Everything's bigger in Texas — including the blowouts.
In a game that some thought as recently as two weeks ago could be a trap game, a revenge game, a showcase game or what-have-you, Texas A&M instead delivered an even more paltry first-half performance than in its first meeting with Texas, en route to a 20-point home loss.
It's hard to assign too much blame to the Aggies, however, who have scored 48 and 49 points against the league's two stingiest defenses in their last two games.
My new surrogate favorite team, Texas, simply is playing amazing basketball right now and I don't know if there is a team in the country that can match it at this point in time.
Don't believe me?
Consider this — as if it wasn't bad enough that opposing guards have to contend with Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year front-runner Dogus Balbay, Big 12 Player of the Year candidate Khris Middleton ran headfirst into the Longhorns' newest defensive weapon: Jordan Hamilton.
Yeah, that's right. Last year's most selfish player in the conference held the Aggies' leading scorer to zero freakin' points in the game.
Hamilton's already a polished NBA-level scorer. Now that he has added focused defense to the equation, he has become the new POTY front-runner, in my opinion.
Staying in the Lone Star State, Texas Southern finally climbed back to .500 with its eighth conference win in nine tries, cementing its grasp on the SWAC. The scrappy Tigers are looking like one of our best non-con wins right now.
Overall Record = 14-8
Big 12 Record = 2-5
RPI = 41
SOS = 15
Signature Wins (RPI 1-30) = none
Quality Wins (RPI 31-100) = James Madison, Virginia Tech, Gonzaga, Washington State, Baylor
Bad Losses (RPI 101 or greater) = none
- James Madison (17-6, 7-4 CAA) | RPI = 67
- Virginia Tech (14-6, 4-3 ACC) | RPI = 68
- Presbyterian (10-12, 4-6 Big South) | RPI = 159
- Gonzaga (14-8, 4-3 WCC) | RPI = 89
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No. 5 Duke (19-2, 6-1 ACC) | RPI = 12
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Texas Southern (10-10, 8-1 SWAC) | RPI = 196: Win over Alabama State (73-59)
- Emporia State (11-9, 8-6 MIAA*)
- Washington State (15-6, 5-4 Pac-10) | RPI = 64
- Alcorn State (2-18, 2-8 SWAC) | RPI = 327
- Loyola-Chicago (13-9, 4-7 Horizon League) | RPI = 202
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No. 23 Florida (16-5, 5-2 SEC) | RPI = 18
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UNLV (16-5, 4-3 Mountain West) | RPI = 32
- UMKC (13-9, 6-5 Summit League) | RPI = 198
- North Florida (8-14, 5-6 Atlantic Sun) | RPI = 171
- Savannah State (4-17) | RPI = 293
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Oklahoma State (14-7, 2-5 Big 12) | RPI = 57
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Colorado (14-8, 3-4 Big 12) | RPI = 93
- Texas Tech (11-11, 3-4 Big 12) | RPI = 150
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No. 15 Missouri (17-4, 3-3 Big 12) | RPI = 28
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No. 16 Texas A&M (17-4, 4-3 Big 12) | RPI = 23: Loss to No. 3 Texas (49-69)
- Baylor (14-6, 4-3 Big 12) | RPI = 83
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No. 2 Kansas (20-1, 5-1 Big 12) | RPI = 1
- Nebraska (15-5, 3-3 Big 12) | RPI = 80
- Iowa State (14-8, 1-6 Big 12) | RPI = 127
- Oklahoma (11-9, 3-3 Big 12) | RPI = 123
- No. 3 Texas (19-3, 7-0 Big 12) | RPI = 7: Win at No. 16 Texas A&M (69-49)
*Division II