Those of you who paid attention should remember that last season, the Big 12 dominated non-conference play. Most of the teams had very strong performances, and almost all of the match-ups with other P5 teams, or high quality Mid-majors, resulted in Big 12 wins. As a result, the Big 12 was considered the top BBall conference last season, and, even before conference games started, it seemed likely that 7 teams would play in the NCAA tournament.
With non-conference games winding down, I thought it might be interesting to see how the conference has done so far this season.
TCU is 5-4. They have only played 2 opponents that are not cupcakes (SMU and Washington) and have lost both games. They also lost games to Rhode Island and S. Dakota St. They have 4 non-con games remaining. The only one against a decent team is Tennessee on January 30th.
WVU is 8-1. Their only loss was @ Virginia. They have beaten no one impressive, and have 3 non-con games remaining. The only decent opponent is Virginia Tech.
UT is 8-3. Their losses are to solid opponents: aTm, Michigan, Washington. They have a huge victory over UNC, and it appears they avenged their loss to Washington by beating them in a tournament. They have 4 remaining non-con games, 3 of which are against Stanford, Vanderbilt and UConn.
TTU is 6-1. They have beaten Miss St and Minn. They lost to Utah. Their remaining games include Arkansas and 4 cream puffs.
BU is 7-1. They lost at Oregon and won against Vandy. They have 5 non-con games remaining against aTm, Georgia and 3 weak opponents.
KSU is 7-2. Losses to aTm and UNC. Wins against Mizzou and Georgia. Five remaining games with Ole Miss being the only one of significance.
ISU is 9-0 with wins over Iowa, Illinois and Colorado. They have 4 left with games against aTm and Cincy.
KU is 8-1 with a loss @ MSU. They beat Vandy, Oregon St and UCLA. They have 4 left. The only challenge is against KY.
OU is 7-0 with wins against Memphis, Wisconsin and Villanova. They play 3 more, including Creighton, LSU and WSU. (very strange they they only play 10 non-conference games this season).
OSU is 7-3 with a win against Minn and losses against George Mason, Tulsa and Missouri St. Three games remain, including games @ Florida and @ Auburn.
Comments:
There is enough of the non-conference portion of the schedule left that the conference could put themselves in a similar position as last season (situated as clearly the top bball conference), but, they would have to win nearly all of the key remaining games listed above, and not lose many to weak teams.
The 3 top teams (ISU, OU, KU) have done enough to put themselves in position to earn 1 or 2 seeds in the NCAA tournament. Having 3 teams of that quality will improve the chances of the conference being the consensus best conference.
I had forgotten that the Big 12/SEC challenge was going to be played in the middle of the conference portion of the season. Those games will be Jan 30th and will make for a very interesting day of college bball.
You can pretty much count on the Big 12 getting 6 teams into the NCAA tournament with 7 being a realistic possibility. TCU is the only team that is behind the 8 ball and will probably need to win at least 9 conference games to get in. OSU probably has the 2nd least impressive resume, and would need to win the games against Fla and Aub to elevate their resume to the level where they could get in with a conference record close to .500.
I didn't delve into performances of all of the non-conference opponents. I might have classified some bad teams as "quality" and called some strong teams "weak".
With non-conference games winding down, I thought it might be interesting to see how the conference has done so far this season.
TCU is 5-4. They have only played 2 opponents that are not cupcakes (SMU and Washington) and have lost both games. They also lost games to Rhode Island and S. Dakota St. They have 4 non-con games remaining. The only one against a decent team is Tennessee on January 30th.
WVU is 8-1. Their only loss was @ Virginia. They have beaten no one impressive, and have 3 non-con games remaining. The only decent opponent is Virginia Tech.
UT is 8-3. Their losses are to solid opponents: aTm, Michigan, Washington. They have a huge victory over UNC, and it appears they avenged their loss to Washington by beating them in a tournament. They have 4 remaining non-con games, 3 of which are against Stanford, Vanderbilt and UConn.
TTU is 6-1. They have beaten Miss St and Minn. They lost to Utah. Their remaining games include Arkansas and 4 cream puffs.
BU is 7-1. They lost at Oregon and won against Vandy. They have 5 non-con games remaining against aTm, Georgia and 3 weak opponents.
KSU is 7-2. Losses to aTm and UNC. Wins against Mizzou and Georgia. Five remaining games with Ole Miss being the only one of significance.
ISU is 9-0 with wins over Iowa, Illinois and Colorado. They have 4 left with games against aTm and Cincy.
KU is 8-1 with a loss @ MSU. They beat Vandy, Oregon St and UCLA. They have 4 left. The only challenge is against KY.
OU is 7-0 with wins against Memphis, Wisconsin and Villanova. They play 3 more, including Creighton, LSU and WSU. (very strange they they only play 10 non-conference games this season).
OSU is 7-3 with a win against Minn and losses against George Mason, Tulsa and Missouri St. Three games remain, including games @ Florida and @ Auburn.
Comments:
There is enough of the non-conference portion of the schedule left that the conference could put themselves in a similar position as last season (situated as clearly the top bball conference), but, they would have to win nearly all of the key remaining games listed above, and not lose many to weak teams.
The 3 top teams (ISU, OU, KU) have done enough to put themselves in position to earn 1 or 2 seeds in the NCAA tournament. Having 3 teams of that quality will improve the chances of the conference being the consensus best conference.
I had forgotten that the Big 12/SEC challenge was going to be played in the middle of the conference portion of the season. Those games will be Jan 30th and will make for a very interesting day of college bball.
You can pretty much count on the Big 12 getting 6 teams into the NCAA tournament with 7 being a realistic possibility. TCU is the only team that is behind the 8 ball and will probably need to win at least 9 conference games to get in. OSU probably has the 2nd least impressive resume, and would need to win the games against Fla and Aub to elevate their resume to the level where they could get in with a conference record close to .500.
I didn't delve into performances of all of the non-conference opponents. I might have classified some bad teams as "quality" and called some strong teams "weak".
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