WBB: Big 12 Power Rankings, Round 6

(1) Baylor (Last Week: 1)

11-0 Conference, 22-1 Overall

Last Week	at Oklahoma State W 69-52	at Texas W 70-68
This Week	vs Oklahoma	vs West Virginia

Baylor continues to win. Texas gave us the best challenge to date, which I honestly expected given our previous lopsided victory as well as their leading player getting a season-ending injury while playing us. Regardless, a win is a win and I'll take it, no matter how close.

(2) Oklahoma (Last Week: 2)

9-2 Conference, 15-7 Overall

Last Week	vs Iowa State W 75-66	vs Kansas State W 66-58
This Week	at Baylor	vs TCU

Oklahoma responded to a rough week by firing off two wins at home. They are doing their best to show that the previous week was a fluke and that this team is ready to play and compete for the conference (starting Wednesday).

(3) TCU (Last Week: 3)

6-5 Conference, 14-8 Overall

Last Week	at West Virginia L 71-76	vs Texas Tech W 71-60
This Week	at Kansas State	at Oklahoma

While TCU lost a close game to West Virginia, the way West Virginia has been playing at home makes it hard for me to penalize TCU too much. Plus, six teams split their games this week and TCU still has a winning conference record, which at this point only four teams can claim.

(4) Iowa State (Last Week: 5)

6-5 Conference, 15-7 Overall

Last Week	at Oklahoma L 66-75	vs West Virginia W 61-43
This Week	at Texas Tech	at Oklahoma State

Iowa State also responded to a rougher week by picking up a win against West Virginia. While they did lose to Oklahoma, it was at Oklahoma and having a winning conference record helps bubble them up.

(5) West Virginia (Last Week: 6)

4-7 Conference, 14-9

Last Week	vs TCU W 76-71	at Iowa State L 43-61
This Week	vs Kansas	at Baylor

West Virginia continued their great home play by winning over a solid TCU team. Unfortunately, they had to follow that up with going on the road to another team famous for playing great at home and lost to Iowa State. This is the point in the ranking where 5-9 are pretty much interchangeable and all five teams share the same conference record.

(6) Texas (Last Week: 4)

4-7 Conference, 15-7 Overall

Last Week	at Kansas State L 57-66	vs Baylor L 68-70
This Week	at Oklahoma State	at Kansas

After picking up their first two conference wins, Texas has gone 2-7. They played a great game against Baylor and gave us a bit of a scare, but still are not the same team that they were pre-conference.

(7) Oklahoma State (Last Week: 8)

4-7 Conference, 14-8 Overall

Last Week	vs Baylor L 52-69	at Kansas W 65-57
This Week	vs Texas	vs Iowa State

Oklahoma State got run over by the Baylor train and then went to Lawrence and picked up the win over Kansas.

(8) Kansas State (Last Week: 9)

4-7 Conference, 14-8 Overall

Last Week	vs Texas W 66-57	at Oklahoma L 58-66
This Week	vs TCU	vs Texas Tech

If this had been a few weeks ago, a win over Texas would have helped out Kansas State more. Unfortunately, at this point Kansas State and Texas share the same conference record. Kansas State followed up their win with a loss to a team trying to prove their two losses were flukes.

(9) Kansas (Last Week: 7)

4-7 Conference,  13-11 Overall

Last Week	vs Texas Tech W 71-67	vs Oklahoma State L 57-65
This Week	at West Virginia	vs Texas

Kansas fell in the rankings not because of anything in particular they did but because of the group of five, they had the weakest win (Texas Tech).

(10) Texas Tech (Last Week: 10)

3-8 Conference, 13-10 Overall

Last Week	at Kansas L 67-71	at TCU L 60-71
This Week	vs Iowa State	at Kansas State

Texas Tech's woes continue.

Thoughts

Several times I have commented about this being a down year for the Big 12 and I think that the glut of teams with the same record are below .500 speaks to this fact. At this time, only three teams have an RPI inside 40, which is a good general barometer for determining at-large bids. Iowa State has an RPI of 42 and is in the best position to move up. However, unlike years past, I think it would not be a stretch to see the Big 12 only send 3-4 teams to the tournament this year.

On the flip side, only one team, Texas Tech, has an RPI outside 70, so I wouldn't be shocked to see a bunch of teams in post-season play, just the majority making the NIT.

Team Data

Team	RPI	Conf.	Overall
Baylor	3	11-0	22-1
Oklahoma	22	9-2	15-7
Texas	29	4-7	15-7
Iowa State	42	6-5	15-7
Kansas State	54	4-7	14-8
West Virginia	63	4-7	14-9
TCU	66	6-5	14-8
Oklahoma State	68	4-7	14-8
Kansas	70	4-7	13-11
Texas Tech	126	3-8	13-10