NCAA Basketball: 4 biggest takeaways from updated 2023 recruiting rankings

Big 12 Conference Re-Loading for a Dog Fight

The Big-12 Conference has repeatedly beat itself up throughout college basketball seasons. Kansas being the main crown-bearer has had to deal with increased resistance at the top of the conference between Baylor, Texas, and Texas Tech. However, Kansas has been able to maintain its edge at the top due to consistently strong recruiting under the watchful eyes of Bill Self. The Jayhawks will go back to war with their conference foes this season, as many programs were able to reload both via traditional methods and the transfer portal.

However, the skies may be darkening in the future as programs under new regimes have found early success rebuilding their rosters this off-season. T.J. Otzelberger enters year 2 at Iowa State and is looking to follow up last year’s success with an encore after landing St. Bonaventure transfers Jaren Holmes and Osun Osunniyi. Otzelberger has also begun laying the groundwork in 2023 to build a dominant program landing four recruits led by 5-star Omaha Biliew and 4-star Milan Momcilovic. The class currently sits as 6th best in the country.

At Kansas State, the Jerome Tang era started off strong as well. Hired over the off-season, Tang and staff have been able to recruit  Keyontae Johnson (Florida), Jerrell Colbert (LSU), Desi Sills (Arkansas State), and David N’Guessan (Virginia Tech) to the program. In a major year of transition, the incoming pieces will ensure the Wildcats are competitive this season.

Tang has made sure however to keep his eyes focused both on the present and future by gaining the commitments of electric scoring guards Dai Dai Ames and RJ Jones for the 8th best class in the country.