Team of the week

Christian Royston: Baylor

With high-ranked teams losing left and right, Baylor has been a team that has stayed locked in during the most important time of the season.

Not only did the Bears survive on the road against a hot TCU team, they also took down a top-10 Jayhawk team to leapfrog them in the rankings. The wins were also decisive which further proves Baylor as a top team in the Big 12.

Putting away teams at this point in the season is all you can ask for, especially in the Big 12. As the Big 12 Tournament inches closer, Baylor did its job to fight for a good seed.

Logan Shanks: BYU

It is hard not to shout out a team that went on the road to one of the toughest environments and upset a top-10 team. What BYU did in Allen Fieldhouse was special, 47 points in the second half including a 13-5 run capped off one of its best upsets of the season.

Follow that up with an 11-point win at home over TCU, and the Cougars are heading into the final week of Big 12 play winning five of their last seven. They are living off of high-scoring offense that has been present all season and making a case to be one of the most feared teams in the conference tournament.

In a tight race for the fourth seed in the Big 12 Tournament, BYU has put itself in a solid position over other teams like Kansas and Texas Tech. The Cougars’ pair of wins put them over 20 wins for their first year in the Big 12 and firmly cemented them as a contender for a double bye in the conference tournament.

Rankings

Royston

1. Houston (26-3, 13-3)
2. Iowa State (23-6, 12-4)
3. Baylor (22-8, 11-6)
4. BYU (21-8, 9-7)
5. Kansas (21-8, 9-7)
6. Texas Tech (20-9, 9-7)
7. Texas (19-11, 8-9)
8. TCU (19-10, 8-8)
9. Oklahoma (19-10, 7-9)
10. Kansas State (17-12, 7-9)
11. UCF (15-13, 6-10)
12. Cincinnati (17-12, 6-10)
13. West Virginia (9-20, 4-12)
14. Oklahoma State (12-17, 4-12)

Shanks

1. Houston (26-3, 13-3)
2. Baylor (22-8, 11-6)
3. Iowa State (23-6, 12-4)
4. BYU (21-8, 9-7)
5. Texas Tech (20-9, 9-7)
6. Kansas (21-8, 9-7)
7. TCU (19-10, 8-8)
8. Texas (19-11, 8-9)
9. Kansas State (17-12, 7-9)
10. Oklahoma (19-10, 7-9)
11. Cincinnati (17-12, 6-9)
12. UCF (15-13, 6-9)
13. West Virginia (9-20, 4-12)
14. Oklahoma State (12-17, 4-12)

Ranking highlights

Royston

The Big 12 has started to shake out as the season comes to an end. Houston, Iowa State and Baylor are the clear top three, but the biggest surprise has been Kansas’ plummet.

After a week with no wins, the Jayhawks dropped seven spots in the rankings and are not looking like contenders at this point in the season. The surprising losses are starting to look less and less surprising as the Jayhawks further prove each week just how mid they are this season.

BYU is a team that is making a push at a crucial point in the season. The Cougars are the only team that has beaten Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse this season, which is enough for them to leapfrog the Jayhawks.

One last shakeup in my rankings was my overconfidence in TCU. I honestly thought TCU was a good team that was getting hot at the right time. However, the Horned Frogs let me down in two separate chances at upset wins. I don’t blame them for dropping games against BYU and Baylor, who look like competitors right now, but having one win in two weeks is not enough to fall in the top five of my rankings.

Shanks

In terms of the three teams that sit at 9-7 in the conference, BYU has entered as my new favorite. But don’t get me wrong, Texas Tech and Kansas can still make a run in the tournament but they’ll need to prove themselves in the second round for them to get any farther. The Jayhawks have fallen off recently going 2-3 in its last five games, but I don’t think we can ever count them out.

Houston, Baylor and Iowa State are my favorites to win the upcoming conference tournament. The defense from the Cougars and the Cyclones should travel well at a neutral site the same way it has in road matchups, and the Bears have consistently been one of the best offenses in the conference.

To put the spotlight more on Houston, the Cougars have shown a valuable trait to adapt mid-game which has kept them atop the Big 12. In their last game against Oklahoma, the Cougars relied more on their offense, as seen in the last-second shot to avoid the upset. But they have also consistently had one of the best defenses in the league, as their game against the Sooners was the only one where they have allowed more than 78 points.

Oklahoma was dealt a bad hand this week, having to play two of the best teams in the conference and now falling to 1-4 in its last five. The same goes for TCU, both teams looking to bolster their resume for an NCAA Tournament bid.