Big 12 Basketball: 2020-21 Buy or Sell Baylor, Kansas, West Virginia and others
By Josh Whitlow
Which Big 12 Basketball programs should you trust the most for the rest of this season?
Big 12 Basketball is likely the 2nd deepest league in all of college basketball, and if I had to pick a conference that was most likely to produce the 2020-2021 National Champion, I would roll with the Big 12. This will kick off a series where I will go through various conferences and treat teams as stocks or “investments”, giving you my opinion on whether I would buy, sell, or hold these investments at their current state during the season.
Hold (Good Teams) – Texas Tech, Oklahoma
Hold (Bad Teams) – Kansas State, Iowa State
Texas Longhorns – BUY
Shaka Smart and the Texas Longhorns are having one of their best seasons in a very long time. They are currently 9-1 and are ranked 4th in the country. Their lone loss came against Villanova (the 3rd ranked team) by four points on an off night.
Texas has wins over a ranked UNC team at the time and most notably, handing Kansas their worst home loss at Allen Fieldhouse this past weekend. The game against not only solidified the Longhorns as a top team in the Big 12 but also as a national championship contender as well.
Courtney Ramey and Matt Coleman have been phenomenal, and have been able to facilitate down low to Greg Brown III. and Jericho Sims. This Texas team has the experience and talent to beat any team in the country, and due to Baylor’s lack of big tests, I would take the Longhorns if those two teams were to play right now. Texas…Buy Stock Now!
Baylor Bears – BUY
Baylor has played nine games and they have won all of them, but 2 of their biggest tests have been postponed due to the pandemic. The Gonzaga and Texas matchups would have been great litmus tests to find out just how good Baylor is, and the Texas game will be played at some point, but it is more disappointing that we may have to wait until April to watch Gonzaga and Baylor square off, as they are considered the top two teams in college basketball.
The bears do have a 13-point win against Illinois, who was ranked 5th at the time they played, solidifying themselves as a tier above the rest of the field. The only competition I think they have for the Big 12 throne is the Longhorns, as Kansas does not have Dotson and Azubukie to matchup this season.
Macio Teague and Jared Butler have performed at an all-conference level, as expected considering those two went through the NBA Draft process over the offseason. Baylor will be tested in the near future, with upcoming games vs. Texas Tech and West Virginia in the next 2 weeks, so we should learn a little more about just how good this team really is, but before they get rolling, buy stock now!