"To my family, friends, coaches, teammates, and Jayhawk Nation - first and foremost, I want to apologize to all of you for my mistake this past weekend," Wilson wrote. "I accept full responsibility for my actions and am extremely remorseful in my lack of judgment.

"I know it wouldn't be fair for me to ask for forgiveness right now, so instead I plan to show you the true man I am and my true character through my actions and behavior moving forward. Again, I am truly sorry."

As a redshirt freshman last season, Wilson started 26 of 29 games and averaged 11.8 points and a team-high 7.9 rebounds. He impressed early on with two 23-point, 10-rebound performances against Kentucky and Creighton.

Wilson was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman team after ranking second in the conference in rebounding. The 6'8", 225-pound forward tested the NBA draft waters but chose to return to school.

Kansas is ranked No. 3 in both preseason polls. Wilson will miss the Jayhawks' games against Michigan State, Tarleton State and Stony Brook.

Kansas sophomore Jalen Wilson was arrested in Lawrence, Kansas, on suspicion of driving under the influence Sunday morning, according to Glenn Kinley and Tiffany Littler of KSNT.com.

The Kansas City Star's Jesse Newell shared a statement from Jayhawks men's basketball coach Bill Self: "We are aware of the incident involving Jalen Wilson last night, and are disappointed in his decisions. We are looking into the situation as we speak and will determine potential consequences with him once we have the rest of the details."

Per Newell, a deputy from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office observed a driver "not maintaining a proper lane" at 1:48 a.m. CT. Officers pulled Wilson over and asked him to perform field sobriety tests, and he was subsequently taken into custody.

The Denton, Texas, native was released after posting a $250 bond.

As a redshirt freshman in 2020-21, Wilson averaged 11.8 points, 7.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 29 appearances. He shot 41.4 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.

The 6'8" forward explored his NBA draft prospects over the summer and opted to return to Kansas for the 2021-22 season. Heading into the year, he was one of 20 players placed on the preseason watch list for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award.

The Jayhawks host Emporia State on Wednesday in an exhibition before tipping off the regular season Nov. 9 against Michigan State.

Bob Huggins-coached teams have a long history of being knocked out of the NCAA tournament by higher-seeded teams.

Well, the West Virginia coach has an idea that could stop that from happening: get rid of Cinderellas entirely. 

Huggins suggested major conference teams extract themselves from the NCAA tournament and create an event of their own while speaking Wednesday at Big 12 media day. 

"They're doing it in football," Huggins said, per Myron Medcalf of ESPN. "Why wouldn't they do it? The presidents and athletic directors that have all the juice, why wouldn't they do it? Makes no sense why they wouldn't do it. I think it's more 'Why wouldn't they?' than 'Why would they?' And then, the other people, they can have their own tournament."

Let's start out with the fact that Huggins' basic premise is flawed. The College Football Playoff is currently considering expansion that would make it more likely—not less so—that a non-Power Five school makes the tournament. Expanding the playoffs would offer non-power schools their best shot at competing for a national title in decades.

Furthermore, the gap between major conference teams in football is exponentially higher than in basketball. Division 1 college football teams can give out 85 scholarships, compared with 13 basketball scholarships. There is also the matter of the NBA's one-and-done rule making things more difficult for higher-level basketball programs. Alabama football can hoard a never-ending assembly line of 5-star recruits that have been in Nick Saban's system years before getting significant playing time. John Calipari has a whole new starting five every season at Kentucky.

The most experienced teams in March tend to be mid-majors that can strike fear into talented-but-young major programs. Huggins-coached teams have been knocked out in the first weekend of the NCAA tournament 16 times in his 25 appearances. Since becoming a "major conference" coach at West Virginia, Huggins has lost in the first weekend to a non-power team on three occasions.

This certainly isn't an argument about competitive balance. 

Huggins' argument seems to be about money: "Those Cinderella schools are putting 200 people, at best, in their gym. We're putting 14,000."

College basketball makes the overwhelming majority of its money via the NCAA Tournament, in large part because fans love its novelty and television networks value three weeks' worth of highly watched television. Stripping it down and creating something that is unlikely to attract as many fans—particularly casuals who adore Cinderellas—seems more likely to lose the schools money, rather than creating some financial bonanza. 

Benjamin Schroder, one of the top European basketball prospects, announced his commitment to the University of Oklahoma on Wednesday as part of its 2022 recruiting class.

Schroder, an 18-year-old forward who's been a standout at the youth level in Germany, told ESPN's Jonathan Givony that the Sooners' coaches played a key role in his decision.

"The recruiting process was a different experience from the very beginning," he said. "They seemed really to care about me, not only as a player, but also as a person. Head coach Porter Moser, associate head coach David Patrick and the whole coaching staff want to win championships."

Schroder played for the Oberhaching Tropics in Germany's Pro B League during the 2020-21 season. He averaged 11.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists while shooting 42.3 percent from the field across 12 appearances (10 starts), per RealGM.

The 6'7'' forward also produced standout performances with the German youth national teams at the U16 European Championship in 2019 and the FIBA U18 European Challengers earlier this year.

He averaged 16.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game during the European Challengers and shot an eye-popping 71.0 percent from the field, per Givony.

Schroder told ESPN he's already finished high school and will take a gap year while potentially playing lower-division basketball in Germany before joining the Sooners.

"We talked to a lot of different schools, including some Ivy League programs and other schools from the ACC, Pac-12 and Big 12," he said. "I had five other scholarship offers, but I am absolutely sure about Oklahoma and wanted to commit during the early signing period to put the focus on my game again."

A promising two-way player, he explained his decision to play college basketball in the U.S. rather than professionally overseas is focused around learning the American style of play.

"I want to be the best basketball player I can become, while having as much fun as possible," Schroder told Givony. "The U.S. plays a different style of basketball and will give me a chance to work with the best coaches, facilities and physical programs in the world. I also love the States and hope it will be a good personal experience beside basketball."

His experience in Europe should allow him to become an instant-impact player for Oklahoma and gives him long-term NBA upside if his development arc continues at its current rate.

The University of Cincinnati has officially submitted an application to join the Big 12 conference, according to Jason Williams of the Cincinnati Enquirer. 

Shortly after, University of Central Florida followed suit. 

NEWS: #UCF officially submitted its application Wednesday to join the Big 12 Conference, a source within the AAC confirmed to the Orlando Sentinel. @UCFSports had it first. https://t.co/L2TA0iPBEE

— Jason Beede (@therealBeede) September 8, 2021

The Big 12 set up an internal expansion committee to explore a new round of realignment following the departure of Oklahoma and Texas to the Southeastern Conference beginning no later than 2025. Cincinnati, currently a member of the American Athletic Conference, is the first school to officially seek entrance to the Big 12.

Per Williams: 

The Big 12 on Friday is expected to officially announce that UC and three other schools – fellow American Athletic Conference rivals Central Florida and Houston and current independent BYU – will join the conference.

UC President Neville Pinto was unavailable for comment Wednesday. Pinto made it a top priority to lead UC into a major conference after taking over as president in early 2017, and he's shown strong leadership on the issue ever since. 

For UC, all that remains uncertain now is when it will officially start play in the Big 12 and how much money is at stake.

If approved, the Bearcats and Knights would become the conference's first additions since West Virginia and TCU joined in 2012. 

Should the Big 12 approve Cincinnati, it'll be adding a football program that has earned at least nine wins in seven of its last 10 seasons, with bowl game victories over Vanderbilt (2011), Duke (2012), Virginia Tech (2018) and Boston College (2020).

The school's basketball program has also been a mainstay in the NCAA tournament, appearing in the field consecutively from 2011-2019, though it hasn't reached the Sweet Sixteen since 2012 or the Final Four since 1992. 

WIlliams noted the move to the Big 12 will also help the school construct additional athletics facilities, including an indoor practice area for the football program.

The school does already have assets worth touting as it readies for a jump to a Power Five conference.

Per Williams:

UC's top-notch facilities positioned it nicely to make the jump to the Big 12. Credit UC leaders for having the foresight to invest a total of $173 million into overhauling Nippert Stadium and Fifth Third Arena in recent years. Those facilities have the Bearcats ready to compete for Big 12 championships on Day 1 in the conference.

UC finished an $86 million expansion of Nippert Stadium in 2015, adding new suites, club seating and a larger press box. It expanded Nippert's capacity to 40,000 from 35,000. Nippert certainly isn't among the largest stadiums in college football, but the state-of-the-art amenities, upkeep and game-day atmosphere have made it one of the best.

UCF, meanwhile, boasts a surging football program that has won four conference titles since 2013, including undefeated seasons in 2017 and 2018.

How many other schools will attempt to join the Big 12 and how many are eventually accepted remains to be seen.

  

  

West Virginia men's basketball head coach Bob Huggins has agreed to a two-year contract extension that will keep him in Morgantown through the 2023-24 season. The school announced the news Friday.

Huggins also has the option to continue coaching or lengthen his relationship with WVU through June 30, 2027.

Huggins will receive an annualized salary of $4.2 million for each of his remaining seasons as head coach, and all of the revenue will be generated by the athletics department ($250,000 in base pay, rest in supplemental pay). In addition, Huggins can earn annual performance incentives.

He will also get Emeritus status within the athletic department after he finishes as head coach, per the program's official website:

Huggins could defer his term of Emeritus status and continue to serve as head coach beyond the 2023-24 season with an annual mutual agreement between Huggins and the director of athletics on or before May 1, 2023, and each subsequent May 1 thereafter. His Emeritus status would continue for not less than two fiscal years through at least June 30, 2027. If Huggins continues to coach beyond June 30, 2027, he will have a minimum of two fiscal years of Emeritus status.

The 67-year-old Huggins has 900 head-coaching wins on his resume. He's been with West Virginia since 2007-08 and has led the Mountaineers to the NCAA tournament in all but three of his seasons. Huggins led West Virginia to the Final Four in 2010.

Huggins was previously a head coach at Walsh College (1980-83), Akron (1984-89), Cincinnati (1989-05) and Kansas State (2006-07).

He notably led Cincinnati to the NCAA tournament from 1991-92 to 2004-05, guiding the Bearcats to the Final Four in 1992.

Last year's Mountaineers team went 19-10. It earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament before losing to No. 11 Syracuse in the round of 32. West Virginia's first-round win over No. 14 Morehead State was the 900th of Huggins' career.