Woodling: Big 12 headed south

Five-to-one odds aren’t bad in a horse race, but a 5-to-1 ratio is a whole different ballgame.

The Big 12 Conference has received bids from three cities in Texas, two in Oklahoma and one in Missouri to play host to future Big 12 Conference men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, which makes you wonder why so few of the north division’s cities are interested.

Dallas, Houston and San Antonio each want to play host to future Big 12 basketball tournaments. So do Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Yes, even Tulsa. Kansas City, which hopes to have a new downtown arena within a few years (psst, don’t hold your breath), was the lone northern bidder.

In the bidding for the league football championship game, it’s a 3-to-1 ratio with Dallas, San Antonio and Houston going against Kansas City.

What about it, Denver? What’s the story, St. Louis? Kansas City shouldn’t be stuck out on a northern island.

Unfortunately, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa simply don’t boast a town with venues capable of bidding against the big Texas and Oklahoma burgs.

Wichita, the Sunflower State’s largest city, has no hope for the football game, and its spartan Kansas Coliseum looks like an outbuilding compared to the American Airlines Center in Dallas. Omaha, with the biggest metro area in Nebraska, and Des Moines, the most populous city in Iowa, basically are in the same boat as Wichita.

It boils down to Kansas City against the south, unless Denver or St. Louis enters the picture.

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No Big Surprise I: Lauren Ervin has asked for and received permission to be released from her Kansas University basketball scholarship.

Ervin, a McDonald’s High School All-American, was a disappointment in and off the court as a freshman. The 6-foot-4 center averaged 6.8 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while displaying a disdain for defense and discipline.

Ervin, who once was kicked off a summer team for punching a teammate, attended three Los Angeles-area high schools, so her next school — if anyone wants her — will be her fifth in five years.

If, as has been speculated, former KU coach Marian Washington took that late-January leave of absence because of stress, then Ervin’s deportment very well could have been a factor.

Washington, incidentally, remains incommunicado. She hasn’t spoken to the media since she revealed Jan. 29 she would take leave for undisclosed health reasons. When Washington announced her retirement a month later, it was via a KU press release.

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No Big Surprise II: Former McDonald’s All-American Rashaad Carruth, who ran into trouble at both Kentucky and Oklahoma, has surfaced at Southern Mississippi.

Yep, that’s where former Iowa State coach Larry Eustachy — remember the damaging photos of him guzzling brews with Missouri coeds a couple of years ago? — has surfaced.

Who is Carruth? He’s a 6-foot-3 guard who signed with Kentucky out of high school but left the program after a season, complaining about his playing time. Carruth transferred to Oklahoma, but was booted after he said he flunked a drug test. He spent last season at Indian Hills CC in Ottumwa, Iowa.

Eustachy told the Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger he took Carruth because OU coach Kelvin Sampson “…said he’s not a bad kid, and I believe him.”

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How About Hummer?: Mazda, sponsor of last December’s Tangerine Bowl, has bailed as the title sponsor. Maybe Mazda thought there wasn’t enough scoring. Heck, North Carolina State (56) and Kansas (26) combined for a mere 82 points.