OKLAHOMA CITY – Texas coach Rick Barnes has never won the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's Championship.

Then again, he's never exactly targeted it, either.

If Barnes had his way, the Longhorns would still be in the conference schedule this week.

"I would rather not play the conference tournament and play a round-robin schedule, to be honest with you," Barnes said before Texas practiced Tuesday at the Ford Center.

Actually, Barnes was just warming up before turning his thoughts to the NCAA Tournament and various proposals for expanding the field.

"It amazes me when everybody keeps talking about expanding the NCAA Tournament – and they have their theories – but the theory they never talk about is that it's owned by CBS," Barnes said.

"CBS ain't going to change it. They like it exactly the way it is. I don't understand why the people keep talking about it because when you pay $6 billion, believe me, whether the NCAA wants to admit it, it's owned by CBS.

"They like the three-week format, they like the Cinderella teams coming in early. They just want them gone by the round of 16."

Carter ready to go: Texas A&M's leading scorer, Josh Carter, expects to play today against Texas Tech after testing his sprained left ankle Tuesday.

"It was a little tender when I was cutting, but it feels pretty good," said Carter, a senior from Lake Highlands. "I'll be ready."

Carter initially thought he had broken the ankle Saturday.

Lomers limping: Baylor backup center Josh Lomers, who could be useful against undersized Nebraska, will be a game-time decision after spraining his ankle in practice, coach Scott Drew said.

Ready for the worst: Playing basketball in his native Turkey, Texas' Dogus Balbay remembers fans as intense as soccer hooligans. So he's prepared for what he might face in Oklahoma City this week.

Balbay was one of the Texas players blamed for causing the concussion suffered by Oklahoma star Blake Griffin.

"I didn't really mean to. It just happened," Balbay said. "Yeah, I'm expecting a couple [boos]."