Big 12 Basketball Power Rankings: West Virginia falls, Iowa State surprises to start out season

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - NOVEMBER 06: Devon Dotson #11 of the Kansas Jayhawks dribbles the ball against the Michigan State Spartans during the State Farm Champions Classic at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on November 6, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /

9 of 11

DALLAS, TX – MARCH 17: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders dribbles the ball while being guarded by KeVaughn Allen #5 of the Florida Gators in the second half during the second round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament at the American Airlines Center on March 17, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

3. Texas Tech Red Raiders (3-0)

Preseason rank: 4

Texas Tech has had some glorified warmup games to start the season, with wins over Incarnate Word, Mississippi Valley State, and Southeastern Louisiana. While it would be impressive to note that the team is first in the country at 43 ppg allowed, the quality of competition has to be taken into account.

Like last year, one player has taken a good share of the scoring production. This season its sophomore Jarret Culver, who leads the team with 16.3 ppg. The only other double-digit scorer is David Moretti, who has continued his solid play from overseas this summer into this season. He’s averaging 11.3 ppg and has taken advantage of the extra minutes in his sophomore year.

The other Red Raiders have played their roles admirably thus far, including grad transfer big man Tariq Owens, currently averaging 7.7 blocks a game per 40 minutes. Freshman Kyler Edwards has been a welcomed surprise at the guard position off the bench as well.

One small complaint might be another grad transfer Matt Mooney’s limited scoring production. He’s averaging just 9.0 ppg, which is half of what he did last year at South Dakota. But he’s making up for it in other ways, including leading the team with 5.0 apg while fitting into the defensive scheme well. If he can score a bit more than Texas Tech could be just as good as the one who went to the Elite Eight a year ago.

Home/Big 12