After a first month of the season centered on non-conference games, the second part of the season begins this week, that of conference games. For four months, until the conference tournaments at the end of the season which precede the “March Madness”, the various programs of the country will indeed face the teams of their respective conferences.
USA Basketball offers you for the occasion a preview of each conference of the “Power Six”, the six major conferences of the NCAA first division: ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac-12.
And after the ACC, the Big East and the Big Ten, place today at the Big 12.
A conference unanimously considered to be the most prestigious in the country for several years now. Rightly so, since two of the last three college championship finals have featured at least one Big 12 program: Texas Techlosing to Virginia in 2019, and Baylor then Kansasobviously winners of the last two editions (no final in 2020 due to the health crisis).
This season, the Bears and Jayhawks, along with the Longhorns of Texas who have strengthened considerably during the off-season, will again be among the very big names in the country. Behind them, a small platoon of teams in ambush, not of the same ilk as the leading trio but capable of playing the occasional spoilsport: Texas Tech, UCT and Oklahoma notably.
Overall, there will therefore be a very high level of play in the Big 12 again this season, and it therefore does not seem insane to imagine that for the third time in four years, a team from this conference will be in the final. of the championship next April.
The teams
–Kansas Jayhawks (#1 in the conference in 2021/22)
– Baylor Bears (#2 in 2021/22)
– Texas Tech Red Raiders (#3 in 2021/22)
– Texas Longhorns (#4 in 2021/22)
– TCU Horned Frogs (#5 in 2021/22)
– Oklahoma State Cowboys (#6 in 2021/22)
– Iowa State Cyclones (#7 in 2021/22)
– Oklahoma Sooners (#8 in 2021/22)
– Kansas State Wildcats (#9 in 2021/22)
– West Virginia Mountaineers (#10 in 2021/22)
Challenges
– What post-title season for Kansas? Champions last year, the Jayhawks lost three starters: Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun, rookies in the NBA this season, and the pivot David McCormack who completed his course with a title. The leader Dajuan Harris and the winger Jalen Wilson are the only ghosts, accompanied in the major five by the “freshman” winger Gradey Dickthe veteran fullback Kevin McCullar arrived in the spring from Texas Tech, and the “sophomore” kingpin KJ Adams. A clever mix of experienced veterans and young players who for now is bringing the Jayhawks to a very good season: 8 wins in 9 games.
Now, to the question of whether this major five is better, or at least more complementary than last season’s, the answer, a priori, is no.
Although he has been on fire since the start of the season (21.9 points and 9.3 rebounds), Jalen Wilson is not Ochai Agbaji. Ditto for the young KJ Adams, an impressive athlete but who for the moment does not have the same defensive profile as David McCormack. Also very good since the start of the year (15.3 points and 4.1 rebounds), Gradey Dick remains a first-year player, who may therefore experience some air pockets, especially against the rough and physical defenses of the Big 12. Valiant “role-player”, Kevin McCullar (10.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2 assists) cannot (completely) replace the major contribution of Christian Braun last season (14.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists) , because he is a different profile, less of a scorer and shooter than the rookie Nuggets.
Anyway, in summary, these 2022/23 Jayhawks are collectively a less strong team than the title-crowned 2021/22 version. The fact remains that Kansas, at the time of this writing, is ranked 6th in the AP Top 25, and therefore remains a very, very good team, among the top ten in the country. . From there to consider them as a clear pretender to his own succession? Time will tell, and it’s never wise to bet against Bill Self, but on paper it seems like a slightly inflated expectation.
– Texas at the top? Fourth in the conference last year with a record of 10 wins and 8 losses, the Longhorns will do better this season, and should very easily invite themselves to the podium. Much of the 2021/22 season squad is back, and Chris Beard can count, at the head of his attack, on two of the best attackers in the country on the position of leader: the “sophomore” Tyrese Hunter (15.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists) and the “senior” Marcus Carr (14.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists). After a month of competition, the Austin-based program is ranked 2nd in the Top 25, with six wins in as many matches. Because the reality is this: the Longhorns are not content to appear as one of the best teams in the conference. They belong more broadly to the country’s elite, quite simply.
– Behind the leading trio, TCU has a card to play. At the top of the conference, the Baylor – Texas – Kansas trio indeed seems untouchable. Behind it is (relatively) wide open, and TCU seems best equipped to take fourth place. Solid defensive team (22nd best defense in the country, with 90.9 points conceded on 100 possessions), the Horned Frogs can count on a very good duo Mike Miles Jr. (18.2 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists) – Emmanuel Miller (12.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2 assists) to lead the charge on offense. After a month into the 2022/23 season, TCU has won 7 of its first 8 games, and sits in 24th place in the AP Top 25. Certainly a team that will count this season, in the category of “outsiders”.
– For his return to the game, Keyontae Johnson rubs shoulders with the best conference in the country. Victim of a serious heart attack on the field in December 2020 when he wore the Florida jersey, the winger, after a forced 18-month break, got the green light this summer to continue his university career. It will be at kansas state, a program he joined through the NCAA transfer portal, and on paper certainly the weakest roster in the conference. For the Wildcats to hope to do anything other than make up, so they’ll need a big Keyontae Johnson, who clearly endorses the role of the offensive leader since the start of the season: 17.2 points and 6.7 rebounds. But when we remember the terrifying images of his collapse two years ago, we think above all, beyond his performance and the ranking of his team, that it is more simply a real pleasure to see him play again, and that the Big 12 emerges a winner from the arrival of such a gifted player within it.
Player to watch: Tyrese Hunter
For his first university season last year, already in the Big 12 but at Iowa State, he distinguished himself thanks to a leader profile above all a scorer, but nevertheless complete (11 points at 40% on shots, 3.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2 interceptions in 32 minutes).
This season at Texas, a better team than the Cyclones last year, he’s logically playing less (28 minutes), but he’s much more effective on offense (15.1 points on 52% on shots), in part because he can delegate part of the “playmaking” to Marcus Carr (4.3 assists), his colleague in the Longhorns “backcourt”.
In short, all the ingredients are in place for a great season from Tyrese Hunter, who is undoubtedly one of the very best players, and one of the most electrifying, of the Big 12. If he continues his momentum from the start of the season throughout the conference game schedule, he will have a serious case to consider at the end of the season, for the trophy of the Player Of The Year of the Big 12.
Prediction: Baylor
As we said, the supremacy of the Big 12 will be summed up this season in an exciting three-way race between Baylor, Texas and Kansas.
All three picks make sense for the title, but we still prefer Baylor’s chances, for one simple reason: the Bears, more than the Longhorns and Jayhawks in our view, are the most balanced team, with the highest ceiling of the whole conference. Even if in fact, after the first month of the season and the non-conference games, the imbalance between the attack and the defense of Baylor is for the moment quite important (116.4 points scored on 100 possessions, the 5th best average in the country, for 94.6 points conceded on 100 possessions, only the 46th best average in the country).
But recent history shows that Scott Drew and his men often have the best “net rating” of the entire conference: this has been the case twice in the last three seasons (second best “net rating” of the conference during the season during which it is not did not happen).
