The Kansas Jayhawks have their first opponent of the 2011 Big 12 tournament -- Oklahoma State. The Cowboys beat the Nebraska Huskers on Wednesday in round one of the bracket. The Jayhawks are the top ranked team in the tournament so Oklahoma State will have their hands full.
Everyone already knows about the Jayhawks. They're the second ranked team in the country and regular season winners of the Big 12. They have the conference coach of the year in Bill Self and the conference player of the year in Marcus Morris.
Oklahoma State comes in with a 19-12 record and though they're not in the NCAA tournament right now who knows what a victory over Kansas would do.
The two teams played earlier in the season at Allen Fieldhouse and KU took care of business, 92-65. In that game, Marcus and Markieff Morris combined for 42 points and 12 boards so obviously a key in this will be figuring out a way to stop those two. Marcus gets the attention with the player of the year award but Markieff also made the All-Big 12 second team and was the better player at times this year.
Also in that last game, OSU's Marshall Moses put up 27 points so they'll need him to do that again -- with a few more guys chiming in as well.
Kansas is going to be the heavy favorite in this game and rightfully so. KU fans outnumber everyone else there so Sprint Center will be loud, even if the game does come at 11:30 a.m.
For more on the game, check out Cowboys Ride For Free and Rock Chalk Talk. Here's the full Big 12 tournament bracket.