We’ve reached our second Big 12 men’s basketball power rankings for the 2025-26 season. After three weeks of games, we present our second power rankings.
Most of the league’s teams have played five or six games to this point and we’re entering a critical part of the non-conference schedule — Thanksgiving week tournaments. Several Big 12 teams are heading to the Players Era event in Las Vegas and will get three games in against other high-major competition. That will significantly influence the NCAA NET ratings, which will be unveiled in early December.
Most of the Big 12 has sort of multi-team event going on this week, which means viewers will get wall-to-wall Big 12 basketball in between the NFL’s showcase on Thanksgiving day and the final weekend of the college football regular season.
As a reminder, in non-conference power rankings will appear every other week as we alternate between the men and the women. In conference play, we’ll do them each week. I’m ranking by tiers, as I did last year. For now, we’ll use four tiers, but I reserve the right to change tiers as the season progresses.
This isn’t about projecting to March. This is about right now. We’re learning more about these teams, but we still have some questions to answer.
Tier 1
1. Arizona (5-0) (Last Ranking: 1)
2. Houston (5-0) (Last Ranking: 3)
3. BYU (4-1) (Last Ranking: 2)
4. Iowa State (4-0) (Last Ranking: 4)
Not much moving around here. The top four teams are a combined 18-1 but there are differences. Arizona looks the part of the best team in the conference with three wins over Top 25 teams. The best part is they’ve all come away from home. You could also argue they beat three different team that play three different styles. That’s a prerequisite in the NCAA Tournament.
Houston now has a Top 25 win. BYU is 1-1 against Top 25 teams and 2-1 against high majors. The Cougars nearly beat UConn. Iowa State doesn’t have a Top 25 win but has a high major win on a neutral court. That explains the order of the remaining three teams. Right now, all four of these teams look like second weekend NCAA Tournament teams.
Tier 2
5. Baylor (3-0) (Last Ranking: 6)
6. Oklahoma State (6-0) (Last Ranking: 7)
7. Texas Tech (4-2) (Last Ranking: 5)
8. Kansas State (5-1) (Last Ranking: 13)
I’ve been impressed with how well Baylor has played so far. I just wish the Bears had played more games to this point. But one is a high major win, which is why they move up a spot. But the Bears are about to get some serious competition at the Players Era so we’re going to learn a lot more about where they are this week. Oklahoma State has been the surprise team so far. Undefeated through six games coach Steve Lutz has revitalized the program, and it seems like it’s a different player that steps up each game.
Texas Tech must take a little punishment for losing to a pair of Top 25 teams. I would have only dropped the Red Raiders one spot based on the Illinois loss. But that loss to Purdue meant a two-spot drop. But Tech, to me, is still a second weekend team. Kansas State has caught fire the past two weeks and while the Wildcats don’t have a ranked win, they do have three wins over high-major teams. P.J. Haggerty is as advertised.
Tier 3
9. Colorado (5-0) (Last Ranking: 14)
10. Cincinnati (4-1) (Last Ranking: 10)
11. Kansas (3-2) (Last Ranking: 9)
12. West Virginia (5-1) (Last Ranking: 8)
Colorado must move up after winning its first five games of the season. The Buffs aren’t the easiest team to assess right now, but they do have a high-major win over Providence. Given CU doesn’t have a high-major game until Dec. 20, this is as far as I’m willing to move them. Cincinnati sticks at No. 10 as its only loss is to No. 6 Louisville. The victory over Dayton was solid. The Bearcats have high major tests in December against Xavier, Clemson and Georgia.
Kansas is in a bad spot. The Jayhawks are playing a gauntlet of a schedule and Darryn Peterson is hurt. They may be in the bottom tiers for a bit longer. Their lack of depth right now is concerning. The team just looks disjointed right now, perhaps more disjointed than any Kansas team I’ve seen this early in 10 years covering the conference. West Virginia has lost two straight and both were to high-major teams (Clemson, Xavier, but neither ranked).
Tier 4
13. Arizona State (4-1) (Last Ranking: 11)
14. UCF (5-1) (Last Ranking: 15)
15. Utah (5-1) (Last Ranking: 13)
16. TCU (3-2) (Last Ranking: 16)
No one here has played poorly. Arizona State and UCF have at least challenged themselves with quality opponents and UCF has a high major win over Texas A&M. TCU dropped its only high major game so far against Michigan and lost badly. Utah was racking up wins over mid-majors until losing to Cal Poly.
