— By Dave Weekley
Time for another Big 12 Snapshot and as we head to the final week of January, COVID-19 remains one of the biggest story in this conference and every other conference in the country.
Questions remain if a complete regular season schedule will, or should, be played. COVID’s impact on the Big 12 Tournament is yet to be determined, however the NCAA has now confirmed that its tournament will take place in one location — Indianapolis.
As the games sporadically continue, how teams react following COVID pauses are impacting the conference standings. WVU played its first game in two weeks at K-State on Saturday. Texas Tech is scheduled to come off a long COVID pause when they travel to West Virginia on Monday night. Iowa State returns this week after a conference-long four-game COVID pause.
It’s a busy week in the Big 12, so lets check out our latest Snapshot, noting again they we use a fantasy sports-style tier format, rather than conventional standings or power rankings.
TIER ONE; (potential top four NCAA Tournament seeds)
BAYLOR BEARS
Baylor continues to be the only undefeated team in the Big 12 at 14-0 and a perfect 7-0 in league play. However, as the winning streak extends, the pressure that BU feels each time out will keep building. For example, at Oklahoma State on Saturday with the Cowboys missing freshman star Cade Cunningham, the Bears actually trailed at the under-12 media timeout of the second half, 50-48, before pulling away 81-66. Baylor currently remains the Big 12’s best bet for one its teams to reach the Final Four, but a loss or two before the Bears get to Indianapolis isn’t out of the question, as conference road tests at Texas, at Oklahoma, at WVU and at Kansas are looming just over the horizon.
TEXAS LONGHORNS
Texas stays in Tier One this week, despite getting an incomplete on their Snapshot report card. The Longhorns didn’t play any games last week, after COVID issues scraped a pair of road tests at Iowa State and at TCU. Texas has been dealing with COVID issues of their own; Brock Cunningham didn’t play in their most recent game with K-State and Kai Jones and freshman Greg Brown were also sidelined, reportedly due to contact tracing. The Longhorns now begin a rugged three-game stretch that starts Tuesday night at Oklahoma, continues in Lexington next Saturday night with a primetime ESPN game with talented, but streaky Kentucky in the Big 12-SEC Challenge before hosting Baylor on February second.
OKLAHOMA SOONERS
Oklahoma jumps up into Tier One status, on the heels of their 75-68 win over Kansas. Don’t look now, but OU is 9-4, alone in third place in the Big 12 at 5-3 and have a pair of wins against teams in the Top 10 (don’t forget about the Sooners’ 75-71 win over WVU). De’Vion Harmon was big in the upset of KU, tying his season-high with 22 points. This game featured a 14-0 OU run in the first half and Oklahoma won the battle of the boards, 36-25. Oklahoma visits Texas on Tuesday and will likely be underdogs again but consider; OU has beaten UT in two of the last three times they have met, including a 10-point victory in Austin last year.
KANSAS JAYHAWKS
What to make of Kansas is an open question at the moment. After losing to Oklahoma, KU has dropped three in a row for the first time since 2013. It wasn’t as if the Jayhawks didn’t have their chances in Norman, they trailed by just a point at the half, were down just four at the under-four minute media timeout, but never really threatened after that. Marcus Garrett, did his part with 21 points and 12 boards, but David McCormack — who seems to be the lightening rod for critics of this team right now — was mostly on the bench down the stretch. At 4-4 in league play, KU can just about forget the regular season conference title. Kansas hosts TCU on Thursday; just what the doctor ordered for a team needing some confidence. However, the Jayhawks at are Tennessee next Saturday for the Big 12-SEC Challenge — and the potential is there for a very long night for Bill Self.
TIER TWO; (post-season tournament (NCAA and NIT) contenders)
WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEERS
West Virginia seems to flow between Tier One and Tier Two status in our Snapshot. If the Mountaineers get comfortably above five hundred in league play, we will return them to our top tier. WVU got back to 3-3 in the Big 12 with an easy 69-47 win at K-State on Saturday in a game that shook the rust off a Mountaineer squad that hadn’t played a game in two weeks. It was easy for West Virginia to lose focus in a game like this, as Kansas State seemed more inclined to turn the basketball over than shoot at the basket. West Virginia turned 28 KSU turnovers — most ever for a Bruce Weber coached team — into 26 points. Deuce McBride had 18 points on a day when he was shifted to the shooting guard slot in Bob Huggins’ juggled starting five. WVU is expected to get a much tougher test against Texas Tech Monday night in Morgantown.
TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS
If you thinking it’s been a while since you’ve seen Texas Tech on the court, you’re right. Its been eight days since TTU’s 68-60 loss to Baylor in Lubbock. The Red Raiders had games at TCU and most recently with Iowa State postponed due to COVID and now head for a showdown with WVU in Morgantown on Monday night, a place where they have won just once since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12. The fact that WVU got a chance to shake off its own COVID-caused pause in a romp at K-State should provide a big advantage in this game with TTU. The journey to WVU is — per miles — the longest road trip of the year for Texas Tech and they will also be on the road for their game in the Big 12-SEC Challenge, at LSU, against a group of Tigers who are 8-1 at home so far this season.
OKLAHOMA STATE
Oklahoma State begins the week coming off a home loss to Baylor, but questions remain about Cade Cunningham’s status for Monday night’s game against Iowa State. Cunningham was available for pre-game warmups prior to the game against Baylor, but didn’t play, due to COVID protocol. OSU’s performance against undefeated BU was still impressive in the loss, when you consider the Cowboys had just eight available players and hadn’t practiced for an entire week until the day before the game. Oklahoma State will host Arkansas in the Big 12-SEC Challenge in a meeting of former SWC rivals.
TIER THREE: (cellar dwellers)
TCU HORNED FROGS
We can’t let TCU out of the Tier Three basement until we have a reason to do so. The Frogs had their most recent three scheduled games postponed due to COVID, but we are still recalling the previous stretch of three games in which TCU was blown out by an average of 21 points. If you think the road is getting any easier for Jamie Dixon and his Frogs, think again. TCU is at Kansas on Thursday night to face a team fired up about their first three-game losing streak in eight years. Follow that up with a road trip to Mizzou to take on the nationally ranked Tigers, who have already beaten Illinois and Oregon at home. Good luck with that.
KANSAS STATE WILDCATS
It’s very hard to find good things to say about Kansas State basketball right now. Thankfully, our Big 12 Snapshot doesn’t have to worry about things like soothing bruised egos. When you get right down to it, by its very nature, basketball is a relatively simple game; put the ball in the basket. This is something that has been sorely lacking for K-State recently. KSU managed just 47 points in a home loss to WVU, after scoring only 50 points in a blowout defeat to Oklahoma. In the first half of the loss to West Virginia, the Wildcats managed to have more turnovers (18) than points (17). Being an offensively-challenged team is not a good thing when you go up against someone like Baylor and that’s up next for Kansas State — on the road — on Tuesday night.
IOWA STATE CYCLONES
Iowa State gets a chance to get back on the court for the first time since January ninth, when host Oklahoma State on Monday night. Iowa State remains the only team in the Big 12 without a conference win (0-5) and are coming off a stretch of four straight league games postponed by COVID. ISU coach Steve Prohm said on Friday that they have ten scholarship players available for the game with OSU, but if COVID protocols drop that number to six scholarship players (the Big 12 minimum to compete) there will be four walk-ons also ready to play. Whoever is available to play for ISU, they need to tighten things up on both ends of the floor. ISU is the last in Big 12 scoring offense, offensive rebounds per game, assists, assist/turnover ratio, total rebounding, etc. You get the picture, ISU is bad, really bad.