Big 12 Rankings Reaction: Kansas Jayhawks Stay in Top 14 While Losing Three Straight

When a program has a prestige high enough as Kansas or Kentucky, regardless of how weak the schedule may be or what’s transpired in the recent weeks, people will still give them the benefit that they’re still a top team. Despite Kansas playing nowhere near like a top 25 program in the nation, the Jayhawks slip to just 14th in the AP Poll and 13th in the Coaches Poll.

Feb 9, 2013; Manhattan, KS, USA; Kansas State Wildcats fans hold up pictures of their players

Getting into the teams’ three straight losses, losing to Oklahoma State at home or Oklahoma on the road isn’t that bad. But losing to TCU? It doesn’t matter if they play them in Allen Fieldhouse, on the road, in a plane, or on a boat. Losing to the Horned Frogs was a clear sign of looking ahead, not caring about the team they were playing against, and not being prepared. What’s worse is TCU didn’t even play that well, and good teams would have been able to pull out the victory regardless of scoring just six points in the first 16 minutes.

There is no reason that Kansas should be a top 15 team, it’s arguable they’re still a top 25 team at this point. But they’ll have a chance to rebound with Kansas State tonight and Oklahoma State next Wednesday.

Both the Wildcats and Cowboys moved up in the rankings. KSU broke into the top 10 in the AP and 11th in the Coaches; OSU made a bigger jump hitting 17th in the AP (five spots higher) and 16th in the coaches (eight spots higher).

The only other team in the Big 12 to get any votes were Oklahoma with one vote in each poll. Iowa State was left off not receiving any votes for the second straight week.

Over in women’s basketball, Baylor received 37 of the AP’s 40 possible number one votes, and was ranked first overall again. Oklahoma moved up to 22nd, Iowa State moved up to 24th and Oklahoma State dropped to 25th after losing to the Sooners over the weekend.

Brian Spaen is the lead editor of Clones Confidential. Get more Cyclones coverage by following us on Twitter and Facebook.