2017-18 Big 12 Conference Men’s Basketball Prediction
October 25, 2017
Welcome back to another conference prediction for this upcoming College Basketball season! The last prediction I did was on the Big East and now I will be tackling the Big 12. The Big 12 is full of talent throughout the conference and they placed 6 teams into the tournament last season. With powerhouses like Kansas and West Virginia, the Big 12 brings some major talent into not only March Madness, but into the draft as well. The Big 12 carried #1 seeded Kansas, who made it to the Elite 8, #5 Seed Iowa State, #4 Seed West Virginia, and #3 Seed Baylor, who all made it to the Sweet 16, #10 Seed Oklahoma State, who nearly upset #7 Michigan, and #11 Seed Kansas State. The Big 12 has really slacked on recruiting this year. Obviously a program like Kansas pulls in at least one or two huge recruits, but besides them only Iowa State went out and got 2 Top 100 recruits (ESPN) for this season. With all the talent in this conference let’s check out my predictions for the Big 12 this season.
| Rank | School Name | Overall Record | Conference Record |
| 1 | Kansas | 29-2 | 17-1 |
| 2 | Iowa State | 24-5 | 14-4 |
| 3 | Baylor | 22-8 | 13-5 |
| 4 | West Virginia | 21-8 | 13-5 |
| 5 | Oklahoma State | 17-13 | 9-9 |
| 6 | Kansas State | 18-12 | 9-9 |
| 7 | TCU | 16-14 | 7-11 |
| 8 | Texas | 11-19 | 4-14 |
| 9 | Texas Tech | 10-19 | 3-15 |
| 10 | Oklahoma | 7-21 | 2-16 |
Here are a few quick notes on reasons why I have wins and losses the way they are.
#1 Kansas Jayhawks
Coach: Bill Self
The Jayhawks made it to the Elite 8 last year as the #1 Seed in the Midwest Region and ended up falling to #3 Oregon. The team was incredibly deep as well as this year’s team is. The team did lose both G Frank Mason Jr. and F Josh Jackson to the NBA Draft, but retained now senior G Devonte’ Graham, who played 35 mpg last year and was the third leading scorer on the Jayhawks, only trailing Jackson and Mason Jr. They will add #13 Freshman in the Class of 2017 in Billy Preston, who will look to be a big piece to help Bill Self and the Jayhawks go for not only the Big 12 but the National Title.
#2 Iowa State Cyclones
Coach: Steve Prohm
Iowa State will take on an interesting look this season. The Cyclones had a great season last year and were a 5 seed in the Midwest region who lost in the Round of 32. While the team did lose 4 starters and their top 4 scorers in Monte Morris, Nazareth Mitrou-Long, Deonte Burton, and Matt Thomas, the team is in a great system with Coach Prohm, and had the second best recruiting class in the Big 12. They will add to the mix two ESPN Top 100 4-star recruits in G Lindell Wigginton and F Terrence Lewis. Those two players will look to get big minutes along with senior G Donovan Jackson and lead the Cyclones to 2nd in the Big 12.
#3 Baylor Bears
Coach: Scott Drew
The Baylor Bears made a deep run into March Madness last season as a #3 seed in the East region. They played great until they ran into cinderella story South Carolina in the Sweet 16. They were outright dominated in that game losing 70-50. Baylor has had a lot of time to think about that. They return two of their top 4 scorers in G Manu Lecomte and 7’0” F Jo Luai-Acuil Jr., and add two redshirt freshman from the class of 2016 in G Tyson Jolly and F Mark Vital. Baylor returns a majority of their roster and is looking to make a deep run this season as a more underrated seed in this year’s tournament.
#4 West Virginia Mountaineers
Coach: Bob Huggins
West Virginia had a solid squad last season and they return a majority of last year’s roster. Last year they were the #4 Seed in the West region. They made a run to the Sweet 16 before falling to National Runner-up Gonzaga by 3 points. They will bring back their top two scorers in minute leader G Jevon Carter and F Esa Ahmad. They add two freshman in G Brandon Knapper and F Teddy Allen. Huggins runs this team different than most in the country, where he goes deep into his bench and many players will receive in between 10-15 minutes per game with one or two guys eclipsing 30+ minutes per game. Seeing that a majority of the team is returning it will be up to the guys who get a bump in minutes to see where this season goes.
#5 Oklahoma State Cowboys
Coach: Mike Boynton
Finishing 5th in the Big 12 last year, the Cowboys made the Big Dance as the #10 seed in the Midwest region squaring off against #7 Seed Michigan. The Cowboys played great in that game and lost 92-91 to a team which was 2 points from making the Elite 8. OSU will bring in new head coach Mike Boynton, who will hopefully bring this team to a good run in his first year. They do lose top scorer G Jawon Evans to the NBA Draft, but retain G Jeffrey Carroll and F Mitchell Solomon. Carroll could be a top player in the Big 12 this year, as he scored 17.5 points trailing Evans. They add Top 100 Freshman G Zack Dawson. They will have a decent season and could be one of the more underlooked teams come March.
#6 Kansas State Wildcats
Coach: Bruce Weber
Kansas State finished 6th in the conference last season and made the tournament as the #11 seed in the South region losing their first game to #6 seed Cincinnati. This team will bring back a majority of their roster from last season and also return 2nd and 3rd leading scorers from last year in G Kamau Stokes and G Barry Brown. The Wildcats add 3-star recruit G Mike McGuirl and hope he will give some good play in his minutes. K-State is in a good conference and are a good team I see them having a shot at dancing in March.
#7 TCU Horned Frogs
Coach: Jamie Dixon
The Horned Frogs are looking to bounce back from a 6-12 conference finish last season. TCU brings in a new head coach from University of Pittsburgh, Jamie Dixon, to lead the program to an NCAA tournament birth. Very good news for TCU is it returns not only a majority of the whole team from last season, but returns its Starting 5 and 6th man who were their top 6 scorers. TCU will lean on F Vladimir Brodziansky, G Kenrich Williams, and G Alex Robinson as their big 3 scorers. They pickup Freshman 4-star G R.J. Nembhard and C Kevin Samuel to help add some depth to the team. It will be interesting to see what Coach Dixon can accomplish, and I think this team has a shot at making the tourney putting 7 teams from the Big 12 into March Madness.
#8 Texas Longhorns
Coach: Shaka Smart
Texas struggled last season which lead to a coaching change after a 4-14 finish in the Big 12 and last in the conference. This team lost their top two scorers in Tevin Mack and Jarrett Allen from last year in a program full of woes. But on the bright side, not only did Texas pickup Shaka Smart, one of the best coaches in the nation, but they also add Top 5 projected pick in the NBA Draft C Mohamed Bamba. Bamba will be a starter and is looking to dominate in the Big 12. He stands at 7’0” tall with a 7’9” wingspan, which is larger than that of Rudy Gobert’s. Texas does return their third top scorer in G Andrew Jones. He and Bamba will look to revive what was a tough season to watch for the Longhorns a year ago.
#9 Texas Tech Red Raiders
Coach: Chris Beard
Texas Tech struggled a little last season going 6-12 in conference play and are looking to turn that around this season. They are returning their top two scorers G Keenan Evans and F Zach Smith, who will look to continue their success. This will be an important year for Coach Chris Beard as last year there was speculation that he was on the hot seat. While this team holds a good amount of Seniors, it has 7 Freshman on its roster for this season. Hopefully those guys can help right away, if not it’ll be another tough season for the Red Raiders.
#10 Oklahoma Sooners
Coach: Lon Kruger
The Sooners had a tough year last year and I believe will have a really tough year this year. They not only finished 9th last season, but also lost Jordan Woodard and Kristian Doolittle. They return 2nd and 3rd scorers G Kameron McGusty and G Rashard Odomes, while also adding 5-star Freshman G Trae Young. Hopefully those three can lead Oklahoma to the big dance but it’s unlikely. Oklahoma needs more help and it will be a process for them to become competitive in the Big 12.
Written by Nick Kazandjian
