Could Big 12 Men Have Six Top 25 Teams Come Monday?
The Big 12 could find itself with six teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 come Monday after the results of its games on Saturday.
Outsiders would probably call what happened on Saturday in the Big 12 Conference crazy. If you know the Big 12, you know it was just a normal weekend.
Three higher-ranked teams lost to either lower-ranked or unranked teams on Saturday, including the day’s final game, a 79-66 victory for Oklahoma over No. 11 Iowa State.
The Sooners (12-3, 2-1 in Big 12) beat the Cyclones (13-2, 1-2) behind a balanced offensive attack led by Umoja Gibson, who had 20 points. The Sooners had 71 votes in last week’s AP Top 25 and were three votes behind Illinois.
The Illini were just outside the Top 25, meaning the Sooners were essentially No. 27 in the country. The Illini won both of its matchups this week.
The Sooners went 1-1 for the week, falling to No. 1 Baylor, 84-74, on Tuesday. But, the Sooners boast a resume that now includes three wins over AP Top 15 teams.
The Bears (15-0, 3-0) will probably be the only team in the Big 12 that doesn’t see movement in the poll, as it beat TCU (10-2, 0-1), 76-64. Now one of two undefeated teams in the country (the other is USC), the Bears enter a Tuesday matchup with Texas Tech hoping to stay at the top of the polls.
No. 25 Texas Tech (11-3, 1-1) defeated No. 6 Kansas (12-2, 1-1), 75-67, in Lubbock on Saturday, giving the Red Raiders their first Big 12 win. Coming off their 51-47 loss to Iowa State, the Red Raiders may have salvaged their Top 25 ranking, depending upon whether voters take into account that they played both games without several players, including Terrence Shannon Jr. and Kevin McCullar.
Kansas is certain to drop, though probably not by much, as it lost its first game since Thanksgiving weekend when it fell to Dayton. The Jayhawks also lost their fifth straight road game to a Top 25 team.
Iowa State should drop a bit, too. Even though the Cyclones now have a 1-2 league record, those games have come against No. 1 Baylor, No. 25 Texas Tech and Oklahoma.
As for Texas? Well, the No. 14 Longhorns (12-3, 2-1) probably won’t fall out of the AP Top 25 after its 64-51 loss to Oklahoma State (8-5, 1-1). The Longhorns were able to outlast Kansas State, 71-58, on Tuesday.
As for the only matchup with two unranked teams, West Virginia rallied to beat Kansas State (8-6 0-3), 71-68. The Mountaineers (12-2, 1-1) will probably get a few more votes out of that. WVU received six votes last week.
Tuesday brings two huge matchups — the aforementioned Baylor-Texas Tech game, along with Kansas’ matchup with Iowa State. If Oklahoma is ranked on Monday, the Sooners would face Texas on Tuesday, giving the conference three games with matchups of Top 25 teams.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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