Tramel's ScissorTales: Oklahoma State coach Jacie Hoyt's basketball dream began in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jacie Hoyt’s Cowgirls finished a shootaround practice Thursday at the ancient but charming Municipal Auditorium, which will host the Big 12 women’s basketball tournament this week. She walked out into the Art Deco hallway that surrounds the arena, and such steps back in time are few for basketball people.

Next year, the Big 12 moves the women’s tournament six blocks east, to T-Mobile Center.

But Hoyt’s basketball dreams began at the third member of KC’s holy trinity of basketball citadels. Kemper Arena.

The Thursday ScissorTales look at the future Big 12 basketball tournament format and offer up a travelblog on Garozzo’s, my favorite restaurant in the world. But we start with OSU women’s basketball. On March 29, 1998, a week shy of her 12^th birthday, Hoyt attended the NCAA championship game of women’s basketball.

Her family made the 346-mile one-way trip from Hoxie, Kansas, in the northwest part of the state, and Hoyt’s horizons were expanded.

Hoyt saw Chamique Holdsclaw lead Tennessee to a 93-75 rout of Louisiana Tech. And making the trip home late that night so her educator parents could be in school the next morning, Hoyt knew she wanted to be a part of the college game.

More:Tramel's ScissorTales: Mike Boynton knows his Cowboys need to be in the NCAA Tournament

“I got a Chamique Holdsclaw uniform after that,” Hoyt said. “The whole thing, the jersey, the shorts, that’s really when that whole dream started, getting to go see that game.”

The Big 12 Tournament, which began in Kansas City in 1997, never resonated all the way to Hoxie. But soon enough, after playing at Wichita State and coaching on the Kansas State staff, Hoyt found herself as the head coach at Missouri-Kansas City and knows the connection between Big 12 basketball and KC.

“To have started my head-coaching career here in Kansas City, and just feel the excitement and energy when the tournaments come to town, and now to be a part of it, it’s a dream come true, really,” Hoyt said.

Hoyt has been a star in her maiden Cowgirl season. OSU, picked ninth in the conference, tied for fourth and appears to be a lock for the NCAA Tournament.

But before the NCAAs comes the Big 12 Tournament. OSU, 20-10 overall but loser of three straight, plays West Virginia at 11 a.m. Friday in Municipal.

"This is a very important part of our season, because we need to get some momentum,” Hoyt said. “We had a great February, then late February, March, we’ve kind of had some hard lessons we’ve had to learn. We’re really looking for momentum to get back in that win column.”

And in a city Hoyt knows well.

“I love it,” Hoyt said of KC. “I think this is a city that values sports, no matter what the sport is. The area is perfect, we’ve got Power & Light District down the street. Having lived here, I can say they do a great job promoting it and advertising it and creating an electricity before the tournament even starts.

“I think Kansas City’s perfect.”

She should. To Hoyt, KC is a hoster of tournaments and a birthplace of dreams.

More:Is OSU not having a spring game the best option? Only if it's the only option. (Hint: it isn't.)

2024 Big 12 basketball format decided

The 2024 Big 12 basketball tournaments each will include a cumbersome 14 teams. The conference hasn’t announced a format, but a source said a bracket has been selected, and it mimics the 14-team formats used by the Big Ten and Southeastern conferences.

The top four seeds will get double byes into the quarterfinals.

The next six seeds will get byes into the second round.

The bottom four seeds will play first-round games and need to win five games to be the tournament champion.

The 2024 women’s tournament moves to T-Mobile Center, so it will start a week earlier than currently.

The women started on a Thursday with the two first-round games, continue with four second-round games on Friday, four quarterfinal games on Saturday, take Sunday off to accommodate Brigham Young, play the semifinals on Monday night and the championship game on Tuesday night.

BYU’s athletic teams do not compete on Sunday, and the Big 12 agreed to schedule around the Cougars’ desire, when the conference invited BYU in September 2021.

The men’s tournament will begin with two first-round games the day of the women’s championship game, then play four second-round games on Wednesday, four quarterfinals on Thursday, two semifinals on Friday and the championship game on Saturday night.

More:Tramel: Tanner Groves reminds us that even in defeat, you can find joy in basketball

Kansas City travelblog: Garozzo's wall

Packed onto the walls of Garozzo’s, my favorite restaurant in the world, are photos of owner Mike Garozzo with some of his most famous customers.

Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid. Len Dawson, Tony Romo, Dan Dierdorf. Barry Switzer, Roy Williams, Bobby Knight. Peter Boyle and Don Knotts(!).

At the risk of being labeled a self-promoter, I’m breaking some news. I made the wall at Garozzo’s.

Our Big 12 Tournament trip isn’t complete without a trip to the fabulous Italian restaurant in the old Columbus Park neighborhood just off downtown KC. Colleagues Jacob Unruh and Justin Martinez joined me Tuesday night at Garozzo’s; Mike Garozzo spotted me and delivered the news. I made the wall.

Garozzo long ago took a shine to me because I love his place so much and fly the flag in these travelblogs. Garozzo sent his daughter to OSU and its great hotel/restaurant management program, so he’s got an Oklahoma bent and he appreciates the publicity. From the response of readers, I’ve sent a bunch of customers to Garozzo’s over the years.

Not that Garozzo’s needs new business. The place was packed Tuesday night, in part because an OSU basketball party of 55 — players, coaches, staff, donors, etc. — took over the upstairs. Mike Garozzo was quite pleased that he set up a table for the 15 players in his private office.

More:Tramel's ScissorTales: Porter Moser knows OU men's basketball needs a talent upgrade

Anyway, back to the wall. I guess I should have delivered the caveat by now. Joe Castiglione helped me get on the wall. Last March, the Oklahoman crew ate at Garozzo’s on Tuesday night but later went back with Joe C. and a few members of his OU staff.

Mike Garozzo was a phenomenal host that night – he and Castiglione go back to Joe C.’s Missouri days in the 1990s – and wanted a photo of the three of us. Me, Castiglione and Garozzo. That photo now is on the wall.

That makes two walls for me. Darrol Ray, the great OU safety from the 1970s who has Ray’s Smokehouse in Norman, has me on his wall. I’m in good standing if Mike Garozzo and Darrol Ray give me a thumbs-up.

The Garozzo's dinner was fantastic as always. I had steak modiga (cut-it-with-a-knife steak, topped by thick mushroom sauce). I’m not a big steak eater. Hardly ever go to a steakhouse. Would much prefer fish.

But the steak modiga is a wondrous exception. Justin had the modiga, too, but Jacob went with a half-and-half – steak modiga and chicken spiedini. The latter is the house specialty, and it’s good. But it’s not the modiga.

We also got the three-way pasta – a heaping bowl of meatballs, ravioli, spaghetti and rigatoni – as an appetizer. Just a fabulous dinner. And maybe the only dinner I get all week in Kansas City, since my nights will be filled at the arena.

But I’d rather eat once at Garozzo’s and nowhere all week than somewhere every night but no Garozzo’s. And the wall has nothing to do with it.

More:Tramel's ScissorTales: Will Alabama's Nick Saban get his way with SEC football scheduling?

The List: All-time Big 12 women’s tournament records

The Big 12 women’s basketball tournament began in 1997, and 14 schools have competed in the event. Only five have a winning record, and only three of those have been in the conference the entirety of its existence. And two of those (OU and Texas) are headed out.

Here are the cumulative records in the Big 12 women’s tournament:

1. Baylor 48-14: The Bears have won 10 Big 12 Tournaments – 2005, 2009, 2011-16, 2018-19 and 2021.

2. Texas 34-23: The Longhorns have won just two Big 12 Tournaments – 2003 and 2022. They have only two chances left. This week and next season, before heading to the Southeastern Conference.

3. Oklahoma 26-21: Sherri Coale’s Sooners won four Big 12 Tournaments – 2002, 2004, 2006-07. OU is SEC-bound, too.

4. Iowa State 28-23: The Cyclones have two conference tournament championships, but it’s been awhile – 2000 and 2001.

5. West Virginia 11-8: The Mountaineers didn’t play in their first Big 12 Tournament until 2013, but WVU won the event in 2017.

6. Texas A&M 15-14: The Aggies’ last Big 12 Tournament was 2012, but A&M won it in 2008 and 2010.

7. Kansas State 21-25: The Wildcats never have won the tournament but made the finals in 1997 and 2005.

8. Texas Tech 18-23: The Lady Raiders won the Big 12 Tournament in 1998 and 1999.

9. Oklahoma State 16-24: The Cowgirls never have won the tournament but reached the 2008 championship game.

10. Kansas 14-24: The Jayhawks never have won the tournament but reached the 1998 title game.

11. Colorado 8-14: The Buffaloes left the league in 2011 but won the first Big 12 Tournament, in 1997.

12. Nebraska 8-15: The Cornhuskers left with Colorado and never made much of a dent in women’s basketball.

13. Missouri 7-16: Mizzou’s been gone since 2012. The Tiger women never made the impact the Tiger men did in Kansas City.

14. Texas Christian 3-9: Uh, three wins in nine trips to KC. The Horned Frogs will need four wins this week to secure the trophy.

More:Tramel: Creed Humphrey treasures his Shawnee days, and Shawnee treasures Humphrey

Mailbag: Conference realignment & academics

Academic considerations long have been listed as a factor in conference realignment, and some readers want to know why.

Brent: “We had quite the debate yesterday at lunch about conference realignment and the landscape of college football. I feel like you have such a good grasp of the inner workings of these things, I wanted to ask you a question that came up several times. When some teams get mentioned of joining certain conferences, there seems to be a faint whisper of ‘they’ll never take them because of academics.’ So my question is this: I know that academics matter when it comes to conference realignment but why do they matter?”

Tramel: My general opinion is that academics matter less than they once did, but they still matter. They mostly matter in the Big Ten and Pac-12 and Atlantic Coast conferences. The SEC and Big 12, less so.

The Big Ten had a longstanding (though unwritten) policy against admitting any school that wasn’t a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU). That policy took a hit when Nebraska, after joining the Big Ten, was stripped of its AAU status several years ago.

The ACC also was a proponent of academic snobbery – it clearly discriminated against West Virginia for that reason. The Mountaineers would be a natural (and a great) fit for the ACC. But the ACC held its nose and admitted Louisville, which long had a reputation of mediocre academics.

Let me be clear. I am talking reputations here. Academic status is very much related to arrogance. So this superiority complex by some institutions and organizations is not particularly charming.

And while money is the motivator in some of this arrogance, money also chips away at said arrogance. Notre Dame, for example, is not an AAU member. But the Big Ten would sweep up the Fighting Irish in a second, if Notre Dame was so inclined. If OU and Texas had gone to the Big Ten asking for an invitation, as it did the SEC, the Big Ten would have said, come on, even though the Sooners are not AAU members.

The idea behind academic snobbery is that you’re known by the company you keep. Some conferences collaborate academically and are organized to obtain grant money together. A Nebraska professor told me a decade ago that joining the Big Ten completely changed the academic landscape for the Cornhuskers, merely on grant money available. An OU business professor told me a decade ago that the Sooners would have been fortified had OU indeed joined the Pac-12, as it almost did. Being aligned with the likes of Stanford and Cal-Berkeley enhances most any school. It’s like buying a house in an exclusive neighborhood.

The Pac-12 has been the biggest proponent of academic snobbery. The Pac-12 never would consider Boise State, which is looked down upon academically. (And politics are a factor, too; Brigham Young never had a chance with the Pac-12, because of BYU’s conservative bent).

These are different times, so some conferences will compromise. San Diego State, for example, might be invited to the Pac-12. But not Boise State.

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: OSU women's basketball coach Jacie Hoyt's dream started in Kansas City