Big 12 Women’s Basketball Power Rankings for Week 8
The Big 12 women’s basketball season is now eight weeks old and we have finally made it to the start of conference play.
Each of the league’s 14 teams was in action on Saturday and got their first run against a conference foe. Now, the quality of these teams in relation to league play will far less theoretical and far more realistic.
As you see below, there is some volatility compared to last week, as just one team — Texas — played a game before Big 12 action started.
Below we present our eighth Big 12 women’s basketball power rankings for the 2023-24 season and our first including Big 12 games.
Tier One
1. Baylor (12-0, 1-0) – Last Week — 2
2. Kansas State (13-1, 1-0) – Last Week — 3
3. Texas (13-1, 0-1) – Last Week — 1
So, Baylor moves up a spot after beating Texas. The Longhorns were without guard Rori Harmon and that’s the reality for Texas the rest of the season. But, Baylor played a great game. Five players were in double figures, including guard Sarah Andrews, who is poised to make a run at Big 12 Player of the Year. Freshman Madison Booker is having a phenomenal year for Texas, but the Longhorns will need at least one more player to step up. Texas can’t run with six players getting 18 or more minutes and two guards — Shay Holle and Shaylee Gonzales — playing 40 minutes each. That’s not sustainable.
Kansas State moves up a spot with the win over Cincinnati and it was relatively dominant. The Wildcats could hold here for a while. Their next two games are against Houston and UCF, the latter of which is on the road.
There was no thought of dropping Texas a tier after the loss to Baylor. It was the Longhorns’ first loss of the season. This week’s games against Texas Tech and West Virginia, both on the road, are critical, though. Texas has to learn how to play without Harmon and fast.
Tier Two
4. TCU (14-0, 1-0) – Last Week — 4
5. West Virginia (12-0, 1-0) – Last Week — 5
6. Texas Tech (12-2, 1-0) – Last Week — 8
7. UCF (9-2, 0-1) – Last Week — 6
8. BYU (10-4, 0-1) – Last Week — 7
9. Houston (9-3, 0-1) – Last Week — 9
I’m this close to moving TCU up a tier but one doesn’t want to overreact to one win in conference play. TCU was impressive, though. Sedona Prince and Agnes Emma-Nnopu each had a double-double. Madison Conner scored 21 points (Prince had 25). West Virginia went into Lawrence and handed it to Kansas by 25 points. Tech cleared a road win of its own in Houston.
Naturally, UCF, BYU and Houston all fall below the three winning teams on this tier. But, as with the first tier, it’s best not to overreact to one win or one loss this early in league action. Now that everyone plays two high major teams each week, the quality of each team will become clearer.
Tier Three
11. Oklahoma (7-5, 1-0) – Last Week — 12
11. Iowa State (8-4, 1-0) – Last Week — 14
12. Oklahoma State (7-5, 0-1) – Last Week — 10
13. Kansas (7-5, 0-1) – Last Week — 13
14. Cincinnati (8-4, 0-1) – Last Week — 11
What really stuck out was Iowa State going into Stillwater and beating Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls are undermanned and just signed Emilee Ebert, who played at Kansas State last year, to get some depth. But she’s not ready to contribute yet. The freshmen that led the Cyclones, including Addy Brown and Audi Crooks. Emily Ryan isn’t even at full strength yet and had six assists off the bench.
Oklahoma has to feel good about getting right against UCF, but with just two players in double figures in scoring, it’s hard to determine if that was a good thing or not. Like most of the teams, OU didn’t get in a post-holiday game after Christmas, So everyone was probably a little off to start.
Cincinnati drops to the last spot this week. The Bearcats were the only Big 12 team unable to clear 50 points and shot 20 percent from the floor. Let’s hope that’s an aberration.
iframe src=”https://app.e2ma.net/app2/audience/signup/1986400/1964875/” width=”510″ height=”500″ frameborder=”0″>You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
