Busting Brackets
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Big 12 Basketball Power Rankings: Texas Tech beats out Kansas for No. 1

By Jason Kinander

<> at United Spirit Arena on January 8, 2019 in Lubbock, Texas.
<> at United Spirit Arena on January 8, 2019 in Lubbock, Texas. /
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AMES, IA – JANUARY 12: Xavier Sneed #20 of the Kansas State Wildcats strips the ball away from Lindell Wigginton #5 of the Iowa State Cyclones under the basket in the second half of play at Hilton Coliseum on January 12, 2019 in Ames, Iowa. The Kansas State Wildcats won 58-57 over the Iowa State Cyclones. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images)
AMES, IA – JANUARY 12: Xavier Sneed #20 of the Kansas State Wildcats strips the ball away from Lindell Wigginton #5 of the Iowa State Cyclones under the basket in the second half of play at Hilton Coliseum on January 12, 2019 in Ames, Iowa. The Kansas State Wildcats won 58-57 over the Iowa State Cyclones. (Photo by David Purdy/Getty Images) /

6. Kansas State Wildcats (12-4, 2-2 Conference Play)

Previous Ranking: No. 6

Dean Wade is back, and there couldn’t have been better news for the Kansas State Wildcats.

After losing back-to-back games to Texas and Texas Tech to begin conference play, the Wildcats regained their leading scorer, who had missed the last month with a foot injury.

On Saturday, the Wildcats upset #20 Iowa State in Wade’s first game back. While Wade scored just two points, he grabbed a team-leading nine rebounds in the upset win on the road in Ames.

It hasn’t been just Wade this season though, as fellow senior Barry Brown has been a huge contributor to the Wildcats’ success in the early going. Brown dropped 20 points in the upset win, and has been putting up big numbers in Kansas State’s first couple of league games.

It seems as if their conference play-opening 20 points loss to Texas is well in the rear view mirror. The Wildcats will take on Oklahoma, TCU, and Iowa State before facing Texas A&M in the Big 12-SEC challenge, in a stretch of three games that will easily define the season for Kansas State.

Bruce Weber’s guys are fully healthy (for now), and need to capitalize. Kansas State absolutely needs to win at least one, and probably two of those games in order to stay afloat in the standings.

Getting Wade back in indescribably huge, but it doesn’t get any easier for the Wildcats. It has been a mainly disappointing season to this point, but Kansas State has a chance to revive their season in the next two or so weeks.

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