Big 12 Basketball power rankings: Kansas State soars, Texas Tech falters

Big 12 Basketball has once again made a case for being the best conference in hoops, with no “bad” teams in the league. All 10 programs have achieved success to some degree with this non-conference, including in the respective multi-team events and other marquee matchups through the first month of the season.

At this point, just about all 10 teams in the Big 12 have an at-large worthy resume, with a few in contention for a top-3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Of course, that’ll change once league play arrives and they start facing one another. Here’s a current look at the conference after everyone has played a couple of games in league play.

10. West Virginia Mountaineers

It’s hard to say that any team has an easy stretch of games but Oklahoma State and Kansas State are the easiest back-to-back games you might get in Big 12 Basketball. But with them on the road, that’s still a tough task.

The Mountaineers had an 11-point halftime lead on the Wildcats but couldn’t hold onto it, going to overtime and eventually losing, 82-76. Tre Mitchell had 16 points and 13 rebounds in 41 minutes paid, while Mohamed Wague had a double-double off the bench, including eight offensive rebounds.

The road game at OK State was an even bigger uphill climb for West Virginia, trailing for most of the game. A run by Erik Stevenson made it a one-possession game in the second half but a tech and immediate foul afterward took him out of the game, finishing with a team-high 17 points. Mitchell had 16 and seven but no one else was in double figures in the 67-60 defeat.

There’s no question that the Mountaineers are capable of being a threat in the Big 12 but they’re in danger of being the clear worst team in the conference. They’re at home in the next week but now take on two of the best teams, Kansas and Baylor, up next.