The Big 12 Conference women are back in rhythm, as every team played two games last week for the first time in league action.
And, this weekend, we finally had some chaos. Three of the four undefeated teams fell on the road. BYU and Utah picked up huge wins. So did Baylor, as the Bears reminded everyone they’re contenders in this race. Meanwhile, four teams are 0-3 in league play and looking for some positivity.
Now that we’re into conference play, power rankings will appear every Tuesday until the end of the regular season. I’ll continue to tier teams, but don’t be surprised if the tiers look a little different. We have enough data to really dig down into who should be ranked where.
Let’s dig in. It’s been nearly a month since our last power rankings due to the holidays.
Tier 1
1. Texas Tech (16-0, 3-0) — (Last ranking: 3)
2. Baylor (13-3, 2-1) — (Last ranking: 4)
3. TCU (14-1, 2-1) — (Last ranking: 1)
4. Iowa State (14-1, 2-1) — (Last ranking: 2)
5. West Virginia (13-2, 3-0) — (Last ranking: 7)
With two undefeated teams losing on this tier, I thought about how much those losses matter to where we are right now. TCU lost to Utah, which I had on Tier 3. Iowa State lost to Baylor, which was on Tier 1. We’ve got some head-to-head here with Tech having beaten Baylor in December.
Tech moves to No. 1. Part of it is being undefeated. But part of it is how they’re playing. This is the best team coach Krista Gerlich has had and they’re playing like it. It’s not fool’s gold. They know how to space the floor offensively, move without the ball and their defense is the best I’ve seen out of them.
From there, Baylor must get a bump for their way and for solving the Audi Crooks problem — for a half at least. TCU and Iowa State drop a couple of spots after their first losses of the season.
Finally, WVU moves to Tier 1 this time around after starting 3-0 in league play. I’ve felt all season the Mountaineers are Big 12 title contenders and their play the past several games have reinforced that. Now, this week, WVU gets a huge chance to face Texas Tech at home. It’s a chance to make a statement in a game that will be followed nationally.
Tier 2
6. Oklahoma State (13-3, 2-1) — (Last ranking: 6)
7. BYU (13-2, 2-1) — (Last ranking: 8)
8. Arizona State (15-1, 2-1) — (Last ranking: 5)
9. Utah (11-4, 2-1) — (Last ranking: 12)
10. Colorado (11-4, 2-1) — (Last ranking: 10)
The rest of the teams that are 2-1 in league play are on this tier. There isn’t much of a gap between these five teams right now. OSU followed up that awful loss at home to Baylor with a solid win over the weekend. BYU and Utah both moved up a tier after beating undefeated teams. I had to have BYU ahead of Arizona State due to the head-to-head nature of the win (which I admit can be a recency bias from week to week, but in the moment it’s something I want to respect). But let’s not confuse big wins with being a Tier 1 team in the league. BYU and Utah aren’t there yet.
I think ASU and OSU are the kind of teams that can leap to Tier 1 at some point. I’m not sure about CU, though a 2-1 start is encouraging for a team that barely missed the NCAA Tournament last season.
Tier 3
11. Kansas (11-4, 1-2) — (Last ranking: 9)
12. Kansas State (8-8, 1-2) — (Last ranking: 13)
Call it the “Kansas Tier.” Kansas finally won a game in conference, but it was beating UCF on the road. Kansas State’s win is over winless Cincinnati.
I think Kansas has the talent to be a Top 8 team in this conference by the end of the regular season, which means a first-round Big 12 Tournament bye. The question is whether the talent will come together fast enough to make it happen. The Jayhawks’ next four games are against teams tiered ahead of them.
Tier 4
13. Arizona (9-5, 0-3) — (Last ranking: 11)
14. UCF (8-6, 0-3) — (Last ranking: 14)
15. Houston (6-8, 0-3) — (Last ranking: 15)
16. Cincinnati (5-10, 0-3) — (Last ranking: 16)
There isn’t much else to say here. All four of these teams have started 0-3 and enter this week looking for a league win. The worst part is that of their 12 combined losses, only one has been by one possession. The rest have been well outside of that.
