KU drops to 13 in AP poll
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I am fine with this drop as my expectations have taken a few hits along the way. The good news is the Big 12 still has 6 of 10 ranked; TCU dropped out due to the GW-Indiana game.
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Fair enough JB. As I qualified it “my expectations” and I consider myself a novice in terms of bball IQ on this site.
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B12 is 10 Teams BTW, 6/10 is pretty solid.
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TCU doesn’t deserve to be ranked until they beat a quality team in the Big 12. Can’t believe all the cupcakes they have faced along the way.
Last 5 opponents combined records 15-33. Go even further shows they have played 3 teams with a winning record.Of course you are going to be undefeated.
Now have they probably improved, I don’t doubt it but we’ve seen countless teams use smoke screen schedules to puff up their record. And then when the real games come to town they falter. No matter how well they perform in Big 12 play, their schedules has severely hurt their Tourney chances or seed if they were to make it that far.
KU can lose 6-8 games and still have a high seed because of the strength of teams they have played. Whether beating good teams and having a high RPI really benefits a team in the tourney is clearly not an exact science. You can argue either way on that topic, I tend to think it doesn’t matter because the tournament usually relies on experience and some luck.
Last year, we played brutal schedule and had arguably our best player get injured before the dance. The schedule didn’t help us win games in the tournament for being so “battle tested”. The luck factor wasn’t in our favor with our starting center unable to go and the team unable to find a way to win without him. Then you have a team like Kentucky who made some “lucky” shots at end of game situations and ended up in the championship game.
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@Shanghai_RCJH Thanks-I went brain dead on that -my only excuse is I’m on vacation.
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TCU is much better than they have been. They aren’t a pushover any more. They will still finish in the bottom half of the conference, but they aren’t terrible like they were a couple years ago. They have played the sixth weakest schedule in the conference, so they will no doubt take some beatings in conference, but they are much improved. A few years ago they would have had a couple losses even to this type of schedule.
It is very possible that every Big 12 team finishes with an RPI above 100. Right now, K-State is last in RPI at 176, but they should rise during conference play. The Big 12 RPI will be very high as right now it sits as follows:
Kansas - 2 West Virginia - 13 Texas - 29 Baylor - 30 Iowa State - 32 Oklahoma - 40 Oklahoma State - 51 TCU - 96 Texas Tech - 127 K-State - 176
Should make for a very wild conference race. There’s a possibility that the Big 12 gets 7 or 8 teams into the tournament.
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I agree TCU is better, but we won’t know how much until conference play shakes out. I thought they would be much improved because they had so many guys sitting the bench last year that were better than the guys they had playing. I thought 4-7 conference wins was within reach. Now their confidence is sky high by blowing cupcakes out at home so maybe they exceed even that prediction.
Their RPI is overrated, their 51st when they’ve played 3 teams with a winning record. And the best team they have played (Ole Miss) is probably the 4th best team at best in the SEC in an extremely down year for that conference. Kansas St has played good teams but is 176, its more record based than anything for the RPI. They play West Virginia Saturday so we will know more soon.
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I agree. Before the season started, I would have put the Big 12 race as follows:
- Kansas
- Texas
- Iowa State
- Oklahoma
- Baylor
- Kansas State
- West Virginia
- Oklahoma State
- Texas Tech
- TCU
Now that non-con is about over, I’d revise it to this:
- Kansas
- Texas
- Iowa State
- Oklahoma
- West Virginia
- Baylor
- Oklahoma State
- TCU
- Kansas State
- Texas Tech
West Virginia and TCU are much better than I thought they would be. K-State is worse. Texas is better than I had anticipated, but I still think KU wins the conference because they probably won’t lose at home, while everyone else will probably drop a couple home games in conference.
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@justanotherfan I like your thinking and hope it happens.
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West Virginia has been better, I thought the roster turnover would be too much for them to handle but it has seemed to bring them more balance. I do think they will be put in place in the conference though as 6 players in their rotation freshman or first year players. TCU/W. Virginia matchup this weekend will give us a good idea where these teams really are.
K-State is playing well below what I had thought they would. I thought Foster would be a first team Big 12 player this year but all he does is make 3’s. While he shoots a high %, he really doesn’t do much more. I didn’t think losing Spradling and Southwell would be that big of a deal.
I think the top 4 you have listed are heads above the rest. Baylor, Ok. State, WVU, and TCU will be tuff outs at home. For Kansas add K-State. Texas Tech could be the new TCU this year, I don’t see them winning conference games.
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Apparently, Marcus Smart has a little brother.
Turn the sound on and listen to Bilas comments.
