Big 12 Basketball: Iowa State, TCU, Texas Tech rise in latest power rankings

1. Kansas (15-2, 3-1)

There’s no questioning that Kansas is one of the nation’s best basketball programs. An unquestioned Blue Blood, the Jayhawks just cut down the nets in 2022 and have won more Big 12 titles than some can count. Bill Self’s squad entered this season with high expectations fresh off a busy and productive offseason, giving the Jayhawks what’s certainly the best roster in this very deep conference.

Those playmakers have been excellent, though Kansas hasn’t exactly been perfect. They lost by 14 points to Marquette during the Maui Invitational, but the good has certainly outweighed the bad. During nonconference play, the Jayhawks got impressive wins over Kentucky, Tennessee, and Connecticut, teams all among the Top 10 in the nation. They lost a head scratcher at UCF early in conference play, but took care of business at home against TCU and Oklahoma and have looked dominant.

Dajuan Harris Jr. is one of the nation’s best point guards, Kevin McCullar Jr. has been outstanding all over the court, and the Jayhawks also added a former All-American center in Hunter Dickinson, who has transitioned nicely from Michigan. Kansas has the talent to win the national title this season, but we’re weeks away from those kinds of conversations. For now, they’re the likely favorite in many of their conference games, though they’re liable to be upended away from home in conference play as well.

We’ve seen the fourteen teams in the Big 12 play just four conference games against one another. It’s still too early for conclusions to be made about these teams, though we’re getting a fairer idea about where these teams stand. Do you agree with the order we’ve ranked these teams? Know that a lot could change in the important weeks of basketball that beckon ahead.