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Big 12 men’s basketball power rankings: Where in the world does everybody belong?

By Brian Spaen

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Big 12 action saw a lot of upsets last week, which leaves us all one big question – where should everyone be ranked in this week’s power rankings?

Jan 29, 2014; Lawrence, KS, USA; Iowa State Cyclones forward Georges Niang (31) and Kansas Jayhawks guard Wayne Selden, Jr. (1) fight for the ball during the second half at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas won 92 – 81. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

To the best of my ability, here are the conference power rankings for the week of February 3rd.

  1. Kansas Jayhawks (16-5, 7-1)
  2. Texas Longhorns (17-4, 6-2)
  3. Iowa State Cyclones (16-4, 4-4)
  4. Oklahoma Sooners (17-5, 6-3)
  5. Oklahoma State Cowboys (16-5, 4-4)
  6. Baylor Bears (14-7, 2-6)
  7. West Virginia Mountaineers (13-9, 5-4)
  8. Kansas State Wildcats (15-7, 5-4)
  9. Texas Tech Red Raiders (11-11, 3-6)
  10. TCU Horned Frogs (9-11, 0-8)

The problem with doing power rankings in this conference is that good teams will get a low ranking, but that’s because it’s incredibly deep. Kansas State is eighth because of what happened since their blowout over West Virginia. They lost to Texas by a minimal margin, beat Texas Tech by eight, and then couldn’t beat the Mountaineers in the rematch at Morgantown.

Are the Bears ranked too high? They just broke a five-game losing streak, but they defeated Oklahoma State, who I had ranked as the second-best team in the conference. Was that too high for the Cowboys, who currently sit with a 4-4 record?

Well, the problem is we can’t just look at conference records. Before OSU lost to Baylor at home, they lost to Kansas, Oklahoma, and Kansas State on the road; none of those are bad losses. They finally drop with a loss to the Bears, and they deserve the spot after the Sooners. So, where do the Cyclones belong?

Iowa State has faced a front-loaded conference schedule with the emergence of Oklahoma. They’ve taken on the Sooners and Kansas twice already with two meetings against West Virginia and TCU still to come. They may have a 4-4 record, but who else deserves to be higher than them at 3rd place?

It’s tough to give out power rankings in the Big 12. Perhaps we can just say that the top eight teams are all pretty good and Texas Tech is right on the border of getting these upsets to fall their way.

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