2024-25 Big 12 Basketball Power Rankings: Week 2

Ariel Puterman gives his Big 12 basketball power rankings heading into week 2 of the 2024 season.

Matchup of the week: Kansas vs Michigan State

Sneaky good matchup of the week: Grand Canyon at Arizona State

Before you read this, keep in mind this is solely judging the first week. This doesn’t take into account any preseason rankings, only each team’s performance so far this season.

All games listed are EST

1) Kansas Jayhawks

Last week’s ranking: 2 (+1)

Record: 2-0

Last week: W vs. Howard (87-57), W vs. #9 UNC (92-89)

Next week: vs. Michigan State (Nov. 12 – 6:30 p.m.), vs. Oakland (Nov. 16 – 6 p.m.)

Quality wins: #9 UNC

Bad losses: N/A

It was a bit of a stressful 2-0, but they got it done, winning against Howard with ease before a nail-biting home win against UNC. Zeke Mayo has been terrific, and the offense has really shined, averaging 89.5 points a game so far. Up next, a big-time neutral court against Michigan State, before another buy game against Oakland.

2) Houston Cougars

Last week’s ranking: 1 (-1)

Record: 1-1

Last week: W vs. Jackson State (97-40), L vs. #11 Auburn (69-74)

Next week: vs. Louisiana (Nov. 13 – 8 p.m.)

Quality wins: N/A

Bad losses: N/A

Here at CBB Review, we reward teams who schedule tough to start the season and look the part. They battled with Auburn, who might be the best team in the country but couldn’t come out on top. Regardless, they still look like a championship threat, and the defense is legit. They get to face a couple mid major teams to try to regain momentum before a big-time matchup on November 26th against Alabama.

3) UCF Knights

Last week’s ranking: 12 (+9)

Record: 2-0

Last week: W vs. #13 Texas A&M (64-61), W vs. Purdue Fort-Wayne (75-68)

Next week: vs. Florida Atlantic (Nov. 12 – 7 p.m.)

Quality wins: #13 Texas A&M

Bad losses: N/A

Reminder, this is solely based on first-week performance, and not preseason rankings or before-the-season bias. UCF might just play to their competition every game, which they showed in the first two games of the season. They started with a big-time win against Texas A&M, arguably the second-best win this conference has, after Kansas’ against UNC. Then, they battled with PFW before pulling away late. They’re doing this without second-leading scorer Jaylin Sellers, so there’s hope they’ll be even better when they’re healthy.

Up next, is a big mid-major competition against FAU, who won’t be as good as we’ve seen the past two seasons, but still no pushover.

4) Arizona Wildcats

Last week’s ranking: 5 (+1)

Record: 2-0

Last week: W vs. Canisius (93-64), W vs. Old Dominion (102-44)

Next week: at Wisconsin (Nov. 15 – 9 p.m.)

Quality wins: N/A

Bad losses: N/A

Arizona took care of business this week, looking every bit like a top-ten team. The quality of the opponent wasn’t great, but when you beat a team by 58, you deserve credit. Awaka was terrific in the second game, scoring 18 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. They’ll need big-time performances all season long if they want to be a championship contender. This week, the first real test of the season, going into a hostile environment and taking on Wisconsin. Arizona should win, but the first game of the season in a road environment is never easy, no matter what team you are.

5) Cincinnati Bearcats

Last week’s ranking: 7 (+2)

Record: 2-0

Last week: W vs. Arkansas Pine-Bluff (109-54), W vs. Morehead State (83-56)

Next week: vs. Nichols (Nov. 15 – 7 p.m.)

Quality wins: N/A

Bad losses: N/A

They beat two bad teams, but the way they won was nothing short of impressive. They doubled up Pine-Bluff, then held Morehead State to just 19 first-half points before cruising to a near 30-point victory. This team looks extremely balanced on both ends and adding Mitchell this off-season has really taken this team to the next level.

They should win this week’s game by at least 30, and if they keep playing like this they should have no issue staying towards the top of the Power Rankings all season long.

6) Baylor Bears

Last week’s ranking: 5 (-1)

Record: 1-1

Last week: L at #6 Gonzaga (63-101), W vs. #16 Arkansas (72-67)

Next week: vs. Sam Houston (Nov. 12 – 8 p.m.)

Quality wins: #16 Arkansas (neutral)

Bad losses: at#6 Gonzaga

Hard to say there were any teams that had a more up-and-down week than Baylor. First, you have to respect the scheduled two ranked matchups, instead of boosting their metrics against low majors like many teams do. After the opening night of the college basketball season, they may have wished they had. They got boat raced by Gonzaga, losing by nearly 40 and never really having a chance. The defense allowed over 100 points, and overall they looked completely outmatched.

Luckily, they bounced back and picked up a huge neutral site win against Arkansas. The defense looked much better, and they just looked much more comfortable overall. After a long and punishing week, Baylor finally gets their chance to take their foot off the gas, taking on a Sam Houston that’s good, but no where near as good as their first two opponents.

7) Arizona State Sun Devils

Last week’s ranking: 13 (+6)

Record: 2-1

Last week: W vs. Idaho State (55-48), W vs. Santa Clara (81-74), L at Gonzaga (80-88)

Next week: vs. Grand Canyon (Nov. 14 – 9 p.m.), vs. Saint Thomas (Nov. 17 – 8 p.m.)

Quality wins: Santa Clara

Bad losses: N/A

Arizona State is a curious case and might be like UCF in the sense that they just play to their opponent’s level. In the first game of the season, they clawed to a win against Idaho State, a team they were expected to beat by 17.5. However, they then faced a Santa Clara team that many expect to be a tournament team on a neutral site, and beat them by seven. Finally, they went on the road to Gonzaga, and held their own, even leading late into the game against the same team that beat Baylor by nearly 40 earlier this week.

The 17-year-old Quaitance looks very impressive on the defensive end, and they’ve had different guys step up in different situations. It’s still unsure just how good exactly this team will be, but Week 1 showed promise. They’ll have another chance to showcase themselves this week, taking on one of the best mid major teams in the country in Grand Canyon on Thursday.

8) Iowa State Cyclones

Last week’s ranking: 3 (-5)

Record: 1-0

Last week: W vs. Mississippi Valley State (83-44)

Next week: vs. Kansas City (Nov. 11 – 8 p.m.)

Quality wins: N/A

Bad losses: N/A

Iowa State was the only Big 12 basketball team to only play one game this week, which was very disappointing. What was even more disappointing was that they played the worst team in the country. They took care of business, winning by 39, but this was expected. Unfortunately, they only play one game this week as well, so we won’t get to see just how good Iowa State is for at least another week.

9) Utah Utes

Last week’s ranking: 16 (+7)

Record: 2-0

Last week: W vs. Alcorn State (100-59), W vs. Central Arkansas (98-63)

Next week: vs. Queens University (Nov. 12 – 9 p.m.), vs. Mississippi State (Nov. 17 – 4 p.m.)

Quality wins: N/A

Bad losses: N/A

The Utes were a pleasant surprise this week, especially on the offensive end. They averaged 99 points over the first two games, with Gabe Madsen averaging 26.5 in those two games. They don’t need to score 100 every game, but if the offense is looking this good, the Utes can be a lot better and more competitive than we thought. They have their biggest test of the season, facing Mississippi State on Sunday. That game should give us a good idea of how good they can be this season.

10) Texas Tech Red Raiders

Last week’s ranking: 6 (-4)

Record: 2-0

Last week: W vs. Bethune Cookman (94-61), W vs. Northwestern State (86-65)

Next week: vs. Wyoming (Nov. 13 – 8 p.m.),

Quality wins: N/A

Bad losses: N/A

Texas Tech didn’t have a bad week, but when the Big 12 dominates like they did this week, some teams are going to fall lower than they should. They picked up two 20-point wins, and besides a mediocre second half against Northwestern State, in which it felt like they took their foot off the gas, no complaints about this team. They’ll take on Wyoming this week, a game that might be a little more competitive, but an easy win nonetheless.

11) West Virginia Mountaineers

Last week’s ranking: 11 (-)

Record: 2-0

Last week: W vs. Robert Morris (87-59), W vs. UMass (75-69)

Next week: at Pittsburgh (Nov. 15 – 8 p.m.)

Quality wins: UMass

Bad losses: N/A

West Virginia fans have to be happy with a win over a borderline top-100 KenPom team in Umass, especially since they lost to them last season. Tucker DeVries led the way in scoring, averaging 17.5 for the Mountaineers. This week is the game many Mountaineer fans scheduled on their calendar, the backyard brawl against Pittsburgh.

12) TCU Horned Frogs

Last week’s ranking: 10 (-2)

Record: 2-0

Last week: W vs. Florida A&M (105-59), W vs. Florida Gulf Coast (67-51)

Next week: vs. Texas State (Nov. 12 – 8 p.m.), at Michigan (Nov. 15 – 6 p.m.)

Quality wins: N/A

Bad losses: N/A

TCU looked awesome in the first game, scoring 105 in a 46-point win. Then, they looked pretty underwhelming against a not-great Florida Gulf Coast team. They led by just one point at the half and didn’t instill much confidence in their fanbase. It’s early in the season, so no reason to overreact too much, but in a Big 12 where most teams either dominated mid-majors or lost to Top 25 teams, you land up down at 12th. They’ll shoot up the rankings if they beat Michigan on the road this week, but it won’t be an easy task for this Horned Frogs team.

13) BYU Cougars

Last week’s ranking: 8 (-5)

Record: 2-0

Last week: W vs. Central Arkansas (88-50), W vs. UC Riverside (86-80)

Next week: vs. Queens University (Nov. 13 – 9 p.m.), vs. Idaho (Nov. 16 – 3 p.m.)

Quality wins: N/A

Bad losses: N/A

Like TCU, BYU looked awesome in their first game, winning by 38, but really struggled in Game 2 against an inferior opponent. BYU led by just 7 at the half, and instead of pulling away in the second like we see many Power Conference teams do, BYU actually lost the second half by a point. They still got the win, but a 6-point home win against UC Riverside isn’t that motivating.

Egor Demin is the real deal, and they’ll need everyone else to step up. Let’s see if they can do that this week against two new mid-major opponents.

14) Kansas State Wildcats

Last week’s ranking: 9 (-5)

Record: 2-0

Last week: W vs. New Orleans (89-65), W vs. Cleveland State (77-64)

Next week: vs. LSU (Nov. 14 – 9 p.m.)

Quality wins: N/A

Bad losses: N/A

You can’t apologize for being 2-0, but like we keep saying, in a conference where no one has suffered a bad loss, having no convincing wins puts you down here. They won both games by double digits, but haven’t looked like a tournament team to this point. Coleman Hawkins is averaging just 8.5 points a game, and they’ll need more out of him if they want to be better. They have a big-time matchup against LSU this week. Getting a nice resume win early in the season can mean a lot in March, so hopefully they can get it done on Wednesday.

15) Oklahoma State Cowboys

Last week’s ranking: 14 (-1)

Record: 2-0

Last week: W vs. Green Bay (89-76), W vs. St. Thomas (80-71)

Next week: vs. Southern Illinois (Nov. 14 – 8: p.m.)

Quality wins: N/A

Bad losses: N/A

The offense looked good, but allowing 70 points to two mid-major teams in a row is a bit concerning. It was great to see Bryce Thompson back in action, and he led the way in scoring with 22 in game 1. Southern Illinois will be no cakewalk, and they actually beat Oklahoma State last year, so make sure you’re tuned in on Wednesday.

16) Colorado Buffaloes

Last week’s ranking: 15 (-1)

Record: 2-0

Last week: W vs. Eastern Washington (76-56), W vs. Northern Colorado (90-88 2OT)

Next week: vs. Cal State Fullerton (Nov. 13 – 9: p.m.), vs. Harvard (Nov. 17 – 2: p.m.)

Quality wins: N/A

Bad losses: N/A

On this power rankings, there were two obvious choices, Kansas at 1, and Colorado at 16. Colorado went to double overtime at home against a Northern Colorado team ranked 170th in KenPom. At the moment, they look like the clear worst team in the Big 12, and it wouldn’t be surprising if they only end with a win or two in conference play. This is obviously a bit of an overreaction after two games played, but if they continue to play at this level then they’ll be stuck down here in the power rankings all season long.

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