BEVO BEAT Men's Basketball

Horns rise up Big 12 power poll (and national poll)

Texas is No. 3 after sweep of West VIrginia

Posted February 17th, 2016

Kevin Lyttle American-Statesman Staff

@klyttleaas

With 6 of the 10 teams in the Big 12 playing Tuesday night, I’ve updated my power poll from the one that was in the Wednesday print edition of the American-Statesman.

I’ve also provided a look at how my Top 25 national ballot might look like if we were voting today instead of Monday, influenced by Texas’ season sweep of West Virginia, Baylor’s fourth straight victory over Iowa State and Texas A&M’s solid win over Ole Miss.

Here is the new conference poll going into tonight’s Oklahoma at Texas Tech game, which is HUGE for the Red Raiders’ NCAA Tournament aspirations (which are alive and well at the moment):

BIG 12 POWER POLL

(through Tuesday’s games)

Rnk (prv) Team…..W-L (conf.)…..Next opponent…..Comment

1. (2) Kansas…..22-4 (10-3)…..at Kansas State (15-11), Sat…..Shame on us for daring to suggest that Jayhawks might not win 12th straight Big 12 title.
2. (1) Oklahoma…..20-4 (8-4)…..at Texas Tech (15-9), Wed…..Sooners boast top 3-point shooting team in nation … but they still can’t beat Kansas.
3. (4) Texas…..17-9 (8-5)…..vs. Baylor (19-7), Sat…..Every night at least one Longhorn freshman steps up big. Against WVU, all three delivered.
4. (3) West Virginia…..20-6 (9-4)…..vs. Oklahoma (20-4), Sat…..Mountaineers are difficult matchup for most teams, but not Texas, which absolutely owns them.
5. (6) Baylor…..19-7 (8-5)…..at Texas (17-9), Sat…..Even without Rico Gathers, Bears dial up 100 points on Cyclones and sweep season series.
6. (5) Iowa State…..18-8 (7-6)…..vs. TCU (11-15), Sat…..Georges Niang 7th in Big 12 career scoring with 2,000-plus points, has 4 straight years over 400.
7. (8) Texas Tech…..15-9 (5-7)…..vs. Oklahoma (20-4), Wed…..Surging Red Raiders already have zipped past overall and league win totals from last year.
8. (7) Kansas State…..15-11 (4-9)…..vs. Kansas (22-4), Sat…..Cats are better than their record. Ten losses are to teams currently ranked in Top 25.
9. (10) Oklahoma State…..12-14 (3-10)…..vs. Texas Tech (15-9), Sat…..Forwards improving, but low-output Cowboys are several pistols shy of full holster.
10. (9) TCU…..11-15 (2-11)…..at Iowa State (18-8), Sat…..If you can’t score, you can’t win. Frogs 296th in points per game and 304th in FG shooting.

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I am also a Top 25 voter in the Associated Press’ national media poll. There are only three of us in the state of Texas. We vote every week before the Monday night games. But if we were voting today, here is how I might see it after Texas’ 85-78 win over West Virginia:

February 17

By Kevin Lyttle

Austin American-Statesman
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1. Kansas
2. Oklahoma
3. Villanova
4. Virginia
5. Iowa
6. Xavier
7. Michigan State
8. Maryland
9. Miami

10. North Carolina

11. Kentucky

12. Oregon

13. Texas

14. Notre Dame

15. West Virginia

16. Dayton

17. Baylor

18. Arizona

19. Iowa State

20. Louisville

21. Duke

22. Texas A&M

23. Utah

24. SMU

25. Purdue

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