The Conference Has Really Sped Up

[Sooner04]

When Billy Tubbs arrived, nobody thought fast-break, run and gun basketball could be successful in a conference known for mucked up, defensive ballgames. Five years later, we're in the Elite 8.

Once Roy Williams left Kansas for North Carolina, the last flame of fast-break basketball was extinguished in this conference. Things really came to a head in 2007 when, following the first round, no team scored more than 80 points in regulation during the Big 12 Tournament.

Compare that to today. Missouri and O-State both run the hell out of the ball. Baylor and Texas Tech are eager to run, and will when they can. OU and Texas play a myriad of styles, but they'll certainly run when given the opportunity. Kansas plays a little more helter-skelter now that Self lost some of his primo defenders.

As of today, the Big 12 conference occupies six of the Top 27 slots in points per game in Division 1 Basketball.

3. Missouri: 85.5
5. O-State: 85.2
7. Baylor: 82.7
16. Oklahoma: 80.4
25. Texas Tech: 79.3
27. Kansas 79.2

It's amazing how these trends ebb and flow. I don't necessarily think scoring is up nationwide, but it definitely is in the Big 12. Losing Sutton, Sampson and Gillispie certainly helped to pick up the pace. Turgeon would probably like to do things a little quicker down in College Station, but his team is as bad offensively as any you'll ever see.

To me, I like this trend because it allows the more talented teams to rise to the top, which will obviously benefit us as long as Jeff Capel is around.

[8timechamps]

What's funny (or good) to me is something that you mentioned in an earlier post...whatever situation we get put in by the opponent, we can play their style (so far, better than they can) of ball.

I do miss Billy Ball sometimes (and probably always will). Playing a slower tempo, and winning on both sides of the ball is not as exciting, but certainly more proven.

[Sooner04]

Kelvin and Billy were polar opposites, so that probably did more to cause the rift in our fanbase than anything. I don't think you'll ever see a ton of teams averaging 90 points a game again because of two reasons:

1. Really good players don't stick around the college game long enough to refine their offensive games.

2. Officiating allows defensive players to get away with a ton. ACC games are more pleasing to the eye because they allow offensive players room to operate. The Big 12 used to get killed in the Tournament because we'd be plagued by foul trouble.

I love that offense is starting to make headway in the game, but that doesn't mean I want us to play like Baylor. Those guys are the Kings of Ole right now. MOVE YOUR FEET!

Mike Anderson started the ball rolling down this path. Capel said he wanted to play this way from the get-go, but it's taken him a bit to get the right kind of talent in here. Scott Drew and Travis Ford both feature perimeter-based, trapping styles.

It'll be interesting to see if more teams adjust to keep up. Coaches are the biggest copycats in the world.

[RonMexico7]

What's funny (or good) to me is something that you mentioned in an earlier post...whatever situation we get put in by the opponent, we can play their style (so far, better than they can) of ball.

I think our versatility has also helped us win games for another reason - when we need to score points fast we can, but when we need to slow the game down and eat up clock, then we can do that to.

[okienole3]

Potato potato.

[ouleaf]

I really don't think it has as much to do with coaching philosophy as it does with the type of players each team has. A coach at this level is going to adapt and develop a system that fits their teams strength. Look at OU. We could run an up-tempo style, but we really don't for the most part b/c we have a stud big man that can attack the basket from close range. Teams that don't have a big man who is an offensive threat in the post, like OSU have to rely on speed and trying to beat the defense down the floor before they can get set to get the majority of their points.

So it's really just a matter of the players a team has and not as much coaching philosophy IMO. I bet our offense will change pretty significantly next year without Blake around.