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Big 12 Could be Monster Next Year
Published: 2/25/2012 4:27 PM
Last Modified: 2/25/2012 4:27 PM

It appears the bottom two teams in the Big 12 will be Texas Tech and Oklahoma.
Teams coached by Billy Gillispie (Tech) and Lon Kruger (OU) won’t stay down very long.
As a result, from the bottom to the top, the Big 12 Conference should be better next year.
Considering the Big 12 has been the No. 1 rated conference for much of this season, the league is getting ready to be a monster.
A year from now, nine of the 10 team will have high hopes for the NCAA Tournament. A handful of teams will expect to be playing deep into the NCAAs.
In other words, improvement should be seen all around a league that is already very good.
The Big 12 is expected to put five teams in the NCAA Tournament in two weeks. Kansas, Missouri and Baylor are capable of making deep runs.
Iowa State and Kansas State should win a game or two.
In the lower half of the league, Texas, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Oklahoma should be dramatically better next year.
Plus, West Virginia will bring an NCAA-quality team to the Big 12.
So, OU and OSU will need dramatic improvement to move up in the standings of a league that should once again be the best in the nation.
The Cowboys need a point guard and inside scoring. The Sooners need a general upswing in talent.
Some believe the Big 12 was down somewhat this season. In reality, it was down only in the lower division.
And, some tradition-rich programs were not up to typical standards.
The Cowboys and Sooners better plan on a huge jump up next seson.



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Klein's Korner

Tulsa World senior sports columnist John Klein is in his fourth decade of covering sports. He started his newspaper career at The Daily Ardmoreite in 1977 and moved to the Tulsa World in 1978. He served 10 years as sports editor for the Tulsa World before being named to his current position in 2005. He also spent five years as the Southwest Conference beat writer for the Houston Post. He has won many writing awards and is a former Oklahoma Sports Writer of the Year.

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