1. Of course it is too early for bracketology to mean anything at this point, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to consider. Jerry Palm at CBSSports.com unveiled his latest version on Wednesday and six of the 10 Big 12 teams made the list. And while it looks like those six teams will eventually all make the Big Dance, it’s obvious that Palm’s prediction is what would happen if the season ended today. That’s because Kansas is a #5 seed, Oklahoma State topped the conference as a #2 seed, followed by #3 Baylor, #4 Iowa State, #9 Texas, and #12 Oklahoma.
2. Texas had its biggest win of the season on Wednesday night against #14 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, improving their record to 10-1. And as C.L. Brown at ESPN.com points out, the Longhorns seemed to think they had plenty of doubters leading into Wednesday. And they were right. The schedule was weak up until that point, but Texas showed everyone that they could be serious contenders in the Big 12 by notching the huge road win. A win over #5 Michigan State Saturday would further cement that notion.
3. Gary Parrish updated his Top 25 (And One) rankings on Thursday and the Big 12 is in pretty good shape. Baylor (#7), Oklahoma State (#8), Kansas (#13), and Iowa State (#16) made the cut this time around. Baylor and Iowa State should have no trouble winning their final five combined non-conference games, setting up a potential blockbuster top 10 match-up on January 7 in Ames.
4. Kansas point guard Naadir Tharpe bounced back nicely after his demotion a few games into the season, returning to the starting lineup against New Mexico Saturday and finishing with nine assists and eight points in 37 minutes. He hasn’t been the most consistent or best point guard during his career, but he’s the only realistic option for this team if they intend on playing deep in March. Frank Mason, while talented, is still only a freshman and is learning how to effectively distribute the ball.
5. If Texas Tech players had listened to their head coach, Tubby Smith, they might have completed their comeback against LSU Wednesday night in Lubbock. The Red Raiders shot just 36.4 percent from the field but had a chance to win the game with 10 seconds left. Robert Turner missed a last-second three-pointer to win the game giving LSU the victory, 71-69.. “It wasn’t drawn up that way,” Smith told Krista Pirtle. “But it was my fault. They didn’t practice it today, but we’ll practice it tomorrow.”

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

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1. If anyone knows what North Carolina head coach Roy Williams is going through with respect to the suspensions of Leslie McDonald and P.J. Hairston, it is Texas head coach Rick Barnes. Last season, Texas guard Myck Kabongo was held out for the first 23 games of the season for a violation of NCAA rules, but it wasn’t until December 21 until Barnes even knew if Kabongo would play at all. This season, Williams and North Carolina sit in a similar state of semi-permanent limbo waiting for rulings on McDonald and Hairston. What exactly is the NCAA waiting on?
2. Bill Self called his team’s passing so far this season “awful,” and he isn’t wrong. The Jayhawks have trouble in that department but thinks they are getting better as time goes on. “We’ve always played inside-out. I think we’ve been less effective doing that this year,” he told Jesse Newell of the Topeka Capital-Journal. Perhaps most frustrating for Self is that he has two guys — Naadir Tharpe and Wayne Selden — who can make as sweet of passes as you’ll see any player in the country make, but they’ll turn around and fail to make a simple post entry pass on the next play. Frustrating, indeed.
3. Oklahoma is 10-1 this season and senior forward Tyler Neal has been one of the reasons for the Sooners’ early success. At 6’7”, Neal has played all over the court this season, wherever head coach Lon Kruger needs him. “I’ve always kind of had that thought process that the more positions you can play — the more you can help the team and when guys go down whatever happens, foul trouble or whatever — the more you can be out there,” he told Ryan Aber of The Oklahoman. Neal is averaging 6.2 PPG and 3.6 RPG for the Sooners thus far this year.
4. If you’re a fan of West Virginia sports, you will have some downtime this month. The Mountaineers’ football team is done for the year, and as Dave Hickman of the Charleston Gazette points out, the basketball team plays just two games in a 20-day period. WVU beat Marshall in a nice win on Saturday, it plays Purdue on Sunday, and then Bob Huggins’ team has another week off before playing William and Mary on December 29.
5. Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall wants to play Kansas. Bill Self, on the other hand, doesn’t want to play Wichita State. Marshall told reporters recently that he offered Kansas a three-game series with sites rotating between Lawrence, Kansas City, and Wichita. Bill Self said he’s never heard from Marshall on the subject. You can tell the two sides won’t be playing anytime soon. The Shockers got another impressive win last night on the road at Alabama and improved to 11-0. They are ranked #11 in the country and would give Kansas a great game, but playing Wichita State doesn’t make sense for Kansas right now and likely won’t make sense as long as Self is coaching.

When you consider high school recruiting and player transfers, college basketball already has its own form of free agency. But what if college hoops adopted another NBA mainstay and began trading its players back and forth, and what if the trade deadline was December 31, right before conference play begins? Here are a few such hypothetical trades that could help Big 12 teams improve heading into January. And no, Kansas State fans — you can’t trade Bruce Weber.

1. Texas forward Prince Ibeh for Oklahoma State guard Stevie Clark: The Longhorns are 160th in the country in three point shooting percentage at 34.0 percent. They have guards that can score off the dribble and have gotten good production out of big men Cameron Ridley and Jonathan Holmes, so sending Ibeh to Oklahoma State wouldn’t kill their frontcourt. Stevie Clark would immediately become their best perimeter three-point shooter and would help spread the floor with his 43 percent shooting from deep. Oklahoma State has enough scoring potential in its backcourt already with Marcus Smart, Phil Forte, Markel Brown and Le’Bryan Nash, and Ibeh would be the only player in the rotation over 6’8”, helping a small frontcourt match up against the bigger teams in the Big 12.

Stevie Clark Would Help the Longhorns’ Backcourt Significantly (NewsOK.com)

2. Oklahoma forward Ryan Spangler and guard Jordan Woodard  for West Virginia guard Juwan Staten. West Virginia is in the bottom half of the Big 12 in rebounds per game, rebound margin, defensive rebounds, rebounding percentage, and blocked shots. Spangler would give them 9.0 RPG, 1.4 BPG, and a 65.6 percent shooting rate, making him the Mountaineers’ best post player. And while Woodard isn’t on the same level as Staten, he is still averaging 11.9 PPG and 4.9 APG and would complement fellow guard Eron Harris well. For Oklahoma, the Sooners would then have three of the top seven scorers in the Big 12 in Cameron Clark, Buddy Hield, and Staten, which would represent a go-for-broke type of deal for the Sooners. Losing Spangler would kill any interior presence they had, but it would make them one of the best perimeter teams in the league. They already play faster than all but seven teams in the country, so why not add another high-scoring guard, push the tempo even more, and see what happens?

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1. The Big 12 conference announced its weekly awards on Monday, and not surprisingly, Iowa State forward Georges Niang was the Big 12 Player of the Week after scoring a career-high 24 points in an 85-82 win over Iowa on Friday. Cyclones’ head coach Fred Hoiberg got the program going with his ability to lure transfers to Ames, but talented high school players like Niang will keep Iowa State relevant for as long as Hoiberg is around. Oklahoma freshman guard Jordan Woodard was the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week after also scoring 24 points and adding eight assists in a win over Tulsa.
2. CBSSports.com writer Gary Parrish was not happy in this week’s poll attacks, and it’s not hard to blame him. He went after Doug Doughty of the Roanoke Times yesterday, and it was a good read. Doughty left Kansas off his ballot while ranking Oklahoma 22nd. I’ll let you read Parrish’s argument through the link because it takes care of everything, but I’ll also add this: Does Doughty also think 10-0 Toledo is better than 9-1 Louisville or 9-1 Oklahoma State?
3. John Helsley of The Oklahoman has a good article on the improved Oklahoma State defense and what that could mean for the Cowboys moving forward. As Helsley notes, the Oklahoma State offense wasn’t great over the weekend against Louisiana Tech, but its defense made it a 15-point Cowboys win. “When your defense is on point, that’s what matters,” said Marcus Smart, and who could argue with him on that point?
4. Kansas State is on a five-game winning streak, but head coach Bruce Weber knows the next two weeks won’t be easy for his Wildcats. “We have finals but I told the guys these last three games are like our finals of the non-conference,” he told Ken Corbitt of the Topeka Capital-Journal. Kansas State faces Gonzaga in Wichita on Saturday before playing Tulane in Brooklyn and hosting George Washington on December 31.
5. Peter Bean of BurntOrangeNation has a good article on the rebuilt Texas Longhorns roster and the job head coach Rick Barnes has done so far this season. The Longhorns are 9-1 and will take on North Carolina in Chapel Hill tomorrow night on ESPN2. Junior forward Jonathan Holmes is leading the team with 12.9 PPG and is second in rebounding with 6.8 RPG for a team that faces its toughest test of the season tomorrow night in the Dean Smith Center.

Will Leitch over at SportsOnEarth.com gave us his top 25 jobs in college basketball last week. And while there are a few things we would change (Wichita State and Temple seem too high, whereas Michigan seems too low), the list was close to perfect. His criteria was spot on too, as you can see here. Building upon his idea, we thought we would try our hand at a Big 12 list of college basketball jobs. As Leitch explains, the list isn’t necessarily a rundown of the best programs, although that often comes with having a top job. It instead comes down to a simple question: Where would we want to coach if we had our pick of the litter in the Big 12?

Bill Self has the best job in the Big 12, and it isn’t close. (AP)

1. Kansas: Kansas was #2 overall on Leitch’s list and is undoubtedly the best job in the Big 12. It has one of the best fan bases in the country and the athletic department will pay a successful coach as much as anyone.
2. Texas: Texas hasn’t been great in a while, but it is still a top 10 job nationally with seemingly unlimited resources at its disposal and the benefit of in-state recruiting. Fans can be apathetic with respect to hoops, which could be a plus or a minus depending on the success of the coach. Stress about basketball is rarely an issue in Austin, as Texas hoops fans don’t seem to mind a coach who puts together an occasional winner without ever really challenging for a national title. If you can take advantage of everything Texas has to offer as a head coach, you could set yourself up for your career. Read the rest of this entry »

1. It’s been a long two weeks for Kansas, and the Jayhawks took another lump on Tuesday night, dropping their second straight game and their third in the last 11 days, in a loss to Florida.  Andrew Wiggins was fantastic, leading all scorers with 26 points, or put another way, roughly one point for every time a draft analyst has changed his mind about him. The freshman phenom just didn’t get the help he needed as the Kansas guards turned the ball over at an astronomical rate, giving the Gators enough extra possessions to reel off a 21-0 run over eight-plus minutes in the first half. The Jayhawks made a run and got as close as five points from tying the game, but couldn’t get over the hump. We’ll have more on Kansas’ struggles later today, but while we aren’t jumping ship on Bill Self’s team, it’s tough not to look ahead and wonder how KU’s non-conference losses will impact their NCAA Tournament seeding no matter what happens in Big 12 play.
2. We’ve yet to hit winter break, but West Virginia has really painted itself into a corner after losing to Gonzaga last night. The Mountaineers have no quality wins on their resume to counteract losses to Virginia Tech, Wisconsin, Missouri, and now the Bulldogs. They’re essentially out of opportunities to make an impression in non-conference play, which makes their margin for error razor-thin. According to KenPom, WVU has a top-50 offense and top-100 defense but their at-large hopes will rest on their ability to do damage against the top half of the Big 12 while avoiding losses to the league’s bottom-dwellers.
   
3. Oklahoma‘s improvement this season has been one of the more overlooked stories around the conference, but the Sooners were dealt a blow at practice Tuesday morning when guard Je’lon Hornbeak broke a bone in his left foot. The sophomore will miss four to six weeks, and if that timetable holds true to form, it pegs his return a few games into conference play. While Hornbeak is sidelined, the Sooners should be fine against Tulsa and Texas-Arlington, but their match-ups against Texas A&M, Louisiana Tech, Texas, Kansas, Iowa State and Kansas State just got a little more challenging. Hornbeak didn’t start for Oklahoma, but Lon Kruger’s team will need to find some extra depth on their bench to bide the time – either that or hope for a surprisingly early return a la Melvin Ejim.
4. Five days after squeaking by Ole Miss, Kansas State pulled another escape job at home, toughing out a 65-62 win over South Dakota last night. Freshman guard Marcus Foster led the way with 18 points, but needed 20 shots from the floor to get there. The Wildcats just aren’t getting the balance they need offensively to show that they can compete with the better teams in the Big 12; Foster and Shane Southwell combined to take 34 of Kansas State’s 62 shots on Tuesday, and were actually outshot by the Coyotes to boot. While they’ll happily take the win, the Wildcats did very little to instill much confidence going forward.
5. After all of those downers, let’s end today’s M5 on a happy note, shall we? With Finals Week lightening the slate, it’s a good time to evaluate how teams are doing, and perhaps no unit has been as impressive as Iowa State‘s offense. The Cyclones lead the nation in points per game and are second in assists per contest, and as we noted yesterday, three different players on Fred Hoiberg’s roster have taken home Big 12 Player Of The Week honors. They aren’t without their shortcomings — poor offensive rebounding and a defense that hasn’t shown much interest in turning other teams over — but for all the talk of Oklahoma State and Kansas being the alpha dogs this season, it is Iowa State that owns the league’s only undefeated record.

We are 96 days away from Selection Sunday so what better time is there than now to do a Big 12 Bubble Watch? Conference teams thus far have been a big surprise in non-conference play, scoring wins over the likes of Duke, Kentucky, Michigan, Colorado and Memphis. But some teams are more of a sure thing and the others just keep us guessing. So here’s how we’ll break it down: Those “in very good shape” are definitely in the NCAA Tournament if it started today; those that “might be getting in” have looked good so far but haven’t truly tested themselves yet; and those “on the outside looking in” have a chance to get in but still need a lot of work. As for those not listed, let’s just say that they have quite a bit of work to do at this point. Let’s get to it.

This was the scene in Boulder following Colorado’s upset win over Kansas. (ESPN; screengrab via The Big Lead)

In Very Good Shape

Oklahoma State: (8-1); RPI: 15, SOS: 28.

Analysis: I haven’t been crazy about who the Cowboys have played considering they were a preseason top-10 team, but they haven’t shown any reason to doubt that they will make the Tournament. They were able to split two games with nationally-ranked Memphis and scooted by Butler at the Old Spice Classic. The caveat about the Butler win, like most against the Big East this season, is that you might not know if it’s a good win until Selection Sunday. It’s great to have one, though, for security reasons. If that Butler win doesn’t hold up, the Cowboys have one more big test against Colorado (didn’t they leave the Big 12?) in Las Vegas. They’re certainly on the right track.

Kansas: (6-2); RPI: 2, SOS: 1

Analysis: Hugs for Bill Self. He challenges his team in the non-conference portion of the season each and every season and we love him for that. Some have been disappointed with the unspectacular play of Andrew Wiggins and have been surprised with the still-relatively-new-to-basketball Joel Embiid. Kansas has a neutral-court victory over Duke that is likely to withstand the season and it’s not like the Jayhawks won’t have time before the conference opener to change minds (if they need to). They have Florida to contend with tonight and Mountain West favorites New Mexico and San Diego State coming up soon. Plus, if you’re ranked in the top five in both RPI and SOS, you’ve pretty much in a good place.

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1. Oklahoma took care of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 78-56 in a game moved up five hours from its original start time last night to avoid conflict with worsening weather conditions in Norman. The surprise performance came from junior forward D.J. Bennett, whose nine points, three boards and career-high five blocked shots added a different edge to the Sooners’ frontcourt. Bennett has dealt with a partially torn tendon since earlier in the season, and because of that hasn’t seen a lot of floor time, but this could be the start of his comeback. Goodness knows the Sooners could use someone who is effective down low when Ryan Spangler isn’t on the floor.
2. It wasn’t easy, but Kansas State found a way to get by the Fighting Marshall Hendersons from Ole Miss, 61-58, on Thursday. Henderson tried his darndest to single-handedly win the game for the Rebels, but his 4-of-18 shooting (off the bench) did more harm than good. It’s fascinating to see how different the Wildcats play when Thomas Gipson is in the lineup — the junior tallied 15 points, six rebounds, and two blocks in the contest. And here’s an update on the attendance at Bramlage Coliseum: It certainly looked like the Wildcat faithful showed up last night. The 11,990 fans in the building made last night the third-highest attended game this season at Bramlage.
3. A year and change into his sophomore season, Isaiah Austin is pretty pleased with his decision to attend Baylor. “Coming out of high school, everyone wants to go with the hype and Kentucky was the hype out of high school,” Austin told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “But I made the best decision for me — coming here to Baylor playing under Coach Drew, who is just as great of a coach as coach Calipari is… we have just as great of faculty and staff and everybody. Kentucky is not better than us in any way, shape or form.” Oooh, them sounds like fighting words! Just in case you don’t miss it, Kentucky-Baylor from AT&T Stadium is tonight. A little big-time Friday night college hoops never hurt anybody.
4. It was also more than a year ago when Iowa State guard Bubu Palo was arrested on charges of sexual abuse before those charges were dropped in mid-January. Now, Palo is seeking reinstatement to the men’s basketball program and in a text message to the Ames Tribune said his appeal was denied by the Iowa State Board of Regents. According to ISU’s Student Disciplinary Regulations, decisions made by the Regents can be appealed in district court. The Tribune is also reporting that Palo was initially exonerated from the SDR but that decision was appealed to ISU president Steven Leath, who in turn removed Palo from the team. I hope he can return to the floor as soon as possible. I know I’d hate to be missing out on a season like the one Iowa State is having right now.
5. While Marcus Smart finishes off his sophomore campaign and the Stevie Clark situation is still very much up in the air, Oklahoma State received a letter of intent from Jared Terrell, the four-star point guard who committed to the Cowboys back in September. He’s 6’3″ and 220 pounds which will scare the living bejeezus out of opponents next year, and according to Travis Ford, can drive to the hoop, hit mid-range jumpers and make threes. I wonder if this official announcement translates into anything with Stevie Clark and his future with the team.

1. While you weren’t looking, Texas Tech is going through a meat-grinder of a non-conference schedule. Their losses include one to Alabama and undefeated Pittsburgh but now you can add Arizona to the list. The season schedule was made well in advance of Tubby Smith coming to town but they still have to contend with a pair of much improved LSU and Arizona State squads. There’s no shame in losing to a team like the incumbent #1 on its home floor. Due to Michigan State’s loss to North Carolina last night, if Arizona can finish out the week unbeaten, they would become the nation’s newest No. 1 team on Monday. Take pride in that, Texas Tech. You played the best and lived to tell about it.
2. The Oklahoman sat down with Oklahoma guard Isaiah Cousins, who split time at the point last season but is now in a larger role out on the wing. Going into today’s game, Cousins is posting 11.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and three assists per game among the Sooners’ four-guard lineup. “I think it’s going pretty good,” Cousins said. “I’ve been getting a lot of minutes trying to pick up from last year, and I’ve got a bigger role. I like the role I take. I think it’s a good fit.” No kidding. We should point out that Oklahoma’s game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi originally scheduled for 7:00 PM will actually tip off at 2:00 PM at the Lloyd Noble Center due to some inclement weather moving into Norman tonight. Adjust your pocket watches accordingly.
3. It’s getting a little awkward around Oklahoma State basketball as of late. Stevie Clark, the freshman backup point guard, was suspended by coach Travis Ford and sent home from the Old Spice Classic. Here’s what Ford had to say on the issue yesterday: “Wait and see. We’ll wait and see.” According to Ford, Clark is still a part of the team but we don’t have a clue as to why he was suspended. Whatever unfolds here will have implications for not only this season but for the future at point guard for Oklahoma State. Smart is definitely leaving for the NBA and if Clark (9.8 PPG, 5.0 APG) were to transfer or worse, get kicked off the team, it’s back to square one for Ford. I guess we shall wait and see.
4. Here was the headline from this recent piece in the Kansas City Star: “With Marshall Henderson in town, Kansas State hopes for better home basketball crowd.” As far as “official” attendance numbers go, the difference between paid attendance and arena capacity never exceeded 1,000 seats. I haven’t seen a K-State home game on TV yet so I can’t tell if a lack of attendance is apparent from that perspective; but if it is, that’s really disappointing. In the Bob Huggins/Frank Martin era, Bramlage was arguably the best home environment in the Big 12 outside of Lawrence. I guess you could call it “The Octagon of Plenty of Room,” amirite? I regret this already.
5. A high school recruit has grabbed the attention of five of the league’s 10 teams and many others. Cheick Diallo is a 6’9″, 220 pound center who attends Our Savior New American in New York. Diallo is primarily known as a defender but is improving on his offensive game by averaging 12.9 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game on the Elite Youth Basketball League circuit. He currently holds offers from Kansas, Texas, West Virginia, Iowa State and Baylor. But if there’s a Big 12 leader in the clubhouse for Diallo, it might be the Cyclones, where he has already made an unofficial visit to campus in September. What does all this mean? Not much at this point, but it’s fun to see half the conference battle over one guy.