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Kansas City, MO (SportsNetwork. Carlos Lee Astros Jersey .com) - The top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks will begin their stay in the Big 12 Conference Tournament on Thursday afternoon when they take on the eighth-seeded Oklahoma State Cowboys in the quarterfinal round at the Sprint Center. Watch Kansas vs. Oklahoma State live on TSN2 starting at 2:30pm et/11:30am pt. The winner advances to the semifinals on Friday to play the survivor of the Iowa State/Kansas State matchup. Oklahoma State opened up its tournament with an easy 80-62 victory over Texas Tech on Wednesday. The Cowboys have now won five of their last six games overall to surge to 21-11 overall, further solidifying their NCAA Tournament resume after a disastrous seven-game slide earlier in the season put their fate in peril. Kansas was the class of the conference during the regular season once again, as it finished 14-4 in league play to earn the outright league championship, the No. 1 seed and a bye into the quarterfinals. The Jayhawks, who are 23-8 overall, have earned at least a share of the Big 12 regular-season title in 10 straight seasons, coming out as the tournament champion six times in that span, including last season. The squad has stumbled a bit coming into tournament play however, having lost two of its last three. Oklahoma State bested Kansas back on March 1 in Stillwater, 72-65, to even the season series at one game apiece. The Jayhawks still have a comfortable advantage all time, 108-55. The Cowboys barely broke a sweat in the earlier round, running out to a 23- point lead at half before cruising to victory, shooting 48.9 percent from the field and forcing 17 turnovers in the process. Marcus Smart filled the stat sheet with 18 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and six steals, Markel Brown led the way with 20 points and Phil Forte and LeBryan Nash added 14 and 10 points, respectively. On the season, Oklahoma State has displayed impressive balance on both ends of the floor, shooting 46.8 percent from the field for 80.7 ppg while allowing 68.8 ppg on just 40.5 percent shooting. Smart has made a habit of putting together multi-faceted performances with 17.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 4.8 and 2.8 spg. Brown is an outstanding second option with 17.3 ppg, while Nash (14.0 ppg, 5.6 rpg) and Forte (13.2 ppg) are also regular contributors. KU dropped its regular-season finale at West Virginia, 92-86, as its comeback from 25 points down in the second half fell just short. Freshman sensation Andrew Wiggins put up a career-best performance in spite of the setback, shooting 12-of-18 from the field and 15-of-19 at the line for 41 points, while adding eight rebounds, five steals and four blocks for good measure. Perry Ellis and Frank Mason were also solid with 14 and 10 points, respectively. The Jayhawks have enjoyed great offensive production this season, scoring 79.6 ppg, while ranking tied for fifth in the nation in field-goal percentage (.497), and their defensive effort has been solid as well, yielding 69.7 ppg on just 41.3 percent shooting. The squad will be shorthanded for the near future however, as Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Joel Embiid (11.2 ppg, 8.1 rpg, 2.6 bpg) will miss the tournament with a back injury. In the absence of Embiid, as even larger load will be put on the shoulders of fellow first- year player Wiggins, who tallies 16.8 ppg and 5.9 rpg. Ellis (13.2 ppg, 6.4 rpg), Wayne Selden Jr. (10.1 ppg) and Naadir Tharpe (8.9 ppg, 5.0 apg) are also capable playmakers. Astros Jersey . LOUIS -- Duke forward Jabari Parker has won the Wayman Tisdale Award, presented by the U. Jose Cruz Jr. Jersey . Cassano has been at the Policlinico facility since Saturday, when he was taken for tests after suffering what the club described as a brain problem on the team plane following the teams 3-2 victory over Roma.CHICAGO -- Tom Sermanni coached the U.S. womens soccer team to a 2-0 win over China in Colorado in the afternoon. By evening, he was out of a job. Sermanni was fired by the U.S. Soccer Federation on Sunday after a disappointing finish last month at the Algarve Cup. The surprising move came just 16 months after he was put in charge. The dismissal was announced hours after Lauren Holiday and substitute Megan Rapinoe scored in the exhibition victory over China in Commerce City, Colo. "We felt that we needed to go in a different direction at this time," USSF President Sunil Gulati said. He said the federation will begin looking for a new coach immediately, with the team looking toward qualifying for the 2015 Womens World Cup. On Monday, a message on goalkeeper Hope Solos Twitter account addressed the firing: "Its a sombre day for us all today. Tom is simply a classy man in every way, and he will certainly be missed." Jill Ellis, the USSFs director of development, will serve as interim coach. She went 5-0-2 in that role in 2012. The womens team faces China again on Thursday in San Diego. "I was completely blindsided," Sermanni told SI.com on Sunday night. "Maybe Im losing my intuitive and perception skills, but I didnt sense a real unease in the team. But I could be wrong in that regard." Sermanni said he assumes there was "some degree of dissatisfaction among the players, otherwise we wouldnt have gotten to this point so quickly now." He added that the players did what he asked and he has "no qualms with them in the sense of having poor relations with them." He was hired in October 2012, but Ellis served as interim coach until he took over that January. Sermanni made his debut in a 4-1 win over his native Scotland on Feb. 10, 2013. He spent the previous eight years coaching Australias womens team, leading the Matildas to the quarterfinals of the last two World Cups. Sermanni helped the U.S. to a 13-0-3 record laast year, but the Americans went 1-2-1 at the Algarve Cup, the last major tournament for the U. Nolan Ryan Authentic Jersey. .S. before qualifying for next years World Cup. The seventh-place finish included a 1-0 defeat to Sweden and former U.S. coach Pia Sundhage, ending a two-year, 43-game unbeaten streak. That was the first loss following a 16-0-4 start under Sermanni. "To put it in a nutshell, they just felt that the way I was managing the team wasnt working," Sermanni told SI.com. "It could be the U.S. team is a unique team that has certain demands that perhaps my management style or my philosophy didnt quite jell with." His firing came about six months before North and Central American and Caribbean World Cup qualifying, which takes place from Oct. 16-26 at Cancun and Playa del Carmen, Mexico. On Sunday, Sermanni experimented with a 4-3-3 alignment (four defenders, three midfielders and three forwards) and talked about the team making the most of its offensive opportunities. "I thought our movement was good, thought our passing was quite incisive," Sermanni said. "What we shouldve done better is finish the game off a lot earlier. We really need to be finishing these games off when were creating chances." The U.S. outshot China 23-1 and ran its unbeaten streak on home turf to 81 games (71-0-10). Holiday was back in the lineup after missing the Algarve Cup because of a family commitment. She scored in the 39th minute -- the U.S. finally solving goalkeeper Zhang Yue after a flurry of shots. Holiday nearly had another goal early in the second half, only to have it deflected near the goal line. The defence allowed only one scoring chance to China, which played defensively even after falling behind. "The most important thing is coming together now and figuring out what works and what doesnt," forward Sydney Leroux said. "Were getting better every single day." Any further improvement will come under a new coach. cheap jerseys from china cheap jerseys ' ' '