Big 12 Basketball: Where are Trae Young and the Sooners ranked after the WVU loss?

As impressive as Texas Tech has been, West Virginia is still the team to beat in the Big 12. While the Mountaineers have been known for their defense, it was the balance on offense that has made them such an elite team so far.

Despite being undersized compared to other teams, West Virginia dominated the paint scoring against Kansas State, scoring 40 points inside compared to the Wildcats’ 18. While Bob Huggins team only made 4/13 from deep, they shot 54% total from the field.

In the Oklahoma game, West Virginia took the lead in the first half after a 9-0 run by Jevon Carter, and the team never looked back. Sagaba Konate had 16 points, 13 boards, and five blocks while dominating the Sooners frontcourt. Lamont West had 17 points in this game, while scoring 19 in the previous game. Carter filled up the stat sheets in both games, nearly getting triple-doubles both times.

But there is a problem that the coaching staff is going to have after next week, although it’s a good one to have. The second leading scorer from a year ago, Esa Ahmad will be available to play for West Virginia on Jan. 16 after serving a suspension. Normally, I’d say that he provides great energy and scoring, but that’s already been covered by the play of freshmen Teddy Allen.

Next: Last week's Big 12 power rankings

In about 20 minutes a night this week, he’s averaged 21 ppg, and been a sparkplug for the Mountaineers. Konate’s been great and Ahmad coming back is as well, but playing time for Allen can’t be sacrificed, as he’s both the future and the now for this team.