Too Much to Ask?
It seems like a lot to ask.
The Texas Longhorns, the only team in the country with three wins over teams currently ranked in the top five, will be out to make it four on Sunday.
In a scene that’s probably becoming irksome to the rest of the league, No. 6 Texas will meet fifth-ranked and two-time defending champion Kansas on Sunday for the Big 12 tournament title for the third year in a row.
Oddsmakers from Bodog have made Kansas –5.5 point spread favorites (View College Basketball odds) for today’s game (Game Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 68% of bets for this game have been placed on Texas +5.5 (View College Basketball bet percentages).
The Longhorns, besides beating No. 5 Kansas in the regular season, also rang up wins over No. 3 UCLA and No. 4 Tennessee – a fact that’ll no doubt look impressive to the NCAA selection committee when it hands out No. 1 seeds on Sunday.
A second win over the Jayhawks would give Texas a very strong case for one of the four top seeds.
“Kansas, I’ve said all along, I think they’re the best team we’ve played all year,” said Texas’ Rick Barnes, the Big 12 coach of the year. “I just hope we can come out and put 40 minutes together and see what happens.”
Kansas (30-3) tied the Longhorns (28-5) for the regular-season championship with a 13-3 league record. But Texas got the best of Kansas, 72-69, when they met in Austin on Feb. 11 for the only time this year.
Kansas has beaten Texas in the tournament finale each of the last two years.
“We’ve been here a couple of times … but we haven’t been able to finish it off,” said Barnes. “I don’t think that’s because of a lack of effort or want-to. I think the ones we’ve been in, we’ve been beaten. Believe me, both teams are going to go out there and play as hard as they can to try to get a championship.”
Kansas had to work a little harder in its semifinal match before finally putting Texas A&M away 77-71 behind Brandon Rush’s career-high 28 points.
“They got us down in Austin earlier in the season and we’re looking to get back at them,” said Kansas freshman Cole Andrich. “It’s a big game for us because it is for the conference championship. It’s kind of a chance to get a little revenge on them.”
In the game at Austin, Texas point guard D.J. Augustin had 10 points and five assists, Connor Atchley had 16 points and Damion James and A.J. Abrams had 14 each. Sherron Collins had a season-high 26 for the Jayhawks.
“D.J.’s pretty good,” Collins said “He can do a lot of things. But they have a lot of depth like we’ve got. You look forward to playing against guys like D.J. Augustin. We’ll need to be aggressive. Both teams are going to run. There will be a lot of possessions.”
by: Staff Writers – Email Us
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