Four Big 12 teams still have one non-conference game to play during the holidays before
beginning conference action on New Years Eve, so it's a little early to be making the
initial conference projection, but what the heck. What stands out is the parity of the
conference. In previous seasons, the champion would be projected to win 14 out of the
18 conference games. This season, the champion could have only 12. The Big 12 is going
to beat up on each other, and one can only wonder how much that might affect getting an
at-large invitation to the Big Dance. Lunardi is currently projecting NINE conference
members dancing, and it was close to all ten, with Oklahoma State listed among the First
Four Out. That's a bit of a surprise, considering how the Cowboys are projected to
finish ahead of four other conference members. That 8-4 non-conference record is
weighing them down.
Anyway, here is the latest projection for the Big 12:
Pred Proj.
Rank Big XII Team Wins remaining non-con
---- -------------- ------ --------------------
# 5 Kansas 11.8
# 8 Texas 11.5 Texas A&M-Commerce
# 9 Baylor 10.5 Nicholls State
# 23 West Virginia 9.5
# 27 Texas Tech 8.9 South Carolina State
# 29 Oklahoma State 8.6
# 41 TCU 7.7 Central Arkansas
# 39 Iowa State 7.6
# 42 Oklahoma 7.5
# 55 Kansas State 6.4
Note that Iowa State's scheduled game against Omaha was canceled due to the weather.
