Look: All 14 Big 12 Basketball Teams Inside Top 16 of Remaining Strength of Schedule
It’s become nearly impossible to argue the sentiment that Big 12 basketball is head and shoulders above the rest of the leagues in college basketball.
With the addition of BYU, Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF to the league, the Big 12 boasts 14 teams in 2023-24 and will add Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah to the mix. While the Wildcats are already on par with the top programs in this league, those other newcomers had better buckle up for what awaits them.
Playing in the Big 12 provides the teams in this conference a chance to play NCAA Tournament-level teams nearly every night. The team occupying 11th place after 10 weeks of basketball, Cincinnati, is sitting at 12-4. 12th-place belongs to the 10-5 UCF Knights, who are coming off a home win over No. 3 Kansas last week.
This league is nothing short of ridiculous, but there might be one stat that shows just how elite the level of basketball is around here.
ESPN’s Fran Faschilla posted a screenshot of the top remaining strength of schedule rankings on Twitter Monday morning.
Giving Twitter user @MackeyMac8 credit, Fraschilla points out that the Big 12’s 14 teams rank among the Top 16 toughest remaining schedules in college basketball.
Let me write that again.
All 14 teams in the Big 12 rank among the top 16 toughest remaining schedules in college basketball.
Where else are you going to see schedules like that?
The top eight schedules are unanimously Big 12 teams, with the ninth-toughest schedule belonging to Michigan and the 15th-toughest being Indiana’s remaining slate.
Baylor has the honor of the toughest schedule remaining in the country. For context, this is what is still ahead of the Bears:
- @ Kansas State (12-4)
- @ Texas (12-4)
- vs. TCU (13-3)
- @ UCF (10-5)
- vs. Iowa State (13-3)
- vs. Texas Tech (14-2)
- @ Kansas (14-2)
- vs. Oklahoma (13-3)
- @ West Virginia (6-10)
- @ BYU (13-3)
- vs. Houston (14-2)
- @ TCU (13-3)
- vs. Kansas (14-2)
- vs. Texas (12-4)
- at Texas Tech (14-2)
That is the definition of a murderer’s row schedule. For context, the combined record of Baylor’s remaining opponents is 187-52 (.782).
Ouch.
