Oklahoma State Prepares for Baylor at the Big 12 Starting with a Nap
In case you were wondering there is no wandering in Kansas City this week at the Big 12 Basketball Tournaments. There is a little fan area outside the T-Mobile Center, but this is a bubble for the players and the coaches. There are no cheerleaders, poms, and mascots. There is no big lobby gathering in the hotel where players and coaches and fans mingle and celebrate or commiserate depending on the most recent final score.
The Big 12 rented out two complete hotels in downtown Kansas City and they’ve put the men’s teams that are playing in the T-Mobile Center in one and the women’s teams that are playing in the Municipal Auditorium in the other. One team per floor and those teams stay mostly in their rooms or there is one gathering area for meals and another area for team meetings and walk thrus. It is a basketball bubble.
“We kind of approach it that way all the time and in Non-COVID times we would encourage our players not to do anything,” Mike Boynton, the Cowboys head coach explained when I asked about the time away from the games. “We want them to get off their feet and rest as much as they can for the next 24 hours. I’m pretty confident that they are going to do that today. First, because they had to get up at six a.m. and do COVID testing this morning and I can attest we do not have a morning team. They were not happy about that. So, they get to go back now and take a nap and they will probably sleep most of the afternoon.”
They might need to because while they were getting their beauty sleep and I’m guessing that after the team got back to the hotel from their 72-69 nail biter over West Virginia that they tuned in and watched the Bears handle Kansas State 74-68. It was not an overwhelming show by Baylor.
“That limits the opportunities because now we know who we are going to play and we get into prep mode,” added Boynton.”
The Cowboys lost to Baylor in Waco just a week ago 80-71 and while they trailed the entire contest the Cowboys got it withing four points several times as late as with about a minute to go. With 42 seconds left that was when Cade Cunningham got tangled with Davion Mitchell and ended up with a slight ankle sprain. Cunningham and the Cowboys newest scoring sensation in Avery Anderson, with his 31 against WVU last Saturday and tying Cunningham today for leading scorer with 17 points, both want Baylor. The Cowboys want to show they can beat the Bears, the only team this season in the Big 12 that they didn’t beat besides TCU.
“We got everybody back, so I think everybody ready to play them again,” Anderson said with a big smile on his face. “I’m ready at least.”
“I’m just back,” added Cunningham.
“We’ve played them recently, so we know how good they are,” Boynton said.
Truth is Baylor with their size; multiple scorers in Mitchell, Jared Butler, and MaCio Teague; and they we way they can defend they are a bad match-up for anybody. Oklahoma State right now is not scared of anybody. Tomorrow night at 5:30 in the T-Mobile Center we’ll get to see it.
