Questions? in the Big 12 South for the 2010 Season

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The summer of 2010 will officially be in the rear view mirror with the kick off of the football season this weekend. And what a summer it was for the Big 12. The conference was on life support, and then flat-lined, then was brought back to life, albeit minus a couple limbs. But that is for another time; there’s a football season to play.

The Big 12 is starting the 2010 campaign with three teams ranked in the top 10 of the preseason polls. And there are several others that hope to crash the party and make the final season of the Big 12 as we know it a special one.

Ah, yes, optimism reigns supreme in early September for nearly everyone. Despite the positive vibes coming from around the conference, this weekend will bring with it the reality that not everything is perfect. Here is a look at the Big 12 South and the questions each team needs to answer if they hope to turn that optimism into something real.

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Baylor Needs to Move Forward Without Their Big 12 Counterparts

The big sports news in our great Metroplex the last couple of weeks has been the possible extinction of the Big 12.

This all started a few months ago with a short lived rumor about Texas possibly joining the Big 10. Recently, a much larger bomb was dropped when we learned Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Colorado had received invitations to join the Pacific–10 Conference (PAC 10).

This invitation is part of a nationwide movement by “the best of the best” to create super conferences that are highly competitive and maximizes profits (i.e. television contracts and merchandising).

An interesting part of this whole story is Baylor University not being invited by the PAC 10, despite being in the Big 12 Conference with these schools. As a result, Baylor has been politicking in Austin. Last week, A Baylor Alumni and prestigious Texas Lobbyist, Buddy Jones, sent a letter to several Texas State Legislatures urging them to make sure the other universities board of regents included Baylor in any deal.

In a state known for good old boy politics that combines horse trading and back scratching to make deals happen, Baylor’s politicking has been successful in the past. In the mid 1990’s The Big 12 was formed between the old Southwest Conference and the Big 8 to create a more competitive conference that would generate more revenue. Despite Baylor’s small size, they were able to utilize their political capital and gain a spot in this new elite conference. In the process, they left their small private school counterparts TCU, Rice and SMU to fend for themselves in smaller conferences.

If Baylor’s political maneuvering gains them a spot in the new PAC 16, as they are now calling it, will it benefit them in the long run? Will they be able to compete and will their fans actually see their team win championships?

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Sweet 16: Baylor Bears vs St Marys

The Baylor Bears will face St. Mary’s Gaels on Friday night, the Bears have looked strong in both of their wins in the 2010 NCAA tournament. Baylor beat Sam Houston State, in the first round of March madness, and Old Dominion in the second round. The Baylor Bears rely on their speedy back court duo: Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn to control the game, and star center Ekpe Udoh to clean things up.

The St. Mary’s Gaels have pulled a couple of upsets to get to this point, they have faced two favorable match ups in their wins over Richmond & Villanova. On Friday we will see how complete St. Mary’s is when they have to face a talented big man like Baylor’s Ekpe Udoh. Richmond and Nova both had talented guards, but they were unable to match up against Omar Samhan’s size.

The matchup between the Baylor Bear’s Ekpe Udoh and St. Mary’s Gaels Omar Samhan will be great, for a look at the rest of the games in the sweet 16 check out the Sweet 16 guide over at MSF.
Sweet 16 Preview & TV Guide

Tickets for all of the regions and sessions are still available through StubHub! just use the links below to find tickets to the games that interest you.
Baylor-St Marys Sweet 16 Tickets
Sweet 16 & Elite 8 Tickets
NCAA Tournament Tickets

Baylor Bears vs St. Mary’s Gaels | Announcers – Spread – TV Channel
Baylor-St. Mary’s Date: Friday – March 26th
Baylor-St. Mary’s Tip Time: 6:27 Central Time
Baylor-St. Mary’s Location: Reliant Stadium – Houston, TX
Baylor-St. Mary’s TV Channel: CBS
Baylor-St. Mary’s Announcers: Jim Nantz and Clark Kellogg
Baylor-St. Mary’s Spread: Baylor -3.5

Baylor Bears vs Sam Houston State Bearkats – March Madness

The great state of Texas will be well represented at 2010 NCAA Tournament, and the Baylor Bears are the highest seeded team from Texas. March Madness 2010 will tip off on Thursday March 18 2010. The 3 seed Baylor Bears will take on the 14 seed Sam Houston State Bearkats. At first glance you would probably expect the Baylor Bears to roll on the Bearkats, but don’t be to sure, Baylor is prone to the upset. The Sam Houston State Bearkats could get an opportunity to move on if Baylor does not start out sharp in this one.

With that said I am going to have to agree with the spread that Vegas put out, and take the Baylor Bears. Yes, I chose the Bears to move on in my bracket, I just don’t think that Sam Houston State has enough to upset them, but you never know.

Lets take a look at the Game Information including: tickets, game time, tv channel, and location. We will also look at the betting information, spreads and over / under.

South Region | Baylor Bears vs Sam Houston State Bearkats Ticket – Game – Betting Information
Location: New Orleans Arena | New Orleans, LA
Game Time: 1:45 Central Time
TV Channel: CBS
Spread: Baylor -12, Sam Houston +12
Tickets:

Baylor Sam Houston State Tickets on StubHub.com!