Big 12 Basketball power rankings: How far will West Virginia fall?

2. Kansas Jayhawks

Kansas is 14-3 this season, with their losses on the year going to Baylor (Their lone conference loss to put them at 4-1), Duke, and Villanova. Their major wins on the season are against Dayton, Colorado, Stanford, and West Virginia. They are 4th in NET ratings.

Dotson returned triumphantly, as he and Kansas are out to prove some doubters wrong after their loss against Baylor. A game in which Dotson got hurt in. I expect Kansas to work to steal a game away from Baylor at some point this season, to give the Big-12 potentially two number 1 seeds in the tournament, proving once again the Big-12 is the best in college basketball.

After struggling against Texas, Kansas gets Kansas State at home, a team that just recently upset West Virginia, and the 11-6 Tennessee Vols.

My prediction: Kansas beats both, but Kansas State will make it hard on the Jayhawks.

1. Baylor Bears

Baylor is far and away the best team in the country. They’re 15-1 overall, with key wins over teams such as Villanova, Arizona, Butler, Texas Tech and Kansas. Their one loss was an early-season bout against Washington in Alaska.

Baylor is 5-0 in conference play, beating Kansas 67-55 on the 11th. Although Dotson was out for a portion of the game, the Baylor Bears, who ranks first in the NET, was in control basically the whole game. Jared Butler and the boys are nasty, as they can score the ball well, and rank 6th in the nation in opponent points per game with only 58.6 points allowed a game, ranking 9th in scoring margin in the country.

Baylor faces off against Oklahoma today, and Florida on Saturday, a team experts had going final 4 bound this preseason. Florida just thrashed previously unbeaten Auburn 69-47 at home and will give the first ranked Baylor Bears all they can handle.

My prediction: Baylor will beat Oklahoma at home, and win narrowly against Florida.