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Leave it to The General to fire up, dress down, and totally joyfully screw over even the most characteristically demilitarized of zones ... uh, conferences.

When Bob Knight emerged gushing out of the nearest dry hole in Lubbock, Texas to "guns up" the Red Raiders -- who in their right mind would have guessed his team would respond by winning 15 of their first 18 games, piggy back-to-back, back-end whippings of top-tenners Oklahoma State and Oklahoma and scaring the absolute highlights out of the entire Big (Trembling) Twelve while moving into the rankings themselves, all before Groundhog Day?

If, a la Bill Murray in the movie of the same name, Knight seems to be repeating himself and his entire life in these new surroundings, maybe its because his irrepressible coaching style has transformed nobodies -- rather, somebodies named Andre Emmitt and Andy Ellis (thats A before E, automatically followed by Ws) -- into Isiah Thomas and Kent Benson and turned Texas Tech into not just another NCAA tournament team but the kind of unselfish, smart-shooting, defensive-minded outfit that could cause some serious damage.

Thats not to underestimate the rest of the leagues scintillating six, all probable tournament locks including Kansas -- face it, arent the Jayhawks the only remaining threat to that dynastic thing going on in Durham? -- Texas, Missouri and the Oklahomas. Why even Big 12 darkhorse Colorado is 10th in rebounding and 12th in scoring -- not in the conference, in the country.

Knights isnt the only new blood generating chaos around this seasons strongest league, only the most curdling -- although in that 92-79 spanking of the No. 6-ranked Sooners on Saturday (Emmit: 26 points and 10 rebounds) it was not Officer Black Sweater but Okie coach Kelvin Sampson who angrily knee-spanked one of his own charges, Jabahri Brown, on the bench. If it had been Knight slapping Emmitt, of course, Enron would have moved to the back pages while a special prosecutor set up housekeeping at Indiana Avenue.

Thats the street that runs by Knights new non-stomping (so far) grounds at Spirit Arena. Groundhog Knight? The wonder is that in the national telecast of Tech-Oklahoma, ABCs Brent Musburger called Knights new team "Indiana" only once. Just as ironic, the coachs previous signature victory, Techs 94-70 embarrassment of Oklahoma State a week earlier, victimized the team long monopolized by one of his cherished mentors, Henry Iba.

Not that the Oklahoma wells have dried up after those larrupins in Lubbock. If it werent for Dukes Jason Williams commanding so much attention, you might even have heard that some other teams are actually fielding backcourts this season -- namely Oklahomas Hollis Price and OK States Maurice Baker, two exciting 6'1" guards who are the heart and soul of their respective teams. In the week that marks the anniversary of the horrid plane crash that claimed 10 lives in the Cowboys basketball family last year, Baker soldiers on as possibly the finest rebounder at his position in the nation. Meanwhile, the spindly Price is a survivor of his own personal trauma -- a severely torn tendon in his arm in a 2001 NCAA tournament game that took three surgeries to repair.

A third little guard, freshman T.J. Ford, leads resurgent Texas while leading the nation in assists as well; he was as hyped a recruit as the football Longhorns rookie running back, Cedric Benson, and hes fulfilled just as many wishes -- much of the time with his flashy passing to Texas quickly blossoming sophomore center, James Thomas.

Tough guards make all teams tough outs, which means Kansas with its three-headed starting backcourt of Kirk Hinrich, Jeff Boschee and the point prodigy from Portland (Ore.), Aaron Miles, may be the toughest of all. Those frontcourt bookends, Drew Gooden and Nick Collison, arent too shabby either -- and the team may put another hurt on disappointing Missouri on Monday night in Lawrence.

Quin Snyders Tigers were one of the pre-season favorites to win the Big 12, but after an impressive start they have taken a back seat -- their effort recently ripped by their own coach. The silkiest, smoothest of players, forward Kareem Rush -- "as good a player as we faced all year," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said after being pushed by Missouri in the NCAAs last season -- sometimes looks either lost or disinterested. "Hes just learning to be a star, to understand getting play-actioned against," says Snyder.

Similar to the conference, as a whole. By March, though, the Big 12 will be all grown up -- fully half of its teams targeted for high seeds, hot brackets and heavy expectations. Undoubtedly, by then, everybody will be used to this new fellow RMK (righteous, mellow, karma), a.k.a. Mr. Happy, and its the other leagues wholl be doing all the trembling.

Curry Kirkpatrick is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at curry.kirkpatrick@espnmag.com.