Big 12 Basketball: Way-too-early power rankings for 2022-23 season

By Joey Loose | Jun 8, 2022

Apr 4, 2022; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kansas Jayhawks guard Remy Martin (left) and guard Dajuan Harris Jr. (center) and guard Christian Braun (right) celebrates their win against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2022 NCAA men's basketball tournament Final Four championship game at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

8 of 10

Big 12 Basketball Texas Longhorns guard Marcus Carr Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports /

3. Texas

After quite the work in his coaching career, including success at rival Texas Tech, Chris Beard returned home to Texas last year, leading the Longhorns to a solid 22-12 mark in his first campaign. The defense was fantastic and the offense kept up before the Longhorns fell in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Beard has higher expectations moving forward, and may have landed the piece to get that job done.

Texas received awesome news that both forward Timmy Allen (12.1 ppg, 6.4 rpg last year) and guard Marcus Carr (11.4 ppg, 3.4 apg) are back for one last season in Austin. As for landing, the Longhorns bring in former Iowa State star guard Tyrese Hunter, a scoring threat that will play a big role on both sides of the ball this season. In addition, 5-star forward recruit Dillon Mitchell is one of the top freshmen in the country, while fellow 5-star guard Arterio Morris should get plenty of run in this rotation.

Texas has talent all over the court, not only to have a better offensive season this year but to actively run that dynamic defense that Beard preaches. The duo of Carr and Hunter might be enough to push Texas over the top and make them a legitimate contender not only in the Big 12 race but for national prevalence. All of Chris Beard’s teams break out eventually, maybe this is the team that does that come March.

Home/Big 12