Big 12 Basketball: Power Rankings in the home stretch

Ever heard of someone refer to a team as a “spoiler”? That’s when a team basically has no hope for the rest of their season, but is playing with the hope of potentially spoiling some kind of accolades for someone else. Trust me, as a Cubs fan, I’ve heard the Cubs called spoilers from 2010-2014 (but not anymore!), so I’m very used to it. Anyway, these three teams have no hopes of making the tournament. They’re just trying to spoil it for everyone else.

10. TCU Horned Frogs, 11-14, 2-10 Big 12

I always thought the epitome of bad offense was last season’s Kansas vs. Kentucky game when Jay Bilas paralleled Kansas’ offensive struggles to trying to throw a frisbee through a redwood forest (if you’re having a difficult time figuring out what that means, imagine playing catch with a frisbee in this environment).

Anyway, I held that opinion until I watched TCU play this year. Their offensive rating of of 95 is 320th in the nation. They’re barely shooting over 40% as a team at 40.8%, they’re shooting just 33% from the three-point line, and just 66% from the free throw line (all stats via sports-reference.com). Their field goal percentage at the rim is just 53%, which ranks last in the Big 12. Only one other Big 12 team shoots below 60% at the rim, and that’s Oklahoma State, whose offense is almost just as dreadful (via hoop-math.com). And it’s a shame, because their defense is actually respectable.

9. Oklahoma State Cowboys, 12-13, 3-9 Big 12

Travis Ford’s current job security is currently… not good. Granted, Phil Forte, his best and most experienced player coming into this season, is out for the season with an injury, but the results this season haven’t been good for a team that had hoped to make the NCAA Tournament. The only thing that might save his job at this point is Jawun Evans. I have no idea what the relationship between the two is like, but Evans must like Ford, since he committed to play at Oklahoma State in the first place. Firing Ford may make Evans want to leave.

8. Kansas State Wildcats, 14-11, 3-9 Big 12

The Big 12 may have the two most strange losses of the season, with Kansas losing to Oklahoma State and Oklahoma losing to Kansas State. Granted, good teams usually have one very strange loss every year, but these are two of the best teams in the country losing to teams that have no shot of making the NCAA Tournament.

Maybe this just speaks to the gap between the top teams, and the bottom teams in college basketball this year. I don’t know what the reason is, but hey, Bruce Weber might have saved his job with that victory.

Next: Number 7