Big 12 Basketball: Midseason recap, awards, and observations
Answering questions from prior to conference play
Before conference play started, I asked five questions about the Big 12 conference for the first month. Here are the answers based on the first half of play.
1. Can Trae Young continue this historic pace?
From a statistic level, yes. He’s still the NCAA leader in both points and assists and it’s not even close when it comes to who’s second. But how he’s been doing it is another thing, with the efficiency falling off by a ton in certain games. Still, he looks like he can get 30 points a night whenever he wants.
2. Who is the worst team in the Big 12?
Two teams are tied for last in Iowa State and Baylor, with the Bears losing the head-to-head tiebreaker. But the number of blowouts to other teams would point to the Cyclones as the worst team in the league, which in this season is hardly a bad thing.
3. How will the dismissals of Zach Dawson and Davon Dilliard affect OK State’s depth?
Believe it or not, the Cowboys are one of the deepest teams in the country, with 10 players getting double-digit minutes without these two. So in that way, it hasn’t hurt who Mike Boynton can throw out there. It’s more of the matter of the actual talent this team has outside of Carroll.
4. Which guard steps up while Andrew Jones is out for Texas?
The tragic irony of this was that the original question concerned his wrist injury. But now the freshman’s leukemia diagnosis has him out indefinitely. Two players have stepped up in his absence, including Matt Coleman at the point position and Kerwin Roach providing the scoring punch.
5. Will Kansas have the best conference record at the midway point?
They looked to be in real danger after losing at home to Texas Tech but they won five in a row while the others lost multiple games. If the Jayhawks didn’t lose at Oklahoma early in the week, they’d have a 2+ game lead over everyone else. Now it’s one, but Kansas should be considered the favorites in the second half to win it all.