With most of the non-conference tournaments completed, things are starting to look more clear in Big 12 Basketball. How should the teams be ranked a month into the season?
A huge part of the November schedule of college basketball is the annual non-conference tournaments, which continue to grow every season. However, there are still the top-tier events that invite the biggest names possible, a fact that greatly benefits Big 12 Basketball.
This season was no different, with nine of the 10 schools getting invited to participate in high-profile tournaments. The most notable ones include Kansas winning the NIT Season Tip-Off, Texas Tech victorious in the Hall of Fame Classic, and Iowa State playing in arguably the toughest field in Maui Invitational history.
There were a number of quality wins that occurred during the past couple of weeks. Teams such as USC, Tennessee, and North Carolina all fell to Big 12 programs, boosting the conferences’ hopes at getting as many bids for the 2019 NCAA Tournament as possible.
Of course, with the elevated level of competition, more losses were going to happen. Last year, no Big 12 team had more than two non-conference defeats. Already, four teams have multiple losses, including a pair with three to this point. But still, if the plan is to get at least seven teams to the Big Dance like last year, the Big 12 is still on track.
There have been some changes from the previous Big 12 rankings. Find out which teams have risen in the past two weeks – and who has tumbled down.