Before the 2024-25 college basketball season tipped off, the Big 12 was touting itself as the best men’s basketball conference in the country.
And there was evidence to back it up.
In the preseason AP Top 25 Poll, the Big 12 had five teams in the top 10: No. 1 Kansas, No. 4 Houston, No. 5 Iowa State, No. 8 Baylor and No. 10 Arizona.
“A lot of leagues are top heavy but they’re also bottom heavy,” Kansas coach Bill Self said at Big 12 media day in October. “This league has no bottom. No matter where you go, winning on the road or not winning on the road will not be considered an upset in coaches’ minds.”
That might be the case, but in order to rank as the best conference in the country, you have to prove it with nonconference victories over Power 4 opponents from the SEC, Big Ten and ACC. Not to mention the Big East and WCC.
Limited Nonconference Opportunities
With a 20-game conference schedule this season — and thus a shortened nonconference slate — the Big 12 needs to take advantage of every nonconference game vs. a top-ranked opponent.
And they’re not.
No. 1 Kansas (7-2) lost twice this week, and neither game was particularly close. The Jayhawks lost to unranked Creighton 76-63 on Wednesday and unranked Missouri 76-67 on Sunday.
But Kansas wasn’t the only Big 12 team to miss an opportunity to improve the conference’s standing in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament committee. Utah lost a home game to Saint Mary’s where they trailed by 17 at halftime; Kansas State got blown out by St. John’s; and No. 15 Baylor lost to a struggling UConn team to fall to 5-3 on the season.
But wait, there’s more.
No. 14 Cincinnati lost to unranked Villanova and BYU got blown out by Providence.
All told, the Big 12 went 14-9 this past week. No. 6 Iowa State had the only win over a ranked opponent, an impressive 81-70 win over No. 5 Marquette.
SEC Off To Hot Start
According to KenPom’s ratings, the SEC is clearly the best basketball conference in the country through the first month of the season. KenPom rates Auburn No. 1, Tennessee No. 2, Alabama No. 7, Florida No. 8 and Kentucky No. 10.
Houston (5-3) continues to be the top-ranked Big 12 team in KenPom’s ratings at No. 5.
But the Cougars are out of nonconference opportunities. They lost to Auburn and Alabama, wins that would have elevated both Houston and the Big 12. The Cougars have three low-major games scheduled between now and their Big 12 opener vs. Oklahoma State on Dec. 30.
NCAA Rankings Favor Big Ten
How will the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee view the Big 12’s nonconference losses when it comes time to seed the 2025 NCAA Tournament?
The latest NCAA NET Rankings are revealing. The Big 12 has two teams in the top 10 — No. 8 Houston and No. 9 Iowa State. The only other team in the top 25 is Kansas at No. 17.
The SEC has five teams in the top 10 and seven teams in the top 22.
But the deepest conference in the country is clearly the Big Ten. They have NINE teams in the top 27 of the NET Rankings: No. 12 Illinois, No. 13 Maryland, No. 14 UCLA, No. 15 Oregon, No. 18 Penn State, No. 21 Ohio State, No. 23 Michigan, No. 26 Purdue and No. 27 Michigan State.
Stay tuned for Saturday, which will be a huge day for the Big 12: Arizona faces UCLA; Arizona State plays Florida; and Oklahoma State plays unbeaten Oklahoma. A Big 12 sweep would get the “best conference in the country” back on track.
