Quote:First-year Kansas State coach Bruce Weber is so new to the Big 12 that he called into his first league teleconference from Champaign, Ill., as movers were packing his family's belongings for the journey to Manhattan, Kan.
Weber, West Virginia's Bob Huggins and TCU's Trent Johnson are the newest coaches to join the Big 12, which will lose Missouri and Texas A&M to the Southeastern Conference on July 1. In their place will be the Mountaineers and Horned Frogs.
Weber, who was fired by Illinois in March after nine seasons, has been impressed with what he's seen so far after being immersed in the Big Ten.
"The success of the Big 12 as a basketball conference, a football conference, is just pretty eye-opening to be honest. Our whole staff, that's the one thing we've talked a lot about," Weber said Thursday in a call with reporters. "Comparing to the Big Ten, probably a little better athlete and maybe a little bit more open, up and down."
Huggins knows all about the Big 12, having spent one memorable season at Kansas State before jumping to his alma mater before the 2007-08 season.
Huggins said that one of the changes that fans in Morgantown are most excited about in the leap from the 16-team Big East to the Big 12 will be the true round-robin schedule.
It should help the Mountaineers generate some heated rivalries before long.
"There were times, I think we played at Syracuse four years in a row and I think Louisville played at our place four years in a row. You don't get to see all the teams," Huggins said. "I don't think you develop the rivalry like you do when you're playing people on a home-and-home basis like we're going to be able to do."
The coach facing the biggest challenge in moving to the Big 12 has got to be TCU's Trent Johnson.
Huggins comment in bold face type was what I saw as one of the biggest problems with The BEast. The way the conference scheduled, especially in basketball, downplayed any potential rivalry that could be created - except for those they felt were marquee matchups among original BEast members...
I'm glad to see the last of that crap. Bring on Round Robin play...
(This post was last modified: 06-15-2012 08:11 AM by bitcruncher.)
(06-15-2012 08:08 AM)bitcruncher Wrote: I'm looking forward to basketball season in a way I haven't since WVU's run to the Final Four in 2010. I really like the schedule this year...
Quote:First-year Kansas State coach Bruce Weber is so new to the Big 12 that he called into his first league teleconference from Champaign, Ill., as movers were packing his family's belongings for the journey to Manhattan, Kan.
Weber, West Virginia's Bob Huggins and TCU's Trent Johnson are the newest coaches to join the Big 12, which will lose Missouri and Texas A&M to the Southeastern Conference on July 1. In their place will be the Mountaineers and Horned Frogs.
Weber, who was fired by Illinois in March after nine seasons, has been impressed with what he's seen so far after being immersed in the Big Ten.
"The success of the Big 12 as a basketball conference, a football conference, is just pretty eye-opening to be honest. Our whole staff, that's the one thing we've talked a lot about," Weber said Thursday in a call with reporters. "Comparing to the Big Ten, probably a little better athlete and maybe a little bit more open, up and down."
Huggins knows all about the Big 12, having spent one memorable season at Kansas State before jumping to his alma mater before the 2007-08 season.
Huggins said that one of the changes that fans in Morgantown are most excited about in the leap from the 16-team Big East to the Big 12 will be the true round-robin schedule.
It should help the Mountaineers generate some heated rivalries before long.
"There were times, I think we played at Syracuse four years in a row and I think Louisville played at our place four years in a row. You don't get to see all the teams," Huggins said. "I don't think you develop the rivalry like you do when you're playing people on a home-and-home basis like we're going to be able to do."
The coach facing the biggest challenge in moving to the Big 12 has got to be TCU's Trent Johnson.
Huggins comment in bold face type was what I saw as one of the biggest problems with The BEast. The way the conference scheduled, especially in basketball, downplayed any potential rivalry that could be created - except for those they felt were marquee matchups among original BEast members...
I'm glad to see the last of that crap. Bring on Round Robin play...
For a year?????
(This post was last modified: 06-15-2012 08:15 AM by bitcruncher.)
Trent Johnson has a huge uphill battle to make TCU remotely relevant in Bug 12 hoops. Frogs have the worst facilities in the league and while the MWC had some nice programs and some hard road trips (especially considering elevation, which also takes a toll indoors) there weren't any programs on the level of a Kansas and not much elite NBA talent.
Trent pulled in a couple of nice recruits (by TCU standards) late this year. I will be interested to see what he does in his first full recruiting season.
WVU's facilities take a back seat to nobody in basketball presently. Schools around the country have come to look at the Mountaineers' new practice facility...
Hopefully TCU will have something similar someday, froggy...
(06-15-2012 08:08 AM)bitcruncher Wrote: I'm looking forward to basketball season in a way I haven't since WVU's run to the Final Four in 2010. I really like the schedule this year...
Every year it seems like all of the programs outside of Kansas in the Big 12 are struggling just to get the traction needed for year-to-year success. Of those three coaches in the article, I think Huggins and WVU are in the best position to do that. Won't necessarily be easy, though, as the middle of the pack in this conference is as brutal as any.
I hope Weber crashes and burns. I look forward to the day when that man leaves the conference.
I think we played at Syracuse four years in a row and I think Louisville played at our place four years in a row.
The Big XII won't show WVU anything they haven't already seen. BEast basketbrawl during WVU's time in the conference has been as tough as any conference anywhere, and far tougher than most...
(06-17-2012 12:28 PM)bitcruncher Wrote: The Big XII won't show WVU anything they haven't already seen. BEast basketbrawl during WVU's time in the conference has been as tough as any conference anywhere, and far tougher than most...
Right, but WVU couldn't manage to have consistent success in the BEast. The real question in my mind is whether they can come in and place in the top 3 in the Big 12 on a yearly basis. Having a team (in addition to Kansas) that can do that will help the conference in many ways IMO.
Considering that the 11th place BEast team won the NCAA championship a couple of years ago, I really don't see what placement within The BEast in basketball has to do with anything...
All you need to know is that in the last decade, WVU has made 5 Sweet Sixteen appearances, 2 of those teams went to the Elite Eight, and one went to the Final Four. WVU has made the NCAA tourney field every year but one, when WVU won the NIT...
That ain't too shabby, and few teams can match that record over the same period of time...
(This post was last modified: 06-18-2012 06:56 AM by bitcruncher.)
From a fan standpoint, I love the round-robin schedule. While there are some pretty dead venues in the conference (e.g. Texas Tech), there are a lot of good places to play. Crowds in Ames and Manhattan (particularly since Huggins kick-started the program) are very intense and create great atmospheres in which to play. It's good to finally get to play everyone twice after many years of unbalanced divisional play.
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Weber, Huggins, Johnson adjust to Big 12
