Busting Brackets
Fansided

Big 12 Basketball: Mid-season power rankings

By Matt Ostrowski

Mar 13, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; A general view of the championship logo mid-court before the game between the Kansas Jayhawks and Baylor Bears during the semifinals round of the Big 12 Championship at Sprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 13, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; A general view of the championship logo mid-court before the game between the Kansas Jayhawks and Baylor Bears during the semifinals round of the Big 12 Championship at Sprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 9
Next
Jan 23, 2016; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Iowa State Cyclones guard Matt Thomas (21) and guard Deonte Burton (30) celebrate a basket during a game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena. Iowa State won 73-60. Mandatory Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 23, 2016; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Iowa State Cyclones guard Matt Thomas (21) and guard Deonte Burton (30) celebrate a basket during a game against the TCU Horned Frogs at Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena. Iowa State won 73-60. Mandatory Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports /

4. Iowa State Cyclones

16-5, 5-3 Big 12

This season, opposing offenses are shooting 66% at the rim against Iowa State, a mark that ranks last in the conference. Last year was a similar story, with teams shooting the exact same percentage at the rim against the Cyclones defense.

With last year’s Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and elite shot blocker, Jameel McKay, lurking at the rim, you would figure these numbers to be much lower. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt last year since McKay was only playing for half of the season, but he’s playing a lot of minutes this year, and also isn’t blocking nearly as many shots. His block rate of 8.7% last year is almost double this year’s block rate of 4.9%.

With Deonte Burton now having 12 games under his belt, I don’t think it’s crazy for Iowa State to start trying out some lineups with Georges Niang at the five and Burton at the four. Burton is playing extremely well, can score from everywhere on the floor, and is probably the Cyclones’ best perimeter defender.

Not to mention, McKay always seems to clog the paint on Georges Niang or Monte Morris drives. McKay isn’t much of a threat outside the paint, so the fact that he’s always lurking there leaves an extra defender to help on Niang or Morris. And if he leaves the paint, the defense might as well ignore him altogether.

I’m not saying McKay isn’t a valuable player, and that he should be benched completely. I’m saying that I think it’s time for Steve Prohm to start playing with some small-ball lineups. The offensive potential of such lineups is through the roof.

Next: Number Three

Home/Big 12