Cornhuskers battle Red Raiders in Big 12 Tournament action

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/11/2010 - Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 23rd-ranked Texas A&M Aggies are the fourth-seeded team in the Big 12 Conference Tournament, and they will play a quarterfinal-round game against the surprising 12th-seeded Nebraska Cornhuskers today.

Next up for the winner of this game is a semifinal clash with either top- seeded Kansas or ninth-seeded Texas Tech.

Not only did Nebraska manage to upset fifth-seeded Missouri yesterday, but the game was rather lopsided, as the Cornhuskers cruised to a 75-60 triumph. Nebraska has never won this tournament and owns a 6-13 record in the event all-time. The Huskers racked up a 12-3 record against non-conference foes during the regular season, but that mark was clearly overshadowed by a 2-14 record against Big 12 opponents. Still, the win in Wednesday first-round affair offers renewed confidence.

Texas A&M has only won three of the 16 Big 12 Conference Tournament games it has played, and the team is still in search of its first league crown. The Aggies are certainly playing with a great deal of confidence right now, as they closed out the regular season with three consecutive wins to move to 22-8 overall and 11-5 in conference. Last Saturday, they easily disposed of Oklahoma in a 69-54 final on the road.

The Aggies beat the Cornhuskers, 64-53, back in January, but Nebraska still owns an 11-7 advantage in the all-time series.

The Cornhuskers are a modest offensive team, averaging 66.3 ppg on 43.5 percent shooting from the floor heading into this tournament. Defensively, the Cornhuskers were permitting 65.8 ppg by the end of the regular season, and Ryan Anderson (11.0 ppg) was the only double-digit scorer on the roster. Brandon Richardson was the best player for Nebraska yesterday, as he scored 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor. Anderson also shot 6-of-8 from the field and finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Both Jorge Brian Diaz and Lance Jeter scored 10 points in the triumph, and Jeter added seven boards and six assists. The Cornhuskers connected on 55.8 percent of their field goal attempts against Missouri, including an 8-of-14 effort from three-point range. They also shot 19-of-22 from the foul line, earned a 38-22 rebounding advantage and limited Missouri to 33.9 percent shooting.

When fans discuss the best players in the Big 12, Texas A&M's Donald Sloan is rarely mentioned. The fact of the matter is that while Sloan doesn't possess impressive numbers in assists, rebounds or steals, his 17.9 ppg have been a major key to the success of the Aggies this season. There is only one other active double-digit scorer in the lineup for A&M, as Bryan Davis provides an even 10.0 ppg. While Sloan, Davis and company are averaging 72.0 ppg, they are limiting opponents to 64.4 ppg on 40.4 percent shooting from the field. Against Oklahoma in the regular season the finale, the Aggies connected on 51 percent of their field goal attempts while limiting the Sooners to 36.2 percent. A 36-26 rebounding advantage also helped the cause.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.