Friday, March 9, 2007
Watching all of the mid-major conference tournaments, it becomes clear that there is one thing missing from the Big 12 Tournament: students.
Don’t get me wrong, students are at the tournament. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State obviously drew its students to the Ford Center. Kansas, Texas and Texas A&M students will make the road trip to Oklahoma City today to cheer on their respective teams. But the students are scattered throughout the arena, in seats they all got separately.
There is no student section at the Ford Center, or at any Big 12 Tournament, which is too bad. The enthusiastic students are what make college basketball better than the NBA. Having hundreds of college students together rooting for their respective schools brings an unreal atmosphere to college basketball.
Unfortunately, the Big 12 Tournament lacks that atmosphere because most college students don’t have $245 sitting around to spend on tickets to go to the conference tournament.
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That means, if you’re a Kansas, Texas or Texas A&M fan, you’ll spend about $82 a game to see your team play, assuming they make it to the championship. That’s ridiculous.
That means, if you’re a Kansas, Texas or Texas A&M fan, you’ll spend about $82 a game to see your team play, assuming they make it to the championship. That’s ridiculous. The Big 12 needs to dedicate sections of the arena for students, and for a reduced price. The Big 12 should implement a lottery like KU has for the NCAA student tickets for select student sections.
Even when Kansas City played host to the tournament two years ago, KU students showed up but they were all over the arena.
The Big 12 needs to make the conference tournament accessible to students because students are what make the college game go.
Now, on to the actual tournament.
Kansas should be able to cruise past Oklahoma today because the talent levels just don’t compare. The Sooners are in a transition year with a new coach at the helm, and will simply not be able to hang with the Jayhawks.
Assuming the Jayhawks advance, Saturday’s game should also be winnable. Kansas will face the winner of the Texas Tech vs. Kansas State game, two teams with their seasons on the line. The winner of that game likely finds itself in the Big Dance while the loser has NIT written all over it, which bodes well for Kansas. The Wildcats and Red Raiders will leave everything on the court today, while the Jayhawks should have a relatively easy day. After fighting for their season, the winner — whom I think will be Texas Tech — will be exhausted and just excited to know it will be dancing. Therefore, Kansas should have no problem beating either team — especially if it’s Texas Tech, because of the revenge factor.
Finally, the championship game. Most Kansas fans would love to face Texas A&M after it won inside Allen Fieldhouse. But I can’t take the Aggies after the performance Longhorn do-it-all man Kevin Durant put on in the first half against the Jayhawks last weekend. Durant’s ankle is reported to be healthy and he has the ability to single-handedly win the game for the Longhorns. But what about Texas A&M’s Acie Law IV? Sorry, Law is incredible and clutch, but he isn’t as dominant as Durant.
In the championship, if it plays out this way, Kansas will be cutting down the nets again. The Jayhawks showed they were a more talented team than the Longhorns on Saturday, even though they trailed at halftime.
Davison is an Overland Park senior in journalism.
— Edited by Kelly Lanigan
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Davison: Something's missing
You know I was thinking the same thing with just about every Champ week game I've been watching. A great example was the Duke-NC State game tonight (which Duke lost). I mean that was a BIG-TIME upset and it was positively silent at the end of that game.
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