Tramel's ScissorTales: Big 12 was a close call from dominating NCAA men's basketball tournament

The Sweet 16 is set, and the Big 12 is tied with the ACC for most teams (three each) in the regional semifinals and tied with the Big Ten for most victories (nine) in the 2022 NCAAs.

And now the Big 12 will have to fight its way to the top of the NCAA mountain.

When Houston beat Illinois on Sunday afternoon in the South Regional, the Cougars became the ninth team to reach the Sweet 16 of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. And those nine teams represented nine conferences.

Houston of the American Conference. Kansas of the Big 12. North Carolina of the Atlantic Coast. Michigan of the Big Ten. Arkansas of the Southeastern. UCLA of the Pac-12. St. Peter’s of the Metro Atlantic. Providence of the Big East. Gonzaga of the West Coast.

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Conference parity seemed to reign. But late Sunday night, with only the Texas Christian-Arizona game left to be decided, the Big 12 was on the verge of March Madness supremacy.

Big 12 teams Texas Tech and Iowa State had joined Kansas in the Sweet 16, and TCU was on the verge.

When Bennedict Mathurin’s deep 3-point shot sailed into the air, you knew that unless it went through the hoop, TCU was poised to post a big upset and plant the flag that these NCAAs were claimed by the Big 12.

But what goes up, must come down. And Mathurin’s do-or-die shot came down through the net, with 14 seconds left, giving top-seeded Arizona a tie against the Horned Frogs in the South Regional. UofA won in overtime.

And now the Big 12 will have to fight its way to the top of the NCAA mountain.

The Sweet 16 is set, and the Big 12 is tied with the ACC for most teams (three each) in the regional semifinals and tied with the Big Ten for most victories (nine) in the 2022 NCAAs.

Here are the records, by conference, along with Sweet 16 teams:

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► Big 12 9-3 (.750): Kansas, Texas Tech, Iowa State.

► Big Ten 9-7 (.563): Purdue, Michigan.

► ACC 8-2 (.800): Duke, North Carolina, Miami.

► Big East 5-4 (.556): Villanova, Providence.

► Pac-12 4-1 (.800): Arizona, UCLA.

► Southeastern 4-5 (.444): Arkansas.

► American 3-1 (.750): Houston.

► West Coast 3-2 (.600): Gonzaga.

► Plus the Metro Atlantic and the glorious story of St. Peters.

The Big 12 has performed well in this tournament. The conference was seeded to get three teams into the Sweet 16: Kansas, Baylor and Tech. The Big Ten and SEC also were seeded to produce three Sweet 16 teams each. The Big Ten got two. The SEC one.

Making the Sweet 16 is not easy. That’s why Final Four appearances are so celebrated. Just getting halfway to the Final Four is a big deal.

Baylor’s wild overtime loss to North Carolina – the Tar Heels led by 25 points midway through the second half – kept the Big 12 from total dominance.

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But the Big 12’s overall performance was solid. Three Sweet 16 teams, two others kept out by overtime defeats. Even sixth-seeded Texas, beaten 81-71 by third-seeded Purdue, acquitted itself well, twice coming back from serious situations to put the Boilermakers in jeopardy.

The Big 12 in the last decade or so traditionally disappointed in March Madness. That changed in 2019, when Texas Tech zipped to the NCAA Championship Game and seemed on the verge of a national title, until Virginia’s De’Andre Hunter hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds to force overtime (a TCU-Arizona script), and the Cavaliers won in OT.

The 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled by the pandemic, then Baylor won the 2021 championship. So the Big 12 is on a roll.

The Big 12’s Sweet 16 chances are encouraging.

Top-seeded Kansas plays fourth-seeded Providence in Chicago. The Friars clearly are capable, and we know KU is not a super team. But the Jayhawks have proven to be better over the course of the season.

Third-seeded Tech plays second-seeded Duke in San Francisco. It’s a contrast of styles. Duke’s blueblood program and blue-chip players. Tech’s hard-hat program and hardscrabble players. Nobody out-toughs Tech. Duke is a difficult matchup for any team, but the Red Raiders come to every game with swords and billyclubs.

And 11th-seeded Iowa State plays 10th-seed Miami in Chicago. Most 11-seeds that make the Sweet 16 are big underdogs. Not the Cyclones. Miami is a 1½-point favorite. The Hurricanes will have an athletic advantage, but Iowa State is playing tough defense and has found a clutch gene in taking out Louisiana State and Wisconsin.

All in all, the first week of the NCAA Tournament was a Big 12 success. But the Big 12 has set a high standard for March.

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Aaron Wiggins slumping for Thunder

The NBA season is long. If you haven’t realized it, consider the case of Aaron Wiggins.

Drafted in the second round last summer, Wiggins showed much promise in Summer League. We learned a lesson about prospects; Wiggins was 22 when drafted and turned 23 in January. Older rookies usually are more NBA-ready than 19-year-olds.

And that’s how it panned out with the 6-foot-6 wing from Maryland.

Wiggins, on a two-league contract with the Thunder and the G-League Blue, did not play in any of OKC’s first 11 games. But Mark Daigneault slowly began using Wiggins more. Over the next 11 Thunder games, Wiggins played in nine, averaging 14.4 minutes, 2.9 points, 1.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists and shot 44.4 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from 3-point range. Decent numbers, but limited court time.

Then on December 15, Wiggins returned after being inactive for five straight games. And Daigneault found a player. Wiggins played in 22 of the Thunder’s next 24 games and even started 17 times.

Wiggins was a solid and versatile defender. He averaged 25.0 minutes, 9.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.0 assists and shot 49 percent from the field, including 31.7 percent from 3-point range.

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Anyone watching the Thunder without knowledge of draft status or age or anything would surmise that Wiggins was an NBA-caliber player, not a project. Definitely not a star, but a player capable of helping teams.

But since then, Wiggins twice has suffered a minor ankle injury. He’s been out and in of playing time. And the inactivity shows.

Over the Thunder’s last 21 games, Wiggins has played in 12, starting 11 and averaging 27.5 minutes. But his scoring is down (8.0), his shooting is way down (.400 from the field; .257 from 3-point range) and his overall impact isn’t anything like it was in mid-season.

So Wiggins is back to being a question mark. Is he an NBA player? Probably. Does he factor into the Thunder’s long-term plans? Apparently, having signed a reported four-year contract averaging $1.6 million per year.

But can anyone guess what Wiggins’ future really holds? It’s a long season. Wiggins’ up and down rookie year is a great reminder.

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Mailbag: OSU women’s basketball job

My Sunday column on OSU needing to hire a female for its women’s basketball coaching job didn’t have a long shelf life – the university announced Sunday it had hired Missouri-Kansas City coach Jacie Hoyt. But the column drew some interesting response from readers.

Keith: “One of your best today. Jennie Baranczyk is the model of what a women’s coach should be. While I’m an OSUer, I love what she is doing for Oklahoma basketball. She appears to be the real deal. And the most important thing you said, there must be some women sitting at the coaches table at OSU.”

Tramel: Jim Littell lasted only one season as the Cowgirl coach after Baranczyk’s arrival at OU. That probably is coincidental, but you never know.

In 1996, OU hired Sherri Coale, and soon enough, Sooner women’s basketball took off. OSU women’s coach Dick Halterman was coming off four straight NCAA Tournaments, and the Cowgirls reached the round of 32 in 1996.

But Halterman’s next six teams failed to reach the NCAA, never finished higher than tied for fifth in the Big 12, and he resigned in 2002, the year the Sooners made the national championship game.

OSU clearly figured it needed to follow the Coale model – hire a young, sharp female. OSU hired Julie Goodenough from Division III Hardin-Simmons, and it didn’t go well. Her three-year record was 23-61, and OSU went another route, to junior-college coach Kurt Budke, who was a big success. Littell was on Budke’s staff and took over after Budke’s death in the tragic 2011 plane crash. Littell had six NCAA Tournament teams in 10 years and an overall record of 195-120.

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But in the transfer portal age, player retention is huge, and the Cowgirls struggled to keep quality players.

Now OSU has returned to the Coale (or Baranczyk) model.

The Bedlam schools occasionally have reacted to their arch-rival when it comes to coaching decisions.

OU and OSU once announced football coaches on the same day. The Sooners hired Howard Schnellenberger and the Cowboys hired Bob Simmons on New Year’s Eve 1995. Simmons took over a rebuilding situation, and his first Cowboy team went 4-8. But OSU stunned OU 12-0 in November, won the season finale at Hawaii and created a ton of excitement. Schnellenberger was fired after a 5-5-1 season that included much turmoil.

The Sooners turned to John Blake. The move clearly was a counter to OSU’s Simmons. Black head coaches were much rarer then than now, not that the sport is overrun with head coaches of color in 2022.

Neither Simmons nor Blake lasted long. Blake was fired after the 1998 season, Simmons two years later.

Of course, sometimes the Bedlam rivals copy each other on issues other than gender or race. In 1997, Simmons hired Rob Ryan as defensive coordinator. The Cowboys had a breakout season, going 8-4 and reaching the Alamo Bowl. Blake responded by hiring Ryan’s twin brother, Rex, as OU’s defensive coordinator in 1998.

The Sooners had an excellent defense in ‘98, but it wasn’t enough to save Blake’s job.

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Two Bronchos win wrestling titles

The University of Central Oklahoma has a proud wrestling tradition. In 1979, the Bronchos won the first of their 15 national team championships, either in NAIA or NCAA Division II.

UCO hasn’t won a team title in wrestling since 2007. But the Bronchos came close, at least in standing, if not in points, earlier this month in St. Louis when they were D-II runner-ups to Nebraska-Kearney, UCO’s best national team finish in 15 years.

Better yet, UCO won two individual national titles – Heath Gray at 184 pounds and Dalton Abney at 197.

The Bronchos now have 70 individual national titles, won by 47 wrestlers.

Abney, from Tulsa Cascia Hall, beat Indianapolis’ Derek Blubaugh 6-0 in the finals, a year after losing 1-0 to McKendree’s Ryan Vasbinder in the 2021 finals.

“I got second last year, and that hurt,” Abney said after beating Blubaugh. “I bawled for 15 minutes after that match, by myself in the corner. After I got off the podium, I put that trophy in the box and I haven’t touched it since. The night I got home, I put it (the box) on my mantle. I looked at it every day and it just gave me a reminder of what it felt like, and I didn’t want to ever feel like that again. So I busted my ass and now I’m here.”

Abney completed a 26-0 season.

Meanwhile, Gray, of Chandler, became a two-time national champion by beating West Liberty’s Connor Craig 4-3.

Gray rallied from a 3-2 February loss to Nebraska-Kearney's Billy Higgins, which ended Gray’s 50-match winning streak, five bouts shy of UCO’s record, held by Cory Dauphin.

“I know I had it my mind that I wanted to be on the leaderboard at UCO for the longest winning streak,” Gray told UCO media. “Not to say it was too much of a distraction, but I did spend time thinking about that, and it was really just a big weight off my shoulders whenever I lost. It sucked, but it was a weight off my shoulders and one less thing to worry about. It kind of loosened things up for me.”

En route to the title, Gray beat Higgins 8-2 in the D-II semifinals. Gray became the 11th four-time all-American in UCO’s illustrious history. And he made the recordbook anyway – Gray's 94-4 career record is a winning percentage of .959, the best in Broncho history.

“It’s a great way to end my career, and I’m so thankfully for this university, this program and my teammates,” Gray said. “I came back to help us win a national championship, and we fell a little short of that, but it was a special year.”

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The List: Big 12 schools Sweet 16 history

Three Big 12 teams have reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.

There are many ways to gauge college basketball success, and most of them are tied in with March Madness. NCAA championships. Final Fours. NCAA Tournament victories.

But regional semifinals are a good gauge, too. Being among the final 16 teams standing is a notable achievement. It was back in the day when only 16 or 24 teams were in the NCAA Tournament; it is now.

Here is how the Big 12 schools rank in Sweet 16 appearances (counting the years when the NCAA Tournament consisted of just eight teams):

1. Kansas 32: 1952, 1953, 1957, 1960, 1966, 1967, 1971, 1974, 1981, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2022.

2. Kansas State 18: 1948, 1951, 1956, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1988, 2010, 2018.

3. Oklahoma State 14: 1945, 1946, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1958, 1965, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2000, 2004, 2005.

3. Oklahoma 14: 1939, 1943, 1947, 1979, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2009, 2015, 2016.

5. Texas 13: 1939, 1943, 1947, 1960, 1963, 1972, 1990, 1997, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008.

6. West Virginia 11: 1959, 1960, 1963, 1998, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2018. 7. Texas Tech 8: 1961, 1962, 1976, 1996, 2005, 2018, 2019, 2022.

7. Baylor 8: 1946, 1948, 1950, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2017, 2021.

7. Texas Tech 8: 1961, 1962, 1976, 1996, 2005, 2018, 2019, 2022.

9. Iowa State 7: 1944, 1986, 1997, 2000, 2014, 2016, 2022.

10. TCU 4: 1952, 1953, 1959, 1968.

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Big 12 basketball was a close call from dominating NCAA Tournament