Big 12 Breakdown

[nallen34]

Here are my picks and a small breakdown of each team:

1. Kansas-um…duh. 8 conference titles in a row, 4 senior starters, a freshman lottery draft pick, and Bill Self is enough to take down a 9^th straight title.
2. Oklahoma St-they have 2 stud McDonald All Americans (Nash, Smart) and decent depth at every position. That’s without 2 of their better players who got injured (1. 6-6 Jean-Paul Olukemi-averaged 11.4 ppg & 4.1 rpg 2 years ago. Played 13 games last season and tore his left ACL. Played 2 games this year tore his right ACL. 2. 6-5 Brian Williams-averaged 9.6 ppg 3.3 rpg last season. Broke his hand before playing any games this season and is out for the year.) If they had both these guys they could have taken the title from Kansas.
3. Kansas State-They aren’t as good as they were last year (5^th place) but yet they still are finishing higher in the standings because the league is not as good as it was last year. They lost their second best scorer and best rebounder from last year (6-7 Jamar Samuels 10 ppg, 6.6 rpg) and replaced him with 6-8 Freshman D.J. Johnson who is averaging 3.7 ppg and 3.8 rpg. Other than that they return everyone. If they have Frank Martin as their coach this year they finish 2^nd. Bruce Webber gives them the third place finish.
4. Iowa State-Yeah we lost 3 of our better players from last year. But we also replaced them with 3 of our better players this season. I don’t think we will be as good as we were last year but we will finish 4^th because we have a lot of talented seniors that will play with heart and urgency down the stretch to win us some games.
5. Baylor-They lost a lot last year in the post (6-11 P. Jones 13.5 ppg 7.6 rpg, 6-7 Acy 12 ppg 7.4 rpg, 6-9 Miller 10.6 ppg 4.9 rpg, 6-10 A. Jones 5.2 ppg 2.9 rpg) and that’s the reason that they will finish just behind what they did last year (4^th). They brought in a couple good freshmen posts but nothing near what they had last year. They have good experienced guards, and that’s the reason they will still finish 5^th and be back to the NCAA tournament.
6. Oklahoma-They return all 5 starters from last season (granted they were 15-16 last season and finished 8^th in the conference) while adding a good transfer (6-9 Amath M’Baye 12 ppg 5.7 rpg at Wyoming) and a few decent freshman guards to give them better depth at the guard positions. Lon Kruger is a great coach and they also have a lot of good seniors similar to Iowa State, that will help them steal a couple games down the stretch.
7. Texas-With Myck Kabongo Texas would finish 5^th or better in the conference. Without him they play freshman PG Javan Felix (9.6 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 6.6 apg, 3.5 topg). His numbers are good but not as good as Kabongos would be. Texas also doesn’t have a backup PG so if something happens to Felix they are in trouble. Kabongo will be back Feb 13^th for the 11^th conference game of the season for them against Iowa State. Texas is already 8-6 and I don’t see them winning 10 conference games especially since Kabongo will only be playing 8 of them. Felix’s inexperience will cost them a few games that they would have won throughout conference play with Kabongo.
8. West Virginia-They lost their two top players from last year (6-8 Jones 19.9 ppg 10.9 rpg, 6-2 Bryant 16.9 ppg 2.7 apg) from a 19-14 team who finished 8^th in the Big East. I guess you could say they replaced them with transfers 6-1 Juwan Staten (11 ppg 3.2 apg) and 6-10 Aaric Murray (10.5 ppg 7.5 rpg), but they are definitely a downgrade from Jones and Bryant. They have losses at Gonzaga by 34, Davidson by 3 on a neutral court, and at Duquesne by 4. A team losing to Davidson without Steph Curry, and at Duquesne deserves to be picked 8^th.
9. Texas Tech-They suck! They also have a first year interim coach with zero head coaching experience. They have a few good players and might steal 1 or 2 games from the 5^th through 8^th place teams.
10. TCU-They suck! They also lost two of their better players to injury for the entire season. Also lost a third player who is one of their main remaining players for half the conference season. Did I mention they lost to Texas Tech at home on Saturday which was Texas Tech’s first road game of the year. Granted TCU isn’t exactly a hostile environment.

[KFitzy87]

1. Kansas
2. Oklahoma State
3. Baylor
4. Iowa State
5. Kansas State
6. Texas
7. Oklahoma
8. West Virginia
9. Texas Tech
10. TCU

[Catclone]

Yeah we lost 3 of our best players from last year. But we also replaced them with 3 of our best 3 players this season.

I'm not sure I'm reading this right - are you considering Tyrus not one of our best 3 players?

[nallen34]

I'm not sure I'm reading this right - are you considering Tyrus not one of our best 3 players?

I meant 3 of our better players last year and 3 of our better players this year. Not sure why I put best.

I fixed it. Thanks for the heads up.

[WastedTalent]

Few different categories of the 10 big 12 teams.
Kansas gets a "A" grade. They've beat the teams they should, and have beaten other very could teams, home and away. Loads of talent.
B grades go to teams that have shown the ability to beat legit teams, and dominate other less talented teams, but also lost to some top 25 teams. Oklahoma St. Kansas St.
C grades to teams that have obvious talent, but lack consistency night in and night out. Iowa St. Texas Baylor Oklahoma
D grade West Virginia. Has disappointed for the most part, ugly losses to lesser teams and no big win, with obvious talent issues.
F grades to Tech and TCU for obvious reasons.

[isufan]

1. Kansas
2-7 Interchangeable
8. WV
9. TT
10. TCU