Big 12 women's basketball power rankings: The league's newcomers are struggling
Life as a newcomer in the Big 12 has been rough. BYU, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston have combined for a 0-12 record in conference play so far. Three of those games have been decided by 10 points or less. Perhaps the prognosticators were onto something when they ranked none of them higher than 11th in the Big 12 preseason poll.
Here are the newest power rankings:
1. Baylor
What to know: Life is good in Waco. Baylor has two top-five wins on its résumé, the Bears played their first-ever game in the newly-opened Foster Pavilion on Jan. 3 and Baylor's the only undefeated team left in the conference.
2. Texas
What to know: All-American candidate Rori Harmon is done for the season, so that hurts. Will Texas pivot and rely less on its new point guard and more on healthy post players Taylor Jones, Aaliyah Moore and DeYona Gaston?
3. Kansas State
What to know: Ranked 11th by the AP on Jan. 1, Kansas State is enjoying its highest ranking of the Jeff Mittie era. He's been KSU's head coach since the 2014-15 season. Kansas State was last a top-10 team in 2004.
4. West Virginia
What to know: West Virginia got off to a 13-0 start, but not many of those wins were against teams with top-100 RPIs. A 21-point loss to Texas this weekend may mean the Mountaineers are pretenders instead of contenders.
5. Iowa State
What to know: After a shaky start, Iowa State has seemingly steadied the ship and was listed as one of the "Last team in" in ESPN's most-recent projection of the NCAA Tournament field. Iowa State last missed the tournament in 2018.
6. Oklahoma
What to know: A co-founder of the Big 12, Oklahoma is not good at hosting welcome parties. Oklahoma opened conference play with games against three of the league newcomers. It went 3-0 against UCF, BYU and Cincinnati.
7. TCU
What to know: TCU suffered its first two losses this past week, but Sedona Prince's finger injury is of bigger concern. When announcing that she was injured on Wednesday, the senior center expressed a hope to still play this season.
8. Oklahoma State
What to know: The Cowgirls had been 0-2 against ranked teams, but beat No. 23 TCU on Saturday. Oklahoma State now has a signature win on its résumé and has won two in a row.
9. Texas Tech
What to know: Texas Tech opened Big 12 play with a 31-point quarter against Houston. But in the 11 quarters since, the Lady Raiders are averaging just 15.3 points. No matter, Tech is 2-1 in its conference.
10. Kansas
What to know: Kansas entered this season with a lot of momentum after winning the WNIT last year. But Kansas is just 7-7, and a 73-64 loss to Texas Tech this weekend dropped the Jayhawks to 0-3 in Big 12 play.
11. BYU
What to know: BYU may not contend for a championship, but this season will still be historic. One of the nation's leading rebounders, senior Lauren Gustin is closing in on her school's all-time rebounding record.
12. Central Florida
What to know: The Big 12's schedule maker didn't do UCF any favors when it asked the Knights to open conference play against Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Kansas State. Not surprisingly, UCF went 0-3.
13. Houston
What to know: If Houston wants to contend, it must beat ranked teams. Since 2010, Houston is 3-32 against ranked foes, and it has lost to Kansas State and Baylor this season. The AP ranked five Big 12 teams last week.
14. Cincinnati
What to know: Cincinnati opened Big 12 play against Kansas State and West Virginia, and those two foes were the fourth and fifth ranked teams faced by the Bearcats this season. Cincinnati is 0-5 in those games.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Big 12 women's basketball power rankings: League's new teams struggle
