Throughout the past week, I’ve been grading the offseason moves from some of the other top conferences. But Big 12 Basketball is going to be the most unique, due to the fact that there are four new programs joining the ranks. Three are coming from the AAC (Houston, Cincinnati, UCF), with the other coming from the WCC in BYU.
So for this piece, I’ll be grading those four newcomers from a Big 12 standard. So the offseason moves they’ve done might have been good enough at their previous conferences but is it good enough going forward? Here’s an early grade for them and the other 10 schools in what they’ve accomplished.
Baylor Bears – Grade: D+
One of the more perplexing offseason decisions is how quiet the Bears have been so far, both inside and out. They lost three guards that averaged at least 15 ppg and have replaced them with just Jayden Nunn, an athletic guard who didn’t even put up double figures at VCU. And in the frontcourt, top-40 big man Yves Missi recently reclassified to join them for next season.
If Jalen Bridges stays in the NBA Draft, Baylor could be in some real trouble. As it stands, they’ll be relying a lot on the talented recruiting class but in a Big 12 that’s gotten better, this program could be taking a step back after being a top-10 team for the past few years.
BYU Cougars – Grade: A-
Going to the Big 12 has certainly helped their recruitment, landing three of the better transfers from the mid-major ranks. Charlotte big man Aly Khalifa should help the frontcourt, while both Dawson Baker (UC Irvine) and Ques Glover (Samford) each averaged 15+ ppg at their previous spots.
It also helps that the Cougars didn’t lose anyone important to the portal this offseason, so there’s plenty of depth heading into the Big 12. It’s not a given that these newcomers will be good enough to make BYU competitive next year but the staff did all it could to give them a chance.