Big 12 Basketball Power Rankings: Week 8
It's a new year!
With a new year comes new expectations, but for Big 12 basketball programs, it's just another week.
Some programs continue to impress while others have hit a bit of a rough patch.
Who has shined? Who has faltered? Be the first of your friends to know what's going on around the entire conference.
Find out now in the Big 12 Power Rankings for Week 8!
1. Kansas Jayhawks (13-0, 0-0)
1 of 12The Kansas Jayhawks took care of Texas-Arlington and Miami (OH) this past week with ease.
Sure, it wasn't the hardest test. But if you were able to get away from football on Sunday and watch a few minutes of the game, it was worth it. Kansas threw down multiple dunks as it toyed with the inferior Miami Redhawks.
Josh Selby finally gave Kansas fans the monster jam it's been waiting for, sending Allen Fieldhouse into a frenzy.
Just watch the video, if you are a Redhawk fan, this might physically hurt. Sicky!
Head coach Bill Self benched Marcus and Markieff Morris after he felt the two Jayhawks may have been getting a little ahead of themselves with their recent success.
It seemed to provide motivation as the twins brought a lot of energy off the bench.
Markieff led the Jayhawks with 20 points and Marcus followed with 18 points. Freshman Josh Selby had 18 points as well.
Next up for Kansas is a home game against the UMKC Kangaroos and at Michigan. Michigan is talented but young, so look for Kansas to come away with a solid road victory.
Games this week: 1/5 vs. UMKC, 1/9 at Michigan
2. Texas A&M Aggies (12-1, 0-0)
2 of 12
Mark Turgeon is keeping the ball rolling in College Station as the Aggies improved to 12-1.
Texas A&M beat the McNeese State Cowboys this past week and are currently the No. 16 team in the nation.
Rising star Khris Middleton led A&M with 13 points as the Aggies put away McNeese State, 66-57.
While TAMU probably should have blown out the Cowboys, fans shouldn't be too worried. Texas A&M has faced more difficult opponents this season and won, which is what matters in the long run.
Texas A&M will host Nicholls State and then start conference play at Oklahoma on Saturday. The Aggies should come away with victories in each game.
Games this week: 1/3 vs. Nicholls State, 1/8 at Oklahoma
3. Missouri Tigers (13-1, 0-0)
3 of 12
Missouri has won eight straight after its overtime heartbreaker against Georgetown at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.
Michael Dixon is back from a suspension and came off the bench against Old Dominion to put up 18 points. Dixon has averaged 12 points off the bench over the last three games after his two-game suspension.
MU was led by Marcus Denmon who had 20 points. The Tigers wrapped up an undefeated December for the first time since the 1992-1993 season.
Old Dominion isn't a bad squad, so consider this a solid victory for Missouri.
Mizzou will have another easy game early this week before heading into conference play this weekend at Colorado.
Games this week: 1/5 vs. Northern Alabama, 1/6 at Colorado
.png?w=256 "NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Championship")
4. Texas Longhorns (11-2, 0-0)
4 of 12
Texas beat Coppin State on Friday in Austin, 95-75.
Once again, the presence of freshman duo Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph was felt among the observers.
Thompson scored a career-high 22 points and pulled down nine rebounds. He also set a career-high in free throws made (8-of-13).
Joseph posted 13 points and sophomore standout Jordan Hamilton led all Longhorns in scoring with 24 points. Through the first 13 contests this year, Hamilton leads the team in scoring (19.8 ppg), is tied for the lead in double-doubles (three) and ranks third in rebounding (7.2 rpg).
UT posted a 30+ rebound margin against Coppin State (47-17). A total of five players were in double figures for the Longhorns.
Texas is still playing well after beating Michigan State in East Lansing.
UT may be facing it toughest week yet as it will host a good Arkansas team and then the No. 8 Connecticut Huskies.
Games this wee: 1/4 vs. Arkansas, 1/8 vs. No. 8 UConn
5. Iowa State Cyclones (12-2, 0-0)
5 of 12
Jamie Vanderbeken made five 3-pointers and scored a career-high 24 points last week as ISU cruised past the Virginia Cavaliers, 60-47.
Iowa State held Virginia to just 15 points in the first half, tying for the ninth-lowest opponent half total in school history and was the fourth time Iowa State held a team to below 50 points this season.
The Cyclones outshot Virginia en route to its second consecutive road victory over a BCS conference school, marking the first time ISU won back-to-back road games since the 2005-06 season.
I've said it all year, Iowa State can drain from long range. As the Cyclones develop an inside game they will become more dangerous, but if teams like Baylor dare to play a zone defense the Cyclones won't be afraid to jack the trey.
Iowa State has won six straight under new head coach and former Iowa State player Fred Hoiberg.
The Cyclones will host Northern Illinois before starting conference play at Nebraska. It should be interesting to see what happens in Lincoln on Saturday as both of these teams were thought to be bottom dwellers in the conference this season.
Games this week: 1/3 vs. Northern Illinois, 12/8 at Nebraska
6. Colorado Buffaloes (10-4, 0-0)
6 of 12
Colorado has bounced back after a sluggish start to pull way past .500.
The Buffs laid a beat-down on the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners last week, 85-73. Meep Meep!
Alec Burks led the way with 19 points and Cory Higgins added 16 points. Colorado has one of the most dangerous backcourts in the entire conference. Yes, I believe to the caliber of Baylor and Kansas.
The reason I say this is because Burks and Higgins have experience, they're not young like some of the other talented guards in the Big 12. I'm not saying they're better, but consider them an elite combination for the Buffs.
CU has forced more turnovers than committed in 13 of 14 games and committed single-digit turnovers in seven of 14 games. Nice.
Looks like Colorado won't be as bad as it seemed to be at the beginning of the season. The Buffs may not give Kansas a run for the Big 12 title, but could I possibly predict an NCAA tournament berth?
Eh, I'll wait a couple weeks on that one.
CU plays West New Mexico before taking on Mizzou on Saturday. Mizzou will be Colorado's toughest opponent all season.
Games this week: 1/5 vs. West New Mexico, 1/8 vs. Missouri
7. Oklahoma State Cowboys (11-2, 0-0)
7 of 12
I love this picture. Floating ball magic trick, anyone?
Oklahoma State is coming off of a loss to Gonzaga this past week.
Marshall Moses led the Cowboys with 17 points but it wasn't enough as Gonzaga has now downed OSU and Baylor. Keiton Page was quiet as he shot 1-for-4 from the field for only two points. He suffered a groin injury which limited him in the game.
In OSU's two losses, Page has been quiet. Game plan, anyone? Shut down Page and his 3-point threat, you may have a chance to beat the Cowboys.
Oklahoma State will need players like Matt Pilgrim and J.P. Olukemi to step up if it wants to be a true contender in the Big 12 this season.
Still, Oklahoma State seems to be a team that is developing in a positive way. OSU will go through some more growing pains but should be an NCAA tournament-caliber team.
The Cowboys take on Texas-San Antonio before their showdown against K-State.
Games this week: 1/3 Texas-San Antonio, 1/8 vs. No. 17 Kansas State
8. Kansas State Wildcats (11-3, 0-0)
8 of 12
Kansas State is coming off of two wins against UMKC and North Florida.
KSU fans will probably want to forget the loss to Syracuse in the Pinstripe bowl and hope the basketball team can get back on track.
Although North Florida is hardly a competitor when it comes to Big 12 schools, K-State played pretty well against them.
The Wildcats set season-highs for field goal percentage (57.4; 35-of-61), 3-point field goal percentage (58.8; 10-of-17) and free throw percentage (76.9; 20-of-26).
The squad also set season-bests for points (100), field goals (35), assists (26) and points in a half (57) and field goal percentage in a half (60.6; 20-of-33).
This game was played without Jacob Pullen, Curtis Kelly and Freddy Asprilla. Pullen and Kelly were serving an NCAA suspension while Asprilla was out with an illness.
KSU will play Savannah State before heading into conference play against Oklahoma State. Jacob Pullen will be suited up in Stillwater but Curtis Kelly will still be serving his six-game suspension.
Look for KSU-OSU to be a pretty good game.
Games this week: 1/3 vs. Savannah State, 1/8 at Oklahoma State
9. Baylor Bears (9-3, 0-0)
9 of 12Baylor has dropped considerably in the power rankings based on its last two weeks.
In that span, Baylor has dropped games to Gonzaga, Washington State and Florida State. The Bears did bounce back with a win over Texas-Southern on Saturday.
If I were a Baylor fan, I'd be a little worried. Big 12 play starts this week and Baylor has high expectations.
On the contrary, it could be worse. Baylor could have lost to mid-majors which would have had BU fans even more upset. Baylor is too talented to ever be counted out and I expect the Bears to have a solid bounce back in conference play.
Baylor has held teams under 70 points 11 times already this season. As long as Scott Drew's zone defense works, the Bears are in business. If their opponent can drain the three, they might be in trouble.
It's hard to go wrong with the likes of LaceDarius Dunn, Quincy Acy and Perry Jones III. Guard A.J. Watson also ranks third in the Big 12 in both assists-per-game and steals-per-game.
Baylor will be fine, it just had to pay for all of the easy games it got at the beginning of the season.
Baylor plays Morgan State before traveling to Lubbock for play Texas Tech on Saturday.
Games this week: 1/4 vs. Morgan State, 1/8 at Texas Tech
10. Nebraska Cornhuskers (10-2, 0-0)
10 of 12
Nebraska's game with North Dakota was delayed until this week due to a blizzard, so the Cornhuskers will face three opponents in Week 8.
NU moves down a few spots in the rankings this week, but another undefeated week can change all of that. The Cornhuskers have won eight straight games and could quite possible make it ten by the end of the week.
Nebraska completed just it's third undefeated December since 1930.
The Nebraska defense has also stepped it up a notch.
The Huskers held both Eastern Washington and Grambling State to its lowest shooting numbers of the season and has now held three opponents to 25 percent shooting or below. Eastern Washington's 21.1 percent shooting was the second-lowest total in Doc Sadler's five seasons at Nebraska.
NU will host North Dakota and Savannah State before starting conference play against Iowa State.
Games this week: 1/3 vs. North Dakota, 1/5 vs. Savannah State, 1/8 vs. Iowa State
11. Oklahoma Sooners (7-6, 0-0)
11 of 12
Oklahoma passed its only test last week when it narrowly beat Central Arkansas, 76-73.
Another mid-major giving Oklahoma a hard time at home. Who would have thought?
As OU has all season long, lack of experience continues to plague the Sooners. Senior Cade Davis and sophomore Andrew Fitzgerald have played well but Jeff Capel desperately needs some other players to step up.
The Sooners are 7-0 at home this year and 0-6 away from Norman.
OU has a lot of junior college transfers which have been unable to completely adapt to Division I basketball.
Eight of OU's top nine scorers are in their first or second year of Division I basketball. Five of the nine are in their first year.
OU will host Maryland-Eastern before starting Big 12 play against the No. 16 Texas A&M Aggies.
Games this week: 1/3 vs. Maryland-Eastern, 1/8 vs. No. 16 Texas A&M
12. Texas Tech Red Raiders (7-7, 0-0)
12 of 12
Texas Tech finally found a win against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi this past week after losing its previous 3-of-4 games.
Seniors David Tairu and Mike Singletary led Tech with 18 points and 17 points respectively.
Tech fans have been surprised about how much the Red Raiders have struggled even with a strong senior class.
Pat Knight said he wanted 10 non-conference wins at least. Well, he might get eight. Maybe Bobby Knight should just go back to Tech.
Or at least help Pat out a little bit.
Tech is at the bottom of the Big 12 and needs to get back on track quick.
The Red Raiders should breeze by Delaware State but will have their hands full against Baylor on Saturday.
Games this week: 1/3 vs. Delaware State, 1/8 vs. Baylor
For Big 12 coverage and more, follow Kip on Twitter @KipReiserer
.png?w=480 "NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Championship")
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
