Welcome to what is certain to be an exciting and perplexing year of our Big 12 Power Rankings. Most of the fun found in doing weekly power rankings is to watch the progression of each team from December to March. The other fun part is being given the license to be dead wrong in December because conference play hasn’t yet started. Since we’re less than a month away from league play, join us as we are free to drive off of the road with our rankings and crash into as many mailboxes before our front bumper is no longer a front bumper. Remember to buckle up.
We’re not sure what Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger is telling his players at this moment. It’s likely he is sharing something basketball related here but I wouldn’t rule out Kruger explaining to him the lyrics of “Coconut” by Harry Nilsson. (CBS Sports)
Power Rankings
1. Kansas (tie) — 6 points (Brian & Kendall — 1st, Chris & Nate — 2nd). Comment: “Bill Self‘s best teams have been known for their intensity and defensive toughness, but this might be the best offensive team he’s ever had in Lawrence. The Jayhawks are shooting a white-hot 47.2 percent from three, mostly without the help of Brannen Greene, whose five-game suspension just ended.” – Brian Goodman (@BSGoodman)
1. Oklahoma (tie) — 6 points (Chris & Nate — 1st, Brian & Kendall — 2nd). Comment: “The Sooners absolutely demolished the Big East’s best team in a convincing 78-55 win over Villanova. Meanwhile, Buddy Hield is taking more shots and knocking them down at a more efficient clip than last season. Barring a major slip up, Oklahoma should enter Big 12 play still undefeated.” – Chris Stone (@cstonehoops)
3. Baylor — 12 points (All voted 3rd). Comment: “So much for Baylor’s point guard concerns coming into the season. Lester Medford has been everything Scott Drew has wanted and more. He’s averaging 5.8 assists per game, 1.9 turnovers per game and willed the Bears to victory over nationally-ranked Vanderbilt on Sunday night. “Who said we didn’t have a point guard at Baylor?!” said Drew after the Vandy win. He’s mocking the critics now. He’s mocking them because his team hasn’t missed a beat since Kenny Chery graduated.” – Nate Kotisso (@natekotisso)
4. Iowa State — 16 points (All voted 4th). Comment: “The Cyclones could win the Big 12, but I want to see how they do against better competition before slotting them higher. Steve Prohm has made for a smooth transition in Ames.” – Kendall Kaut (@kkaut)
5. West Virginia — 25 points (All voted 5th). Comment: “West Virginia came into its game with Virginia at 7-0 with a couple solid non-conference wins against Richmond and San Diego State. After their disappointing effort versus the Cavaliers, however, questions are being raised. Is this team struggling to run a half-court offense (probably), and is it a bad shooting team (uh, yeah). Despite its record, the Mountaineers have a lot more to figure out between now and January.” – NK
6. Kansas State — 26 points (Chris & Nate — 6th, Brian & Kendall — 7th). Comment: “Kansas State is a top 50 defense and its only loss came against the preseason #1 team in America (North Carolina). I think we can all admit that the Wildcats are much better than we expected. It appears the players who stuck around have really bought into the system.” – CS
7. Texas — 27 points (Brian & Kendall — 6th, Chris — 7th, Nate — 8th). Comment: “There’s no shame in losing winnable games to high-level competition, but it’s fair to be worried about the Longhorns. It’s not that I don’t think they’ll improve, but they’re running out of non-conference resume opportunities. Maybe they’ll prove me wrong, but I don’t think they’re ready to handle North Carolina on Saturday, and their only marquee non-conference opponent after that game is UConn on December 29. Shaka Smart‘s team needs to show us something soon.” – BG
8. Texas Tech — 32 points (Nate — 7th, Brian & Chris — 8th, Kendall — 9th). Comment: “The Red Raiders have a solid team that have pulled some upsets with Tubby Smith over the last few seasons. The talent gap is still probably too large, however, for Tech to have much hope of making the Tournament.” – KK
9. Texas Christian — 37 points (Brian, Chris & Nate — 9th, Kendall — 10th). Comment: “The Horned Frogs are beating the teams they’re supposed to beat and losing to the ones their supposed to lose to. Unfortunately they’ve played one of the worst non-conference schedules in the country, so that doesn’t mean much.” – CS
10. Oklahoma State — 38 points (Kendall — 8th, Brian, Chris & Nate — 10th). Comment: “The Cowboys would still likely be near the bottom of the conference even if they were at full strength, but with the injury bug striking so early, the situation in Stillwater will only get uglier from here.” – BG
Big 12 Video/GIF of the Week
Baylor took down Vanderbilt on Sunday night. While Taurean Prince gave more than 30 NBA scouts every reason to draft him next summer and Medford’s play late in the game was outstanding, it was Ish Wainright who dunked on the soul of the Commodores. Sunday night was not as easy as Sunday morning. (h/t Chris Stone)
Five Big 12 Games You Better Watch This Week
- Thursday: Iowa at Iowa State (6:30 PM CT, ESPN2)
- Saturday: North Carolina at Texas (4:15 PM CT, ESPN)
- Saturday: Kansas State at Texas A&M (4:30 PM CT, SEC Network)
- Saturday: Oregon State vs Kansas in Kansas City (7:00 PM CT, ESPN2)
- Saturday: Minnesota vs Oklahoma State in Sioux Falls (7:30 PM CT, Big Ten Network)