Five weeks.

That’s the amount of time we as a microsite have had to regret our preseason projected Big 12 standings. Like most everyone else, we pegged the league as a two-headed horse race between Kansas and Oklahoma State but with the Jayhawks’ recent struggles and the Cowboys looking good but not great, two more teams have emerged as viable contenders. Baylor and Iowa State have compiled early resumes on par with the preseason leaders and our first batch of power rankings reflect, perhaps, the deepest league in college basketball. Plus, four-headed horses are prettier to look at anyway.

Texas scored a huge road win over North Carolina on Wednesday night. (photo via USA Today Sports)

1. Oklahoma State (10-1, 5 points)

Comment: “The Cowboys are 10-1 and their only loss, which came against #21 Memphis, doesn’t look as bad after the Tigers nearly knocked off Florida earlier this week.” – Kory Carpenter (@Kory_Carpenter)

T-2. Iowa State (8-0, 7 points)

Comment: “This year’s Cyclones are more than just a bunch of three-point shooters. Their fast pace, efficient offense and the fact that any of about seven different guys can emerge on any given night makes Iowa State one of the most entertaining watches in college hoops — unless you’re an opposing coach.” – Brian Goodman (@BSGoodman)

T-2. Kansas (7-3, 7 points)

Comment: “Yes, the Jayhawks have three losses. But they have faced one of the toughest schedules in the country and have impressive wins over Duke and New Mexico.” – KC

4. Baylor (9-1, 11 points)

Comment: “The Bears aren’t getting a lot of love outside of Big 12 country. They have a neutral court win over Kentucky and their only loss of the season came to Syracuse, currently the No. 2 ranked team in America.” – Nate Kotisso (@natekotisso)

5. Texas (10-1, 16 points)

Comment: “They are the surprise of the Big 12. A win Saturday against Michigan State would go a long way in starting a new NCAA Tournament streak for Rick Barnes.” – NK

6. Oklahoma (10-1, 17 points)

Comment: “The Sooners have three players shooting better than 40 percent from three-point range. If they can survive Je’lon Hornbeak’s foot injury and step it up on defense, they’ll be a good bet to make it back to the Tournament.” – BG

7. Kansas State (7-3, 22 points)

Comment: “Saturday’s meeting with #21 Gonzaga in Wichita will tell us if Kansas State is legitimate or not this season.” – KC

8. West Virginia (7-4, 24 points)

Comment: “This is a bit of a toss-up. Combine West Virginia’s 45th-ranked offense with Kansas State’s 21st-ranked defense and you probably have yourself a Tournament team, but that would be weird because college basketball doesn’t normally work that way. The Wildcats’ resume is better than the Mountaineers’, but that’s not saying much and the odds are that will change between now and Selection Sunday.” – BG

9. TCU (6-3, 27 points)

Comment: “The Horned Frogs won’t be able to play with a healthy roster for the second time in two years for Trent Johnson but there are some bright spots: They made it to the championship game of the Great Alaska Shootout and have wins at Mississippi State and Washington State.” – NK

10. Texas Tech (7-4, 29 points)

Comment: “They haven’t had an easy non-conference schedule but they haven’t given us a reason to put them anywhere but 10th, either.” – KC

*These came together by adding our rankings for each team together and ranking them from least to greatest. In the interest of full disclosure, here are our rankings one-by-one:

Kory’s Top 10

1. Oklahoma State
2. Kansas
3. Iowa State
4. Baylor
5. Texas
6. Oklahoma
7. Kansas State
8. TCU
9. West Virginia
10. Texas Tech

Nate’s Top 10

1. Oklahoma State
2. Iowa State
3. Baylor
4. Kansas
5. Texas
6. Oklahoma
7. Kansas State
8. West Virginia
9. TCU
10. Texas Tech

Brian’s Top 10

1. Kansas
2. Iowa State
3. Oklahoma State
4. Baylor
5. Oklahoma
6. Texas
7. West Virginia
8. Kansas State
9. Texas Tech
10. TCU

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 19th, 2013 at 3:01 pm by Nate Kotisso and is filed under big 12, microsites. Tagged: baylor, iowa state, kansas, kansas state, oklahoma, oklahoma state, tcu, texas, texas tech, west virginia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.