Big 12 Basketball: Ranking all 16 programs after adding Arizona, ASU, Colorado and Utah
By Joey Loose
1. Kansas
Blue Blood Kansas won the national title just eighteen months ago and have appeared in every NCAA Tournament since 1990. There’s no questioning Bill Self’s acumen as a head coach, as he’s established himself perhaps as the greatest active head coach in this sport. Kansas has earned a Top 4 seed in the Big Dance for each of their last 22 trips and are regularly considered one of the top contenders in the nation.
Self lands 5-star recruits and high-profile transfers. Kansas may lose a game or two unexpectedly each seasons, but which program doesn’t have bumps in the road? The Jayhawks have won nearly every Big 12 regular season title since Self was hired in 2003 and a few changes in the league’s makeup isn’t going to affect this program at all.
Replacing Oklahoma and Texas with Arizona and Houston will create an interesting new challenge for Kansas, but outside of that this league has become somewhat watered down for the likes of Kansas. For the Jayhawks, there might be less regular challenge on that conference schedule and you’d expect even more success in the years to come from the Jayhawks.
Next. Ranking all 18 programs in future ACC. dark
Things are not changing in Lawrence anytime soon. Kansas is the Big 12’s premier basketball program until someone proves otherwise. Even after Baylor won the national title (and Houston made that same Final Four), Kansas responded with a title of their own a year later. One of the nation’s elite programs will continue to churn out elite talent, there simply is no question about it.