Big 12 Power Rankings: West Virginia on top but Kansas, Oklahoma Lurking

A busy Tuesday night in the Big 12 saw No. 9 Oklahoma hand Texas Tech its first loss in league play, Kansas hang on to win a closer-than-expected tilt against Iowa State, and West Virginia improve to 4-0 in league play with a win over Baylor.

With just over a week’s worth of results to account for, it’s time for the first of our weekly Big 12 power rankings.

1. West Virginia

The Mountaineers are now the lone unbeaten in league play after surviving a surprising effort from Baylor on Tuesday. At a perfect 4-0, the Mountaineers are now 15-1 on the season and on a 15-game winning streak headed into a pivotal Saturday showdown against Texas Tech in Lubbock.

2. Kansas

KU inexplicably got manhandled in Game 2 of league play by Texas Tech, but the Jayhawks have responded well by winning two straight since — including an impressive road win over TCU. Next Monday’s battle against WVU in Morgantown looms large to really determine if — IF — its Big 12 title streak is truly in jeopardy.

(Spoiler: My bet is KU will be just fine.)

3. Oklahoma

A win over Texas Tech on Tuesday was a good one, but the Red Raiders were due for an L after such a hot start. Three of the Sooners’ next five are on the road, though, and we’ll know more about them then. Right now they’re solidly lurking in tier one of the league race thanks to Trae Young’s NCAA leading 29.4 points and 10.2 assists per game.

4. Texas Tech

The Red Raiders are one of three one-loss teams in the league after falling on Tuesday. But right now, they’ve far and away notched the best win of the early season: a convincing rout of KU in Lawrence. Saturday’s home tilt against West Virginia could throw them squarely back in the hunt, or leave them reeling with two-straight losses.

5. TCU

TCU once had the longest win streak in the country before OU buried it behind the shed, and Jamie Dixon’s team has now fallen back to Earth quicker than a comet with a 1-2 record in Big 12 play. Still, I like the Frogs as a tourney team and think they’ve got the goods to unload some stunners. But overall this week they looked pretty mediocre by outlasting lowly Baylor and losing to KU, despite both being tight until the end.

6. Texas

The Shaka Smart era is a lot like the Charlie Strong era at Texas — tons of talent and promise, but no real direction and no true point guard (in Strong’s case, it was QB.) The Horns won over Big 12 cellar dweller Iowa State this week then followed it up with a non-competitive road loss to Baylor.

7. Baylor

Yes, Baylor just beat Texas. But I have a hard time putting the Bears ahead of the Horns, simply because they’re now 1-3 in Big 12 play after falling to WVU on Tuesday. They’ve got two winnable games upcoming though, including a home tilt against Oklahoma State in Waco on Jan. 15.

8. Oklahoma State

Mike Boynton snagged his first Big 12 win as head coach in an overtime thriller over Iowa State, but his Cowboys are still just 1-2 in league play. They’ve got to go to the Little Apple on Wednesday where I actually think they can win, especially with Kamau Stokes out indefinitely due to injury. A road win would do wonders for their confidence as they enter one of the most grueling stretches of the schedule.

9. Kansas State

With no Kamau Stokes, K-State’s going to have to rely on a heavy dosage of Barry Brown, Xavier Sneed and Dean Wade moving forward, which isn’t a death sentence. But winning without their third-leading scorer and top assist man won’t make life easier for the Wildcats and their borderline hot seat coach Bruce Weber.

10. Iowa State

Iowa State nearly pulled off the upset over KU in Lawrence on Tuesday, but instead they dropped to 0-4 and are projected by KenPom.com to lose each of their games from here on out.

I don’t think that will be the case, mostly because Ames is still Ames. But the Cyclones are going to be pretty bad this year even despite the fact that Lindell Wiggington might be a full-blown dude as a freshman.

KenPom Projections

As of now, the predictive model at KenPom has Texas Tech and West Virginia pegged as co-winners of the conference with each projected to finish with a 13-5 overall record, followed closely by KU and OU.