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Big 12 is hitting the big time

The Southeastern Conference has carried the banner for many years, but the Big 12 is gaining ground and making a case for itself as one of the premier conferences.

The Associated Press Top 25 poll has seven Big 12 teams, including No. 4 Oklahoma.

Kansas State is No. 11, followed by No. 12 Texas Tech, No. 13 Texas, No. 14 Iowa State, No. 15 Baylor and No. 20 Colorado -- although brutal competition within the conference produced losses for four teams this week and will alter those rankings.

The Sooners are 15-2, 5-1. Their 82-66 loss to Iowa State Jan. 15 ended an 18-game regular-season winning streak in conference play, but Oklahoma bounced back with an 89-69 win over Texas on Saturday.

Oklahoma is led by what Sooners' followers refer to as the "triple threat" -- senior All-Americans Stacey Dales and LaNeishea Caulfield and junior Caton Hill. Combined, they account for 61 percent of Oklahoma's scoring, but coach Sherri Coale said the trio brings much more.

"I think their biggest strength lies in their versatility," Coale said. "I think that's what makes it such a difficult matchup for most people. And I like the balance of our backcourt. What I like about mine is that there are three and the fact that each one of them is such a nice complement to the other."

Despite its ranking, Iowa State is struggling, having lost five of its past seven. Kansas State (18-2, 6-1) and Colorado (14-6, 4-3) may be the biggest surprises. With its 72-59 win over rival Kansas on Wednesday night, Kansas State leads the conference for the first time, averaging 79.2 points and shooting 51 percent from the field.

And K-State's fans are rallying behind the Wildcats. Games against Texas Tech on Sunday and Iowa State Feb. 2 are the second and third sellouts of the season. Their first sellout was against Nebraska Jan. 9 with a women's basketball record crowd of 13,466.

Colorado began conference competition with three consecutive losses, but has since won four straight, including 86-73 over Iowa State Wednesday night.

GATORS RIDING HIGH: The phrase "on any given night" couldn't be more appropriate for the 18th-ranked Florida women who proved with an upset of No. 5 Vanderbilt Thursday that in college basketball, you just never know. It was just Florida's second win in Nashville under coach Carol Ross in 12 seasons.

But the celebration ceased on Friday as the Gators began preparations to play No. 16 Georgia at 3:30 p.m. Sunday in the O'Connell Center.

"The back slapping stops after about five minutes because you have got a Top 25 Georgia team coming into the O'Dome," Ross said. "We are at the point in the season where you can't really sit back and enjoy the good times because you have another tough assignment right in front of you. ... It's like any other game if we don't come out ready. If we get full of ourselves, we'll get run right out of our own gym."

Florida officials expect a sellout based on last year's record crowd of 12,222 for the Milk Challenge.

"It's going to be a big game," said Florida center Vanessa Hayden, who leads the nation with 4.5 blocks per game. "They are a really good team. You have to be pumped up for everything in this league. Everybody is good." COACHING CHANGES: East Carolina coach Dee Stokes resigned Friday, less than a week after she was removed from the bench for what was described by athletic director Mike Hamrick as a "personnel matter."

Stokes, who was 50-52 in four seasons, got into trouble this season for locking players out of the locker room and forcing them to dress in a classroom at Minges Coliseum.

Kathleen Weber will resign as coach at North Carolina-Asheville after five seasons. The team began 0-17 and Weber has an overall record of 27-100.

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