Busting Brackets
Fansided

Big 12 Basketball: Ranking all 16 programs after adding Arizona, ASU, Colorado and Utah

By Joey Loose

Apr 3, 2021; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Houston Cougars guard Marcus Sasser (0) shoots the ball against Baylor Bears guard Matthew Mayer (24) and guard Jared Butler (12) during the second half in the national semifinals of the Final Four of the 2021 NCAA Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 3, 2021; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Houston Cougars guard Marcus Sasser (0) shoots the ball against Baylor Bears guard Matthew Mayer (24) and guard Jared Butler (12) during the second half in the national semifinals of the Final Four of the 2021 NCAA Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
8 of 17
Next
Big 12 Basketball Iowa State Cyclones forward Tre King Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
Big 12 Basketball Iowa State Cyclones forward Tre King Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

10. Iowa State

After finishing just 2-22 back in 2021, Iowa State brought him former assistant T. J. Otzelberger and has been a much improved program these last two seasons. The Cyclones have actually been in nine of the last eleven NCAA Tournaments and are a pretty solid program, including a trip to the Sweet Sixteen in 2022 in Otzelberger’s first season as head coach.

Iowa State has showed that they belong in this league in recent years, but it’s not an easy task for anyone. In actuality, the Cyclones haven’t finished above .500 in conference play in seven years, despite making three trips to the Big Dance in that stretch. There’s no mistaking that Otzelberger and his predecessors have had success with this program, but consistency has been an issue.

Discounting that atrocious season, the Cyclones have been in decent shape in the Big 12, but how does that change with new members and a few departures? Iowa State has won enough of these big-time matchups to get into the national spotlight and that’s exactly what we expect Otzelberger to continue to do in the years ahead. He’s brought talented basketball players to Ames, both as head coach and assistant coach, and should continue that trend.

Compared to some of the programs ranked below them today, Iowa State has had that consistency in making the Big Dance, but there hasn’t really been a season in recent memory where we could call Iowa State elite. They can absolutely beat teams like Arizona and Kansas, but can they beat them enough to take home a conference crown? That’s a different story.

Home/Big 12