Potential lineup changes??

[WaymanFan]

I hope no one is actually comparing the Big XII now to what it was 20-25 years ago. Back then, OU got to basically start out 4-0 against Texas A&M and Baylor. Throw in Nebraska, Kansas State, Colorado (who we played once a year), and Texas Tech, and most years we're looking at 7-2 or 8-1. That means we could go 1-2 against Kansas, Iowa State and Missouri (worst case), 2-2 against Texas and OSU (very seldom did worse), and finish 10-6 / 11-5 without breaking a sweat.

 

[TINY]

I'd agree on KU. Texas was probably comparable to now. ISU made the tourney 5 times and finished under .500 three times while Kelvin was at OU. OSU was definitely better. Tech was not even close to being better. They made the tourney 3 times while Kelvin was here, and finished under .500 five times. Baylor is a million times better. And you are leaving out Colorado and Nebraska and KSU and A&M. It is laughable to say the current league is "maybe" better top to bottom. And it makes no sense why anyone would even try to make such an argument. No one who coached, played, broadcast, or worked for the conference in any capacity would do so. It was a really good league back then. It's historically great now.

Yep and it’s not even debatable. There is plenty of empirical data to support that the conference is significantly tougher today than when Kelvin coached ou.

 

[BCSooners]

I'd agree on KU. Texas was probably comparable to now. ISU made the tourney 5 times and finished under .500 three times while Kelvin was at OU. OSU was definitely better. Tech was not even close to being better. They made the tourney 3 times while Kelvin was here, and finished under .500 five times. Baylor is a million times better. And you are leaving out Colorado and Nebraska and KSU and A&M. It is laughable to say the current league is "maybe" better top to bottom. And it makes no sense why anyone would even try to make such an argument. No one who coached, played, broadcast, or worked for the conference in any capacity would do so. It was a really good league back then. It's historically great now.

100% correct

 

[BoulderSooner]

I hope no one is actually comparing the Big XII now to what it was 20-25 years ago. Back then, OU got to basically start out 4-0 against Texas A&M and Baylor. Throw in Nebraska, Kansas State, Colorado (who we played once a year), and Texas Tech, and most years we're looking at 7-2 or 8-1. That means we could go 1-2 against Kansas, Iowa State and Missouri (worst case), 2-2 against Texas and OSU (very seldom did worse), and finish 10-6 / 11-5 without breaking a sweat.

yep

 

[SoonerBounce13]

Y’all are crazy to think it isn’t at least close.
Top to bottom it’s better now. But the top teams were better then.

Part of the perception you guys have is because we had more teams then

 

[paboomersooner]

I'd agree on KU. Texas was probably comparable to now. ISU made the tourney 5 times and finished under .500 three times while Kelvin was at OU. OSU was definitely better. Tech was not even close to being better. They made the tourney 3 times while Kelvin was here, and finished under .500 five times. Baylor is a million times better. And you are leaving out Colorado and Nebraska and KSU and A&M. It is laughable to say the current league is "maybe" better top to bottom. And it makes no sense why anyone would even try to make such an argument. No one who coached, played, broadcast, or worked for the conference in any capacity would do so. It was a really good league back then. It's historically great now.

I'm sure research and stats would solidify this point but that is not needed. The Big 12 is head and shoulders better now.

Sometimes people romantisize the past and raise their perception of their argument to a level higher than what it was and it clouds one's judgement. Perhaps this is what is happening with some of the members.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Y’all are crazy to think it isn’t at least close.
Top to bottom it’s better now. But the top teams were better then.

Part of the perception you guys have is because we had more teams then

I guess that’s why back in the day, the league put its top teams in three straight title games and won two of them. And would have had the top overall seed and pre tournament favorite in another season if a global pandemic hadn’t wiped out the other tourney during that span. Oh, wait … that’s the current league, whereas the league never won a national title while Kelvin was here?

 

[BoulderSooner]

Y’all are crazy to think it isn’t at least close.
Top to bottom it’s better now. But the top teams were better then.

Part of the perception you guys have is because we had more teams then

lol the big 12 has the last 2 national champions and tech finished 2nd 3 years ago ..

the top was not "better" then

 

[allday92]

I know RPI isn't the best metric, but this was the only site where I could find college basketball conference rating by year. It uses RPI - the Big 12 hasn't been outside of the top 2 since 2012-2013, and for most of the last 10 years has been the #1 rated conference.

The site tracks back to 1997-1998. From 97-98 to 05-06 when Sampson left here were the Big 12 rankings -

97-98: 8th
98-99: 7th
99-00: 7th
00-01: 6th
01-02: 3rd
02-03: 1st
03-04: 8th
04-05: 3rd
05-06: 5th

The Big 12 is undoubtedly tougher now, at the top, at the bottom, and everywhere in between.

Source: https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/rpi-ranking/rpi-rating-by-conf?date=2004-04-06

 

[jmizzy4ou]

I know RPI isn't the best metric, but this was the only site where I could find college basketball conference rating by year. It uses RPI - the Big 12 hasn't been outside of the top 2 since 2012-2013, and for most of the last 10 years has been the #1 rated conference.

The site tracks back to 1997-1998. From 97-98 to 05-06 when Sampson left here were the Big 12 rankings -

97-98: 8th
98-99: 7th
99-00: 7th
00-01: 6th
01-02: 3rd
02-03: 1st
03-04: 8th
04-05: 3rd
05-06: 5th

The Big 12 is undoubtedly tougher now, at the top, at the bottom, and everywhere in between.

Source: https://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-basketball/rpi-ranking/rpi-rating-by-conf?date=2004-04-06

:chestram2::chestram2: