The weekend was an absolute win for the Big 12 Conference when it comes to men’s basketball.
One of the biggest games in the country was in Lubbock, Texas, where Texas Tech hosted Houston. The game drew ESPN College Gameday and the fans showed up even with Winter Storm Fern pouring snow and ice across the country.
The weather didn’t keep fans away from any Big 12 games. Six teams started the week ranked and six of them will be ranked again on Monday. The Big 12 will also be the focus of the first Big Monday game on ESPN — Arizona at BYU.
Here are this week’s Big 12 basketball men’s power rankings.
Tier 1
1. Arizona (20-0, 7-0) (Last Ranking: 1)
Arizona is one of three teams in the country that are 20-0. The Wildcats have feasted on non-ranked teams in Big 12 play to this point, but that ends on Monday against BYU. From there, the Wildcats play six more ranked games in their final 10 league games. So, Arizona is going to get tested. But, right now, I still have them on their own tier.
Arizona has now beaten 13 teams by 20 or more points. The Wildcats proved their defensive mettle against Cincinnati, when they held the Bearcats to 30% shooting while the offense dealt with a Top 10 Ken Pom ranked Bearcats defense. Arizona is one of three teams in the country with a Top 10 Ken Pom offense and defense in terms of efficiency. No team is playing better in the conference right now.
Tier 2
2. Texas Tech (16-4, 6-1) (Last Ranking: 3)
3. Houston (17-2, 5-1) (Last Ranking: 2)
After Saturday’s game, there is little doubt that both teams are national title contenders. There is also little question in my mind that the Red Raiders and the Cougars are a notch above the third tier.
Their game on Saturday was incredible theater. Red Raiders forward JT Toppin was tremendous and has been for the last two weeks. Houston freshman Kingston Flemings was one of three freshmen across the country on Saturday to score at least 40 points. Texas Tech returned the favor of the loss Houston dished out to it a few weeks ago and scored 55 first-half points, the most a Kelvin Sampson coached Houston team has given up in a half.
Tech now has two wins over Top 15 teams in a week. The Red Raiders are riding a five-game winning streak, and their defense has picked up considerably. I never thought about dropping Houston off this tier. After all, as well as Tech played Houston only lost by four points. We’ll probably get a rubber match in Kansas City.
Tier 3
4. Kansas (15-5, 5-2) (Last Ranking: 4)
5. BYU (17-2, 5-1) (Last Ranking: 5)
6. Iowa State (18-2, 5-2) (Last Ranking: 6)
No changes here. Look, all three of these teams won their games this week. BYU did get the week off. But if a team wins their games for the week, I’m going to resist dropping them. Plus, I didn’t see any teams below them ready to join this tier.
Kansas had a crazy week. No Bill Self on Tuesday in Colorado due to a health issue (he told CBS on Saturday that he had an A-Fib episode), Darryn Peterson rolled his ankle in the win over the Buffs and the Jayhawks pulled away from an undermanned Kansas State team. Kansas has won four straight and the cast around Peterson is really rounding into form. Kansas just needs Peterson healthy for the home stretch — and the Jayhawks have the week off before hosting BYU.
Fox took to calling AJ Dybansta “Da Monstah” after his incredible game against Utah. He scored a BYU freshman single-game high of 43 points, breaking Danny Ainge’s record. It was highlight-reel stuff. He bounced back nicely from scoring 13 points against Texas Tech last weekend.
Iowa State had a great bounce-back week, sending UCF and Oklahoma State to the woodshed. The OSU game was key. It was a road game, where the Cyclones struggled the week before in back-to-back losses. I think coach T.J. Otzelberger has recalibrated his team.
The freshmen have been getting plenty of attention in the Big 12. One Iowa State fan, Cade Thompson, put together a team made up entirely of Big 12 freshmen. I’m not sure I could have done any better.
Tier 4
7. UCF (15-4, 4-3) (Last Ranking: 7)
8. West Virginia (13-7, 4-3) (Last Ranking: 8)
9. TCU (13-7, 3-4) (Last Ranking: 15)
UCF and West Virginia both split for the week. Both picked up nice road wins but struggled against obviously better teams. Both fell by 30 or more points to ranked teams last week. So, the Knights and the Mountaineers are basically the best of the rest.
TCU makes a big jump after a two-win week in which the Horned Frogs defeated Oklahoma State and Baylor. This comes after a four-game losing streak. I’m cautiously buying into the Horned Frogs, though I’m not holding my breath that they’ll beat Houston on Wednesday. But TCU has eight games against unranked teams left. Win those and the Horned Frogs get to 21 wins and they have a chance to go dancing.
Tier 5
10. Oklahoma State (14-6, 2-5) (Last Ranking: 10)
11. Cincinnati (10-10, 2-5) (Last Ranking: 9)
12. Colorado (12-8, 2-5) (Last Ranking: 11)
13. Arizona State (11-9, 2-5) (Last Ranking: 13)
14. Baylor (11-8, 1-6) (Last Ranking: 12)
15. Kansas State (10-10, 1-6) (Last Ranking: 16)
16. Utah (9-11, 1-6) (Last Ranking: 14)
There really isn’t much difference between these teams after seven games. The sample size is big enough to know how bad they are in relation to the rest of the league. Colorado has been found out after a 2-0 start to league play, Baylor is floundering with a brand-new roster and Utah isn’t able to keep up with the rest of the league. And, yet, its NCAA NET has gone up by since league play began. Hence the power of the Big 12. It drags bad teams up in the ratings.
