Big 12 Race: And Then There Were Three
By Cody Daniel
There was a point in the NCAA college basketball season, not too long ago actually, that the depth of the most competitive conference in the country became evident in a Big 12 race that legitimately included six, if not seven of the conference’s 10 clubs. But the cream has since been separated from the crop and it’s becoming easier to distinguish the good from the great.
I previously touched on this bevy of contenders with an opportunity to dethrone the Kansas Jayhawks from their 10-year reign atop the conference, but Texas has seemingly crumbled before our eyes.
Baylor hasn’t done much to separate themselves from the pack, as they’ve made their victories over Iowa State and Oklahoma seem less impressive after losing the game that followed each victory, which came against unranked foes Kansas State and Oklahoma State.
The Sooners have dropped four of their last six outings, making it hard to continue believing they will be a serious threat to lead the conference at season’s end, while the same form of Mediocrity is true for Oklahoma State.
And then there are the 17-3 (6-1) Jayhawks, the 15-4 (5-2) Cyclones and the 17-3 (5-2) West Virginia Mountaineers, who are amidst a tight conference race that is only separated by one game, and these three have already began beating up on each other with Iowa State topping West Virginia and Kansas in their only meetings thus far.
I predicted Kansas' streak would end this year, but now think Jayhawks win it again. Iowa State to me is only one that can challenge.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) January 24, 2015
As you could expect, the Mountaineers are amidst this three-horse race to the finish as the dark horse with a roster that doesn’t feature the most appealing NBA-caliber talent and college stars, outside of Juwan Staten, that is. But it’s also an unfair assessment to assume that West Virginia doesn’t have a legitimate shot and capturing the Big 12 crown, with the conference’s second highest scoring offense at 77.1 per game to compliment a stifling, full court defense that has allowed the Mountaineers to easily lead the NCAA in steals.
But then again, the odds aren’t typically in your favor when the two teams leading the pack with you are the 10-time reigning Big 12 regular season champs and the defending Big 12 Conference Tournament victors.
As for the Jayhawks and Cyclones; the two will both face six ranked opponents in their final 11 games, although, that number will likely change as the Big 12’s lower ranked teams add losses. The two will also get a rematch of Iowa State’s 86-81 outlast in Hilton Coliseum. Kansas will have the most challenging journey of the three, as they have yet to face Bob Huggins’ club and will do so twice in conference play.
Of course, although we can argue that the emerging freshmen of Kansas, the high-octane offense of Iowa State and the tenacious defense of West Virginia could all be key en route to a Big 12 regular season title, there’s still a rigorous portion of their schedule ahead of each of them and losses can come against anyone on any given night (see Iowa State at Texas Tech).
But this should come as good news, as we’re surely in for another exciting finish in the Big 12 that could very likely come down to the last week of the season, but with Kansas now in the lead, what are the chances Bill Self’s team actually falls from the top spot and watches their historic streak end?