Look: Big 12 Basketball Dominating NET Rankings
It’s no longer a headline to say that the best college basketball in the country is played in the Big 12; that much has been understood for a few seasons now. However, it is still wild to see just how dominant this league appears from top to bottom when compared with the other leagues in the country.
In college basketball, the NET (NCAA Evaluation Tool) rankings system is one of the most respectable and highly-regarded metrics that help determine which teams get into the NCAA Tournament, and which ones don’t.
This is good news for the Big 12, especially in 2024, as the conference is chock-full of “Quad 1” teams. In fact, a road win against 12 of the 14 teams in the conference would be considered a “Quad 1” win, which carries significant weight when selection time rolls around.
As CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein pointed out in his tweet on Monday morning, the Big 12 has 10 teams inside the Top 50 of the latest NET rankings.
It’s the only conference in America with double-digit Top 50 teams, the next closest league being the SEC with eight teams.
Here’s how the Big 12’s latest NET Rankings shake out:
- Houston (18-2): No. 1
- BYU (15-5): No. 6
- Iowa State (16-4): No. 10
- Kansas (15-4): No. 12
- Baylor (13-5): No. 18
- Texas Tech (16-3): No. 26
- TCU (15-5): No. 30
- Cincinnati (14-6): No. 32
- Oklahoma (15-5): No. 34
- Texas (14-6): No. 41
- UCF (12-7): No. 71
- Kansas State (14-6): No. 73
- Oklahoma State (9-11): No. 138
- West Virginia (7-13): No. 152
Five of the top 18 teams and seven of the top 30? That’s pretty ridiculous, especially considering no other league in the conference has more than four teams in the top 30.
The Big 12 has been and will be the top basketball league in the country, with every game being must-watch TV as we head into February.
