Big 12 Best Conference in the Country?

D

DJL

Well-Known Member
I've been hearing a lot of talking heads call the Big 12 the best team in the country. Do you agree?

Kansas- Obviously a solid team at the top
Texas- Better then most thought, but still unclear how good they really are.
ISU- A top 15-20 team, unless they play at West Virginia
KSU- A fringe top 25 team
Oklahoma- A fringe top 25 team
Okie State- Season going down the drain. Could end up in the NIT. But we will call them a bubble team
WVU- Most likely an NIT team
Baylor- Season is in the trash, NIT.
Texas Tech- Garbage
TCU- Worse than Garbage

I guess I wonder why they are getting so much love? Not saying the Big 10 is much better, but I would take the top 5 in the Big 10 over the top 5 in the Big 12. It's all subjective, and obviously, I'm a bit of a homer.
 
IMO it's a carryover from expectations vs reality. Osu and Baylor have legit talent but the coaching sucks. Wvu is playing much better and are potentially in the dance with a good finish (lunardi has them on the bubble). Teams everybody thought would suck are actually pretty good (ut, ksu, isu) ku is back to being ku.

Basically everybody thinks 8 of the 10 teams aren't that bad and tt isn't horrible. Compares well with other leagues. I don't think it's better than the b1g but I don't think it's any worse.
 
Much more equal than last year. Both leagues are really good, though. People get way too caught up in comparing the two.
 
on neutral courts:
Kansas > MSU now but not when MSU is fully healthy. Imbiid is ailing too
Texas < UM
ISU push Iowa. I know they beat us, but on a neutral court I like our chances 6 of 10x
KSU < Wisc
Oklahoma > OSU.
Okie State < Minnesota
WVU > NW
Baylor < IU
Texas Tech < Neb, PU
TCU < IL, PSU

Homer goggles on
 
I've been hearing it so much I almost started believing it was true. I do think the B12 is a very good conference, but when you put them side by side, the B1G is better. KU is very good, and can beat anybody, but Michigan State is better, more mature. Then you get to the 2nd best teams, and Michigan would wax Texas on a neutral floor in my opinion. Next you have Iowa/ISU, you get the idea.

The bottom of the B1G is much stronger than the B12, and we even have more teams. As I said above, I think the B12 is good, but I would slot them as the 2nd best conference behind the B1G. I think the equality in the conference is hurting our perception more than helping it. There are no TCU's and Texas Tech's in our league.
 
BryceC said:
IMO it's a carryover from expectations vs reality. Osu and Baylor have legit talent but the coaching sucks. Wvu is playing much better and are potentially in the dance with a good finish (lunardi has them on the bubble). Teams everybody thought would suck are actually pretty good (ut, ksu, isu) ku is back to being ku.

Basically everybody thinks 8 of the 10 teams aren't that bad and tt isn't horrible. Compares well with other leagues. I don't think it's better than the b1g but I don't think it's any worse.
Click to expand...

Who thought those 3 teams would "suck" this year?
 
HawkinGoferLand said:
on neutral courts:
Kansas > MSU now but not when MSU is fully healthy. Imbiid is ailing too
Texas < UM
ISU push Iowa. I know they beat us, but on a neutral court I like our chances 6 of 10x
KSU < Wisc
Oklahoma > OSU.
Okie State < Minnesota
WVU > NW
Baylor < IU
Texas Tech < Neb, PU
TCU < IL, PSU

Homer goggles on
Click to expand...

If you like Iowa over ISU 6/10 on a neutral court why is it a push?
 
If you want to know the best conference in the country--for ANY sport--travel on over to CyFan. They got the scoop over there, fer sure fer sure.
 
I also think there is something to be said for the toughness of the road games in the 2 conferences. In most of the Big 12 arenas outside of KU and ISU, you see a ton of empty seats. I was shocked to see OSU have so many empty seats when the were playing the Clones. Not to say every Big 10 arena is full, but generally speaking, they are much tougher crowds than the empty arenas across the Big 12.

Edit: I guess I should give Kansas State some props too. But to further my point. In 2013, of the top 30 attendance leaders in college basketball, 9 of them were from the Big 10, and 3 from the Big 12. The Big 10 had 3 schools in the top 10, to only 1 (Kansas) for the Big 12.
http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketball_RB/Reports/attend/2013.pdf
 
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HawkinGoferLand said:
on neutral courts:
Kansas > MSU now but not when MSU is fully healthy. Imbiid is ailing too
Texas < UM
ISU push Iowa. I know they beat us, but on a neutral court I like our chances 6 of 10x
KSU < Wisc
Oklahoma > OSU.
Okie State < Minnesota
WVU > NW
Baylor < IU
Texas Tech < Neb, PU
TCU < IL, PSU

Homer goggles on
Click to expand...

I think this is pretty accurate, although I think KSU might be better than Wisconsin because of the matchup. I'm not sure they could handle Gipson inside, and Foster is one of the best guards in the country. That'd be an interesting game to see, IMO.
 
B10 is the best, but the B12 is a solid number two. The bottom of the B12 is much better than most people thought it would be going into the season.
 
tm3308 said:
Only Texas was predicted to be bad/not good. They were picked to finish 8th in the conference, while ISU and KSU were 4th and 5th, respectively.
Click to expand...

Most people thought ISU and KSU, while the 4th/5th best teams in the league would be bubble teams at best. All the offseason talk of UT was if Barnes would be fired. All of the teams have been in the top 25 at times and all will easily be in the tourney barring a meltdown.

The only team that is an outlier between both conferences is TCU. They are awful. However when national pundits look at the conferences they don't attempt to descern the merits of TT vs. PSU. They are both just teams good enough to jump up and beat somebody but just not that good either.

I think the reason that the Big 12 gets some benefit of the doubt from national guys like Rothstein and Goodman is that the league is a round robin, and they are looking at 6 of 10 teams getting in, and the Big 10 looks like 6 of 12. Possibly 5 each but I think both will get six as I think Minny will do enough to get in, and WVU or OSU will still do enough to get in.

Lunardi's latest bracketology has the Big 12 with the following seeds: 2, 3, 6, 6, 8, 9
They have the Big 10 at : 3, 3, 4, 5, 5, 11

Really not a whole lot of separation there especially considering the Big 12 only has 10 teams.
 
HawkeyeMike23 said:
B10 is the best, but the B12 is a solid number two. The bottom of the B12 is much better than most people thought it would be going into the season.
Click to expand...
Do you mean bottom of the Big 10 is much better than most people thought it would be? I can't imagine you meant TCU and TT. They are horrible.
 
The Big 12 was not that good last year outside of KU and the 4th place BIG team picked them off in the tournament. I don't really see a whole lot different this season outside of Texas does look to be a team this season, not individuals and as someone said above, the jury may still be out on them.

When I look at the conference as a whole, I don't see it as tough top to bottom, some may argue with the WVU against ISU game the other day, but I think that speaks to how weak it is on the top after KU, but even they are susceptible being beaten on the road by one of the "better" teams in Texas and losing at KSU the other night. I see a lot of incompleteness like the American conference. If someone would have told me early on Cincy would be one of the better teams, I would laugh. They still don't look like that great of a team and the team everyone thought would win, Louisville, is just okay.

As much basketball as I have watched this year, the ACC has probably stuck out the most, not because of Syracuse and Duke, but UNC not knowing what team will show, the unbalanced schedule that makes Virginia look a whole lot better than they are, along with Pitt. The SEC is not good top to bottom as it never is. Pac 12 is just there, Arizona will win that going away even though they lost, which was the best thing for them.

I don't think there are too many great teams this year and as good as Syracuse's record is, it hasn't been easy so do they lose in the tournament again, or go a long way?

The best teams, when all parts are healthy are debatable, but there are no elite teams or conferences.
 
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