Non-conference scheduling in college basketball can provide all kinds of flexibility.

Some teams in the bottom half of Division I pad their budgets by playing money games on the road. Schools in the "power" conferences can schedule a long list of cupcakes to visit their campuses during November and December. Schools can play in tournaments from Puerto Rico to Hawaii. Conferences can set up challenge series with other conferences.

This weekend, Texas and Texas A&M will play non-conference games in Houston's Toyota Center. The Longhorns will face Michigan State while the Aggies will face LSU. Both UT and A&M might have enticed those opponents to visit Austin and College Station, but playing on a neutral court helped with the scheduling.

"When I took the job, it was something I wanted to do (play in Houston)," said Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon, whose team also will play at Rice this season. "We want to get into Dallas. We'll play at SMU next November.

"We're excited about playing in Houston. Four good teams in an NCAA Tournament environment. Those kinds of games are good for our program."

Playing regular-season non-conference games in major cities around the Big 12 helps promote the sport. Kansas played Massachusetts in Kansas City last Saturday. Missouri and Illinois play their annual game in St. Louis.

Texas is negotiating a series with North Carolina. When the Longhorns are the home team, the game might be played in Arlington at the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium.

"I like for us to play in Houston, we've got a lot of players from that area," said Texas coach Rick Barnes, whose team played Michigan State in Auburn Hills last season. "I'd like to play in Dallas and San Antonio. I like to move around, travel. It gives fans who can't get to us (in Austin) a chance to see us play."

Your Humble Correspondent suggests that the Big 12's four Texas schools hook up to schedule some non-conference double-headers in Dallas' American Airlines Center.

Let's say on one December Saturday that Texas and Texas Tech play a couple of non-conference foes, maybe North Carolina and Notre Dame. And then the next Saturday, Texas A&M and Baylor share the AAC for a non-conference twinbill, let's say against Arkansas and Memphis.

The opponents don't matter as much as having two conference teams playing at the same neutral site in December. It would provide the Big 12 a promotional boost.

Hack a Blake
While Shaquile O'Neal deals with Hack-A-Shaq strategies in the NBA, Oklahoma sophomore Blake Griffin is dealing with similar physical play at the college level. And sometimes, the opposing team has played dirty.

Against USC on Dec. 4, Griffin was punched in the groin by the Trojans' Leonard Washington, who was ejected. Last week against Utah, the Utes decided to foul Griffin rather than let him shoot. He attempted three field goals and scored all 11 of his points from the foul line.

And the Utes' Luka Drca tripped Griffin during a fast break. No foul was called but Utah coach Jim Boylen suspended Drca for two games after watching a tape of the game.

"(Griffin) gets fouled on about every possession down the floor," Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel said. "Obviously, you have the incident where he was hit below the belt and the incident the other day where he was tripped. Both incidents, you hear that they were accidents, but it's not an accident. There's no place for the blatant things that have happened."

"I understand Blake is a big, physical guy. But people are trying to get him to lose his cool, and I'm proud that he hasn't done that."

Gym rats
Iowa State coach Greg McDermott had reasons to be disappointed by his team's performance in a 73-57 loss at Iowa last Friday. He decided the Cyclones needed the weekend off while he hit the road recruiting.

Saturday afternoon, McDermott's cell phone rang. One of his assistants called to him him that 10 Iowa State players were at Hilton Coliseum getting in extra shots. McDermott was pleased that his team had ignored his suggestion to take a break.

"The silver lining is that these guys are determined to get better, they're going to do whatever they have to do to get better, and we're going to keep helping them move in that direction," he said.

News and notes
* The Big 12 recorded the 1,500th non-conference win in league history last Saturday with Texas A&M's overtime defeata of Alabama. That gave the Big 12 a 1,500-556 record (.730 winning percentage) versus non-conference opponents in the conference's in 13 seasons.

* During the seven-day early-signing period in November, Big 12 schools fared well. The conference had seven schools - more than any other - ranked in the top 25 classes by Rivals.com. In its conference breakdown, Rivals rated the Big 12 as "the clear winner of conferences during the early signing period."

* Texas is No. 4 in the men's Associated Press top 25 while the school's women's team is No. 5 in the AP poll. The last time that both Texas teams were in the top five in the same week was March 2003 - when both were ranked No. 5 and both went on to reach the Final Four.

* In the CollegeRPI.com rankings, the Big 12 has six teams among the top 54. Oklahoma is sixth, Texas 19th, Missouri 43rd, Oklahoma State 46th, Baylor 47th and Texas A&M 54th. In CollegeRPI.com's conference rankings, the Big 12 is fourth behind the Big Ten, the Atlantic Coast and the Big East.

* According to the Tulsa World, Oklahoma State made its final payment of more than $1 million to former coach Sean Sutton to complete the dismissal that occurred last April. Sutton was let go with three seasons remaining on a five-year contract.

* Texas sophomore Alexis Wangmene will be out for the rest of the season after surgery on his right knee. The school plans to apply to the NCAA for a medical redshirt for Wangmene. If granted, Wangmene would retain three years of eligibility.

Numerology
* Texas A&M made all 20 of its free throws in a 67-57 victory over Florida A&M Monday night. That set a Big 12 record for free throw percentage.

* Iowa State has had five games making 10 or more 3-pointers. Last season, the Cyclones didn't make 10 threes in any game.

* Iowa State sophomore guard Lucca Staiger tied a Big 12 and Iowa State record making his first six consecutive 3-pointers against Drake.

* Texas junior guard Justin Mason has 15 assists and no turnovers in the last two games, 28 assists and three turnovers for the last four games.

* Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon is 32-12, the second-best coaching start in Big 12 history. Former coach Texas Tech Bob Knight posted a 33-11 record to start his career in Lubbock.

* Missouri has scored at least 80 points in seven games and 31 times in two-plus seasons and 70 games under coach Mike Andersson. Prior to his arrival in Columbia, the Tigers had scored 80 or more points 22 times in 124 games.

Talking points
"I hope people appreciate what A.J. Abrams is doing. He's been one of the more underrated players the past couple of years, because he played with Kevin Durant and D.J. Augustin. And now you look at what A.J. is doing - scoring and making plays for his team - he is off to a great, great start."
- Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel on the Texas senior guard.

"We expected this, but even when you expect it, you're not always ready for it. We don't know on a consistent basis what we're going to get, which is par for the course because these young guys don't know that they don't know anything yet."
- Kansas assistant coach Joe Dooley on the 7-2 Jayhawks following their 61-60 loss toe Massachusetts.