Ranking Big 12 after all the moving and shaking
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Kansas - The best until proven otherwise. The team is certainly better than they were last year. While last year’s team was a perimeter oriented team, this year will be more diverse. Dedric Lawson should be a real force, capable of a double double every night. Azubuike gives KU a guy that might shoot 80% from the field. Quentin Grimes might be the best freshman in the conference. Devon Dotson gets the keys to the Ferrari and KJ Lawson will probably surprise people with his versatility. And unlike this past season, KU has depth with Moore, McCormack, Lightfoot, Agbaji, Cunliffe and maybe De Sousa. This team is Final Four loaded.
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West Virginia - The Mountaineers should be better offensively than they have been over the last several years. Losing Carter and Miles hurts, but that will probably be seen more on defense than offense because Ahmad can finally fully explore his offensive potential. They are adding a bunch of athletic recruits that will probably defend like hell and just generally make trips to Morgantown miserable, or in other words, business as usual.
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Kansas State - The Cats actually have a lot of talent with Wade, Stokes and Brown all back. They will compete every night. I’m not sold on Bruce Weber’s coaching ability or their depth, but they have enough top line talent to overcome that. KSU fans secretly wish Weber was a better recruiter again next March when they fall a bit short once again.
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TCU - TCU will go as far as a healthy Jaylen Fisher allows. He should be 100% by November, but it was clear that TCU fell apart without him. Jamie Dixon has this thing moving in the right direction, though. TCU was in line for a top 6 seed with Fisher. I would anticipate a top 5 seed as a possibility if they stay healthy this year. They also signed maybe their best recruiting class in program history.
It gets complicated after these four.
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Iowa State - I think ISU makes a huge jump next year. Wigginton is back to run the show, and they actually have guys to put with him. They aren’t world beaters, but they should be safely on the right side of the bubble come March. They even added some weapons for Wigginton to ease the offensive burden for him.
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Texas - Texas has talent, but I don’t know how they can tap into all of that. They could finish third if they tap into all of it. They could finish seventh if they continue to be snake bitten. Slotting them here feels safe. I do think Shaka Smart made a good move to recruit guys similar to ones he would have recruited at VCU, except ranked maybe 20 - 30 spots higher. No five stars in this group, but maybe this is the right mix of players for him. Texas could finish anywhere 3-7 and I wouldn’t blink.
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Baylor - Can’t figure out what the Bears have right now. They are losing a lot of talent and I am not seeing how they have replaced it all. There are scenarios where they are the worst team in the conference.
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Texas Tech - I would have them fourth had Zaire Smith returned (he would be my early pick for Big 12 POY). With him gone, though, plus losing that group of seniors, I think they tumble. He was a real difference maker for them. I am sure they thought he would be in Lubbock for at least two years.
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Oklahoma State - Part of me feels like they should be higher, but every time I look at that roster, I can’t put them ahead of any of the group above them. Wouldn’t be surprised if they finished .500 in the conference, though.
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Oklahoma - The Sooners will be bad without Trae Young. I don’t see a capable PG to fill even 75% of what he did. I haven’t seen enough improvement from their experienced players, and they don’t have impact recruits coming in that will change the trajectory of this squad. I know they got grad transfers coming in, but Young did so much to make that offense function, and a downgrade at PG (and that’s inevitable) probably keeps them from winning more than 5 or 6 games in conference.
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I’d put KSU ahead of wv. Isu ahead of tcu. Wv lost Allen to WSU too. He was in the dog house a lot. I think the loss of carter and miles really hurts them. Can’t wait to see. Crazy things always happen.
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I am with @Crimsonorblue22, I have KSU at #2, WVU at #3, ISU at #4 and after that it gets blurry. Tech. is a big unknown, they have several players that could make them a top half team or drop them towards the bottom. Texas will be playing to save Smart’s job; if my friends in Texas are right, a bottom half finish places him in serious jeopardy and a bottom 3 finish and almost certainly he is gone, particularly when Barnes is doing so well at Tennessee and is projected top 10 pre-season. Texas has plenty of talent so anything is possible but then, he had talent the previous years and did not do that well; a poor showing this time around would fall solely on Smart.
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I agree. Carter is a huge loss for WVU. He ran the machine and he often came up with monster plays.
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@justanotherfan The Sooners were bad WITH Trae Young…
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I think it’s
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2-6 muddled WVU/KSU/ISU/TCU/UT
7-10 bottom of the league Tech/Baylor/OSU/OU
Grading it out exactly beyond KU is fairly difficult. Though I did put them in the order I think. KSU probably should be second but the only time he has won a league was in his first two years in a program. Bruce is, if nothing else actually fairly consistent in his mediocrity. When he often does best is when his team is expected to finish last, because that almost never happens. He has only had one losing season at ILL and KSU each. I think it’s just as likely that he finishes in the wash, somewhere between 3rd and 6th.
@drgnslayr Carter was alright. He could shoot them out of games though and was a 3* recruit. Buuut being a 3* is kind of the point. I just assume at this point that the 3* players that Huggins slides into the line-up will play well enough. Like JAF said, business as usual. The Huggins machine is firing on all cylinders, I’ll believe a crash when one happens.
I’m higher on ISU than @justanotherfan . I think THT is great and that Zion Griffin could be a Zhaire Smith like surprise to some people. I was hoping KU could snag Griffin but it was late involvement + Griffin and his family worried about being recruited over so he picked ISU instead. Kid just gets buckets, and extended his range over the last year. Take this all with a grain of salt because I thought they would be better last year, and the jury is still out on Prohm.
Another great class for Shaka! #8 on 247! Let’s review his previous classes.: 2017 #6, 2016 #6. His win rate the last two years with these studs you ask? 39%. Oh. Well alrighty then.
TCU has more talent coming in than going out, imo and then you factor in the development of returning players. They should be better.
TTU has some decent players coming in. Losing Evans and Smith is no joke, but they should still be pretty salty. I am also high on Beard as a coach.
Baylor LOL Scotttty Drew.
Both Oklahoma schools:
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I think West Virginia is in the bottom 5 until I see what team they trot out. Ahmad, Konate, West, Harris give them 4 big wing/forward types. It’s the backcourt that’s a mess and without finding competent replacements they are not the West Virginia’s of the past. Teddy Allen is gone, Carter, Miles to graduation. Beetle Bolden has been a backup at WV. The PG/SG position is a complete mystery and honestly the options aren’t great on paper. I’m sure Huggins will get 2-3 of them to compete but this looks like a much different team then in the past in the Big-12. Have them down until we see what their guards can do.
K-St is the 2nd best team on paper. Should be 9 deep in the rotation if Trice can give them quality role minutes in the post. McGuirl was emerging in the NCAA tourney after doing nothing all year. Diarra filled in for Stokes who was injured. Somehow someway I expect this team to underachieve to last year. Despite Stokes and Wade being injured at various parts of the season this team still overachieved and now sets the bar at a level I’m confident Weber cannot replicate.
TCU could actually be the 2nd best team next season if they figure out their post rotation. They have 6-7 forward/centers right now. A few redshirts from last year are eligible and they added some down under talent that we have relatively no idea what they are. Noi & Bane are first team Big-12 good and we know Fisher when healthy can be a tough guard to handle. They have 6 freshman to mix into the rotation. Kadeem Archie had KU interest. Dixon has done well.
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I ranked them too. KU#1 TTWVKSTBUOUOSUTCUISU #2
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I also predicted the all league teams.
KU starting 5 All first team Big12
KU bench All 2nd team Big12
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@wissox I like your style.
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@BShark Those rankings of mine were thoroughly researched. And if we get Vick back, which I hope we do because I love seeing hi flying alley oops, I’ll have to do some more research and revise them.
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I agree with @BShark on Beard. We haven’t seen a coach come into the league at a football school and make it’s fan base forget about pigskins during the few winter months. Also, I might have to lay off the Liberace jokes.
Nah.
