Busting Brackets
Fansided

Big 12 Basketball Power Rankings: Kansas holds strong at the top

By Jason Kinander

LAWRENCE, KANSAS - DECEMBER 01: Lagerald Vick #24 of the Kansas Jayhawks celebrates after making a three-pointer during the game against the Stanford Cardinal at Allen Fieldhouse on December 01, 2018 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
LAWRENCE, KANSAS - DECEMBER 01: Lagerald Vick #24 of the Kansas Jayhawks celebrates after making a three-pointer during the game against the Stanford Cardinal at Allen Fieldhouse on December 01, 2018 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 04: West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins reacts toward the referee during the second half of the game against the Florida Gators at Madison Square Garden on December 04, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 04: West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins reacts toward the referee during the second half of the game against the Florida Gators at Madison Square Garden on December 04, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /

8. West Virginia Mountaineers (6-4)

Previous Ranking: No. 7

West Virginia started out the season ranked. That was good. Everything else? Not so much.

From the very first game, things started to slide for the Mountaineers. They lost to Buffalo at home, which might not look like a bad loss now, but at the time, it wasn’t pretty. What happened after that isn’t pretty either. West Virginia lost to Western Kentucky, at home again, to fall to 1-2. While West Virginia eventually regained its balance and got back to 6-2, their streakiness has continued, as they’ve lost two of their last three since.

The latter of those losses was a 13-point loss on the road against Rhode Island, who is a shell of their 2018 NCAA Tournament team. This West Virginia squad’s inexperience has really shown early on, and they certainly have a lot to fix before conference play. Esa Ahmad and Sagaba Konate have been doing most of the work for the Mountaineers, as Ahmad is averaging 15 points per game while Konate is snagging eight rebounds per game.

Like Oklahoma State, West Virginia will have a chance to regain some momentum before conference play, playing host to a pair of weak mid-major programs, Jacksonville State and Lehigh, before conference play begins. The Mountaineers’ defense is a shell of what it used to be and the offense has failed to step up. Bob Huggins has time to get his team back into form, but this is not a typical West Virginia team, and that is by no means a good thing.

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