Headline: The Big 12 is still the best conference in the sport. From top to bottom this conference is loaded, there are multiple national title contenders and the conference almost certainly will put the most teams in the tournament.
Contenders:
Kansas Jayhawks – Kansas is still the favorite to win the Big 12 regular season title until they don’t. In fact, it feels more likely for another Big 12 contender to win the national title than pry the regular season title away from Kansas thanks to the Jayhawks consistency and the magic of Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks aren’t without their flaws, however, they do lack depth and found themselves losing a couple upsets recently to UCF and West Virginia.
Houston Cougars – Houston is a newcomer to the conference but their style of play travels anywhere. Houston relies on a suffocating defense and getting rebounds. It’s why they at least make the sweet 16 every year and typically go further than that in the tournament. That being said, these are a lot of new environments for Houston and that will make it challenging to win the regular season title. Still this team will be battle tested and you have to account for them in the national title race.
Baylor Bears – Baylor once again has a very strong team. The Bears are one of the best scoring teams in the sport which makes them dangerous on any day. There’s some issues that have began to plague them in conference play and may also impact them when it comes to the tournament. The Bears aren’t strong on the defensive end currently, they struggle to stop opposing teams from scoring and forcing turnovers. The other issue is the Bears aren’t a great rebounding team. They will be looking to get better in those categories before the tournament begins.
Oklahoma Sooners – Oklahoma has been one of the surprises of the conference. The Sooners have proven to be a top 15 team. They are a solid scoring team and have a very steady defense. Oklahoma doesn’t force a lot of turnovers but they can still hold teams from scoring. Oklahoma could stand to force more turnovers and rebound better to be a factor for the national title.
Texas Tech Red Raiders – Guess who leads the Big 12 today? It’s not Kansas, it’s Texas Tech! This is a very surprising start as the Red Raiders 15-3 record is one of their best starts ever, yes is partly was boosted by a weak non-conference schedule but they’ve kept it going in conference play. There will be more tests ahead but excited to see this surprise team keep it going.
Surprise(s): Oklahoma and Texas Tech mentioned above are teams that have exceeded expectations to become Big 12 contenders, they were projected to finish 12th and 8th respectively. Impressive starts for both. Another surprise team is the BYU Cougars. They were picked 13th in preseason with clearly no expectations and instead they impressed in non-conference to enter the Top 25. The Cougars are a NET darling but they will likely end up as a mid tier seed which is incredible compared to expectations. Shout-out to Cincinnati and UCF two other newcomers who didn’t have much expected of them but they’re on the tournament bubble.
Disappointment(s): Texas Longhorns – Texas entered the season with expectations of being a national title contender. The Longhorns trailed only Kansas and Houston in the preseason rankings. Instead they’ve struggled losing to most of the good teams they’ve played and narrowly beating bad teams like Louisville. Texas finds themselves squarely on the bubble, far from what they had in mind entering the year.
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