How good is the Big 12

[YCN]

... compared to the other power conferences?

The Big 12 not only doesn't have a team with a losing season record, the 9th place team owns that worst record, and it's 2 games above .500 with a two game winning streak. No other power conference can make that claim.

Is the competition in the Big 12 going to doom the conference to few bids in the NCAA tourney? The only two teams that have been unblemished in conference play own 40% of the wins in the conference. The average number of wins for the remaining eight teams is 2.63 wins, compared to 4.38 losses.

There are only four Big 12 teams with winning conference records: Baylor and OU at 7-0, and Iowa State is at 5-2, and TCU at 4-3.

This could be one of those rare years when a deserving conference ends up with few bids because of their own competence.

And also because of their generally pathetic non-conference scheduling.

 

[sybarite]

At this time, the Big Twelve is rated #1 by realtimerpi which appears to be what the NCAA is listing at the moment. It seems that all conferences except the ACC have the same problem: top-heavy.

The Big Ten: ESPN/rpi
Maryland 6/4
Iowa 18/12
Nebraska 15/28
Minnesota X/27
Rutgers X/56
It's a bit of a stretch to rank Minnesota or Rutgers, tied for fourth.

Pacific Twelve
Oregon State 8/11
Arizona State 12/4
Stanford 16/30
California X/29
Washington X/19

SEC
Tennessee 7/3
South Carolina 1/8
Mississippi State 20/38
Kentucky 14/7
Texas A&M 10/25
Georgia 19/31

Big Twelve
Oklahoma X/21
Baylor 3/2
Iowa State X/38
TCU X/66
Texas 9/9

ACC
Notre Dame 5/1
Florida State 17/16
Louisville 4/10
Miami X/54
Syracuse 22/43
Duke 13/23
North Carolina 11/13

That is 28 teams from major conferences. I don't know that the Big East will get more than two this year: Seton Hall and DePaul. Do all of these teams get in? Somewhere, I saw a projection that said it would take an rpi of no worse than 32. Are Duke and Texas playing their way out of the tournament? Can NC be taken seriously?

I have emboldened the teams that I think would be in right now, but I think Texas is fading fast. They need to beat someone.

 

[rocjunkie]

I'm probably wrong, but I think the Big XII will sneak in 6 teams, just because of our strength of the conference.

 

[womenssports]

I predict Tx loses two more conference games and wins one conference game in the tournament. Texas makes it to the ncaa tournament.

I think they have had some bad luck with injuries and they don't have the depth to adapt as quickly as some teams. I still think they have enough pieces plus a good coach and that they can pull it together. Not going to be easy without Nneke and the other injuries that, though maybe the players are back, has still impacted how they are able to play together and their confidence. As an aside: Those two guards that were out were not missed because of their shooting but because of their ball-handling.
Beating Stanford at Stanford (a team that had just beaten Uconn at home) was no mean feat, and the same can be said of Tenn.

 

[gosooner2]

Our record outside the conference 6-5 in conference 7-0!

 

[sybarite]

Texas was 11-0 and is 3-4. I'm not sure what either proves.

 

[gosooner2]

Texas was 11-0 and is 3-4. I'm not sure what either proves.

In Texas case I think it proves they need the same players that went 11-0.

In Our case I am not sure. Time will tell.

 

[sybarite]

I think the significance of the loss of the guards for a part of the season is nowhere near that of losing Enempkali. They don't even use them to start now that they are back. Hard to figure.

OU has changed. How did free throw shooting improve in conference play? It did, from somewhere around 65% to 72.5% We're now a fairly respectable team at the line. What changed? We also tend to have fewer turnovers. Several of our indicators are up.

I saw one report that said that the Tech win was by our lowest margin this year, with the previous low being by ten over Washington. Supposedly, we didn't win close games. I guess they forgot about a two-point OT win over Illinois.

 

[SoonerNorm]

There are some surprises to me in the Big 12 this year.

Baylor 7-0: no surprise.
OU 7-0: Big surprise. I don't think anyone would have bet $5 at the end of December that we would be undefeated in conference play at this point.
ISU 5-2: no real surprise there.
TCU 4-3: they are better than I expected they would be. I like their new coach.
Texas 3-4: no real surprise considering their injuries.
OSU 2-5: I expected they would be better than they are.
Tech 2-5: no surprise
WVU 2-5: Big surprise. I expected they would be right below Baylor and Texas (before the injuries at UT)
KU 2-5: no surprise
KSU 1-6: no surprise, KSU was nuts for hiring Middie.

 

[tycat947]

... compared to the other power conferences?

The Big 12 not only doesn't have a team with a losing season record, the 9th place team owns that worst record, and it's 2 games above .500 with a two game winning streak. No other power conference can make that claim.

Is the competition in the Big 12 going to doom the conference to few bids in the NCAA tourney? The only two teams that have been unblemished in conference play own 40% of the wins in the conference. The average number of wins for the remaining eight teams is 2.63 wins, compared to 4.38 losses.

There are only four Big 12 teams with winning conference records: Baylor and OU at 7-0, and Iowa State is at 5-2, and TCU at 4-3.

This could be one of those rare years when a deserving conference ends up with few bids because of their own competence.

And also because of their generally pathetic non-conference scheduling.

I think it's highly unlikely to have a Big 12 team reach the Final 4 this year however, based on competitive nature of the conference and it's teams, Big 12 takes a back seat to no one!