spooky
03-13-2007, 01:51 AM
A month into the season and the Big 12 is looking pretty good, at least the top half. Three teams in the top 10, and maybe four come tomorrow, depending on how big a boost Baylor gets from taking 2 games from Arizona this past weekend (Sorry, BBall Girl). That's more Top 10 teams than the Pac-10 (although, in the interest of full disclosure, the rest of the PAC-10 teams are all in the Top 25) and that's a big deal. In head to head against the perennial best conference, we are 14-19, but Missouri alone has 10 of those losses, so that number is skewed.
The preseason poll had BU, OU, TAM, UT and NU pegged as a notch above the rest, and except for Nebraska suffering a little at the plate, that's held true so far.
OU has been the surprise of the year, at least record wise. 28-1, with only a loss to Tulsa (Tulsa?? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ) as a blemish. Their stats are amazing, easily leading the nation in run differential last time I looked. THeir offense was never in doubt, but the more questionable pitching has been awesome as well. I guess the only question so far has been the toughness of the schedule, having played no one that is currently in the Top 15.
A&M seems to have rebounded just fine from their "down" year last year. Gibson and Scarborough have pretty much owned the POW awards, and their only losses were to #2 Arizona on the road. Like OU, they've got a great mix of offense and pitching. Depending on how Arizona and Tennessee fall after their losses this week, the Aggies could be closing in on the top spot in the country.
Texas hasn't seemed to notice the lack of the almighty one just yet. Meagan Denny has stepped right in and done well, and the offense is ahead of last years pace. They're 4-0 against ranked teams, but their 3 losses are against weaker competition. Tallie Thrasher is making a run for freshman of the year with 9 homers so far.
Baylor 1s 24-5, but the 5 losses have all been to teams currently ranked in the Top 20, and have beaten 4 ranked teams as well, including probably the biggest wins in the program history against #2 Arizona this week. The offense is ranked right up there in all the conference stats, and the good news is that is without our preseason AA Chelsi Lake having a great year thus far. If she turns it on it can only get better. The five freshmen starters are doing great, hitting .325 with 8 homers and 44 stolen bases. Inconsistency in the circle has been an issue in the losses, especially big innings. We've allowed 65 runs in 195 innings, but 21 of those runs came in 3 big innings.
Nebraska's offensive numbers are down, but pitching is good as expected, and given time I'm sure their young players will kick the offense up.
Except for Iowa State who is struggling, everyone else has winning records, with some pretty good wins along the way. Conference play will be as tough as expected. Hopefully we won't knock each other off so much that we hurt our national rankings.
P.S. Sorry about the long-windedness...that awesome series here this weekend has got me pretty fired up for the rest of the season.
The preseason poll had BU, OU, TAM, UT and NU pegged as a notch above the rest, and except for Nebraska suffering a little at the plate, that's held true so far.
OU has been the surprise of the year, at least record wise. 28-1, with only a loss to Tulsa (Tulsa?? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: ) as a blemish. Their stats are amazing, easily leading the nation in run differential last time I looked. THeir offense was never in doubt, but the more questionable pitching has been awesome as well. I guess the only question so far has been the toughness of the schedule, having played no one that is currently in the Top 15.
A&M seems to have rebounded just fine from their "down" year last year. Gibson and Scarborough have pretty much owned the POW awards, and their only losses were to #2 Arizona on the road. Like OU, they've got a great mix of offense and pitching. Depending on how Arizona and Tennessee fall after their losses this week, the Aggies could be closing in on the top spot in the country.
Texas hasn't seemed to notice the lack of the almighty one just yet. Meagan Denny has stepped right in and done well, and the offense is ahead of last years pace. They're 4-0 against ranked teams, but their 3 losses are against weaker competition. Tallie Thrasher is making a run for freshman of the year with 9 homers so far.
Baylor 1s 24-5, but the 5 losses have all been to teams currently ranked in the Top 20, and have beaten 4 ranked teams as well, including probably the biggest wins in the program history against #2 Arizona this week. The offense is ranked right up there in all the conference stats, and the good news is that is without our preseason AA Chelsi Lake having a great year thus far. If she turns it on it can only get better. The five freshmen starters are doing great, hitting .325 with 8 homers and 44 stolen bases. Inconsistency in the circle has been an issue in the losses, especially big innings. We've allowed 65 runs in 195 innings, but 21 of those runs came in 3 big innings.
Nebraska's offensive numbers are down, but pitching is good as expected, and given time I'm sure their young players will kick the offense up.
Except for Iowa State who is struggling, everyone else has winning records, with some pretty good wins along the way. Conference play will be as tough as expected. Hopefully we won't knock each other off so much that we hurt our national rankings.
P.S. Sorry about the long-windedness...that awesome series here this weekend has got me pretty fired up for the rest of the season.