Big 12 Hoops | Power Rankings (Week #3)

The power rankings for the Big 12 Conference men’s basketball teams each and every week. Oklahoma State tightens the gap for #1 with a huge win over Memphis.

By DanSwany Nov 25, 2013, 10:30am CST

Don’t miss me live on the radio from 103.7 FM The Game- SportsChat with Dave Schultz at 7:45am tomorrow (November 26th)! I’ll be chatting Big 12 hoops news and previews for the season… you can listen live at www.1037thegame.com!

TEAM	COMMENT
#1 Kansas	The Jayhawks had an easy week as they took down both Iona 86-66 on Tuesday, and Towson 88-58 on Friday. Andrew Wiggins played 30 minutes in each contest. Against Iona he had 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. To open the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament against Towson he hit for 16 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 block. The Battle 4 Atlantis continues in the Bahamas on Thursday when KU takes on undefeated Wake Forest. Their semifinal game will be against Villanova or USC; and my guess is KU gets to the final game along with Xavier or Iowa. The holiday tourney will be fun to watch.
#2 Oklahoma State	The Cowboys are showing why they could be considered the top team in the Big 12 with a win over #11 Memphis 101-80. The star of the game was Marcus Smart who had an incredible performance with 39 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals, and 2 blocks in 33 minutes. Tonight OSU take on South Florida down in Tampa before heading over to Kissimmee, Florida on Thursday to continue the Old Spice Classic Tournament. Their first game is against Purdue, and second game is against Butler or Washington State. The great thing about this tournament is that they have the potential to face Memphis again in the championship game. If they can win out this holiday tourney I will have to seriously consider them for the #1 spot in the Big 12.
#3 Iowa State	A win on the road at BYU 90-88 keeps the Cyclones undefeated. DeAndre Kane had 21 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Melvin Ejim hit some crucial three-pointers and had 21 points to help seal the victory. ISU will host University of Missouri-Kansas City tonight and should blow them out of the water as UMKC has only 1 win on the season. No Thanksgiving tournament for ISU this year.
#4 Baylor	The Bears played a much closer game than expected against Charleston Southern but came away with the win 69-64. Isaiah Austin kept his block party going into last Wednesday with 6 swats; he also added 16 points and 8 rebounds. BU is in Hawaii for the holiday Maui Invitational tournament starting tonight against Chaminade. Tomorrow brings on Dayton or Gonzaga; and they have a chance to face Syracuse, California, Arkansas, or Minnesota in their last game. Making the championship game and winning this tournament would really turn heads for Baylor.
#5 Oklahoma	The Sooners showed they can hang with the best of teams in the Coaches versus Cancer Classic. On Friday they knocked off Seaton Hall by 1 point. This was a comeback after trailing by 6 with less than 1 minute to play in the 2nd half. Four different players scored 12+ points in the game for OU to win 86-85. On Saturday OU fell to the top ranked team in the land only by 11 points, but the game was much closer than that into the final minutes. Michigan State won 87-76 and Keith Appling for the Sooners had 27 points in the battle. OU will have an easy win at home against Arkansas–Little Rock on Friday.
#6 Texas	The Longhorns took down Houston Baptist without a problem on Monday 89-61. Jonathan Holmes did not play the final 7 minutes of the game with hitting the ground hard and appearing to have hurt himself. He still finished with 15 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks. This week is the test to see if UT is a legit Big 12 contender of not. They are going against BYU tonight in Kansas City of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic. Tomorrow is a showdown with DePaul or Wichita State.
#7 West Virginia	West Virginia cruised to victories against Georgia Southern and Presbyterian. On Thursday five Mountaineers scored 11+ points to demolish GSU 101-68. Then on Saturday against Presbyterian four players had 11+ points to get the victory 88-55. WVU is off to the Cancun Challenge to play Old Dominion tomorrow, and then will face Wisconsin or Saint Louis next. If this team wants to gain respect from the top half of the Big 12 teams then they must win the games this week in Mexico.
#8 Texas Tech	Our Red Raiders had hard fought wins against Texas Southern and South Dakota State. Dusty Hannahs added the spark off the bench against TSU and dropped in 19 points to go along with 21 points from Jaye Crockett to win 80-71. SDSU keep the game within reach for most of the time, but Jordan Tolbert and our squad outlasted them for a nice victory 68-54. Tolbert came away with 19 point and 9 rebounds in the win. Our huge cliff we must climb comes this week at the Legends Classic in New York as we face Pitt tonight. The next one for the tournament will be another challenge against Houston or Stanford. We get to go back home to Lubbock and host University of Texas-San Antonio on Friday. It’s going to be a busy week of basketball for Tech. I hope to see some magic and pull off the wins in all of the games. Wreck ‘em Tech!
#9 TCU	Two wins in a row for TCU was a nice way to come back from two losses to start the season. Abilene Christian was a close one, but TCU held on to win 71-64. An impressive win for the Horned Frogs came over Washington State 64-62. TCU had three players scored 16 points in the contest. Next up is the Great Alaskan Shootout Tournament to start on Wednesday. They play Alaska-Anchorage to start out, than Tulsa or Indiana State, and one last game to close out the tourney.
#10 Kansas State	The Wildcats had a bad Puerto Rico Tip-off tournament with losses to Charlotte 68-61 and Georgetown 90-63. They did get a win against Long Beach State 52-38, now 2 of their 3 wins this season are against LBSU. A nice break for KSU is needed and after Thanksgiving on Sunday they will play Central Arkansas at home.