College Basketball Week 7 Conference Power Rankings: Big 12

Non-conference record: 89-15

RPI rank: 1st

The Big 12 continues their reign this week as the best conference in college basketball. Seven Big 12 teams have won 67 non-conference games this season against only six losses. One big reason for that has been the play of TCU. Just like this year’s football team, the Horned Frogs have engineered a massive and surprising turnaround from last season. They are off to an 11-0 start, which includes wins over both Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Washington State. The Horned Frogs won only nine games total last season.

Big 12 teams have gone 60-2 at home heading into this week. Texas Tech is 9-0 at home, and the Red Raiders’ only loss this season was a 69-64 overtime thriller at LSU in their second game of the season.

Six Big 12 teams are ranked in this week’s Associated Press Top 25, the most of any conference. Texas (9), Kansas (10), Iowa State (12), West Virginia (18), and Oklahoma (19) are holdovers from previous weeks.

Baylor makes its first appearance in the AP polls this week, debuting at No. 22, and TCU makes its first top-25 appearance since the 1998-99 season, entering in at No. 25. Oklahoma State received three votes, placing them at 37th.

Big 12 Men’s Basketball Week 7 Power Rankings

1. Texas Longhorns (10-1) – The Longhorns had a fairly easy week after losing to No. 1 Kentucky the previous week by a respectable 12 points. Texas disposed of lowly foes Long Beach State, Texas State, and Lipscomb by a combined score of 243-156. Junior guard Javan Felix has performed well while filling in for injured starting point guard Isaiah Taylor, and is currently averaging 9.1 points per game to go along with 2.1 assists per game. Taylor, who hasn’t played since Nov. 20th, should be back in time for conference play in January. The Longhorns have some decent competition against Stanford and Rice this week to close out their non-conference schedule.
2. Iowa State Cyclones (9-1) – The No.12 Cyclones continued their offensive assault last week while defeating Southern and Drake. The Cyclones currently rank 9th in points per game with 84.6, and 2nd in assists per game with an astounding 19.4 per game. Fred Hoiberg’s squad gets one final tuneup this week against Mississippi Valley State before an early January showdown against a very good South Carolina team.
3. Kansas Jayhawks (9-1) – The Jayhawks had a relatively easy week, defeating Lafayette 96-69. They probably felt a little better about their blowout loss to Kentucky earlier in the season after seeing UCLA get thrashed by the Wildcats this week, whether they’ll admit it or not.
4. West Virginia Mountaineers (10-1) – The Mountaineers took care of business last week against both Marshall and NC State, winning the latter by a score of 83-69. West Virginia continues to score at a high rate of 78.8 points per game while also leading the country in steals with 13.4 per game. Impressive. The Mountaineers only foe this week is Wofford, who comes to Morgantown at a respectable 9-2.
5. Oklahoma Sooners (7-3) – The Sooners  destroyed perennial tourney team Oral Roberts earlier in the week, but were unable to take down No.16 Washington in Las Vegas, losing by a narrow score of 69-67 after coming back from a 13-point halftime deficit. Junior guard Buddy Hield continues to pace OU with 16.1 points per game, but could stand to work on his field goal percentage, which is currently hovering around a career-low 38 percent. The Sooners face Weber State on Monday in their only matchup of the week.
6. TCU Horned Frogs (11-0) – The Horned Frogs continued their balanced play while defeating UTSA 88-57 last week. Their first AP ranking in 15 years is certainly reason to be excited, but conference play will reveal how far TCU has actually come. The Horned Frogs have two final games to prepare with Grambling and Tennessee State up this week before facing West Virginia in their conference opener on Jan. 3rd.
7. Baylor Bears (9-1) – Scott Drew’s team enters the familiar confines of the Top 25 even after an uninspiring 66-55 win over a bad New Mexico State team. Well-rounded senior forward Royce O’Neale has been a key component for the Bears strong start, averaging 9.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game. Drew is known for letting his players have a long leash, but has managed to get a strong defensive commitment from the team this year, as the Bears are allowing only 53.9 points per game, good for 9th nationally. Baylor faces Southern on Monday night in their only game of the week.
8. Oklahoma State Cowboys (9-2) – Travis Ford’s young Cowboy team began the week by handling Middle Tennessee 68-44, but then became the 2nd Big 12 school this season to host Maryland and lose by nine, 73-64, joining Iowa State from earlier in the year. The Cowboys have been on the verge of being ranked all season, but just as they’ve gotten close, they lose. OSU has some decent wins against Oregon State and Memphis, but a win against Missouri on Dec. 30th would go a long way in building their tournament resume before opening a brutal conference play schedule.
9. Kansas State Wildcats (7-4) – The Wildcats have continued to recover from a rough beginning of the season by beating Savannah State and former conference foe Texas A&M last week. Kansas State has been inconsistent all year, losing by a combined five points to Arizona and Tennessee, but also being beaten by a bad Long Beach State team and suffering a 23-point drubbing at the hands of an unranked Pitt team. Bruce Weber’s team gets another chance this week to hone their focus against a terrible Texas Southern squad.
10. Texas Tech Red Raiders (9-1) – It’s strange to see a 9-1 team at the bottom of conference rankings, but that is more of a testament to how good the Big 12 is as opposed to a reflection of Tech’s play. Their road loss to LSU is nothing to be ashamed about, but their early season schedule has been severely lacking, with wins against Air Force and Auburn coming as their only notable victories. Consider the Red Raider’s wins last week: Prairie View, South Carolina State, and Arkansas Pine-Bluff. Their confidence building non-conference schedule comes to a close this week against Loyola (IL) and North Texas before things get real in January.