Big 12 Basketball is the Gift that Keeps Giving

I’ve never seen the movie “Any Given Sunday”, mostly because I am deathly afraid of Cameron Diaz, but I’d like to imagine the movie is about how any football team can win on any given Sunday. That’s not really true though when it comes to football. Other than the Big 10 West, there’s not really a football conference (college and professional) I can think of where any team can win on any day. You can usually fathom a guess who is going to win, unless its a battle of the mid shooting for a solid 4-4 conference record. But that is less true in basketball. And for all of us being blessed this season, it’s even less true in Big 12 basketball.

I think every college basketball fan is now familiar of the entropic environment that is the Big 12. Before this season, every one was pretty sure that the Big 12 was going to be the basketball conference. Not the Big East, even though they want to be. Not the Big 10, even though the Big 10 controls the basketball media (I will return to this come March). But the Big 12, God’s country, even though Bill Self has been carrying the conference for years in the National Championship game (sorry Tech, win next time).

I don’t think anyone even knew how good the Big 12 was going to be. BYU and Oklahoma are in the Top 25, yet were ranked as 12th and 13th in the Big 12 preseason poll. We are witnessing a conglomeration of top college basketball in talent playing each other week in and week out. About 30pc of the Top 25 are in the Big 12, and Kansas St. has a legitimate argument for being ranked. That means half of the Big 12 is ranked in the Top 25. No other conference comes close.

Sure, as a UH fan its been an adjustment to not just walk through the season. Was it weird losing to conference opponents that weren’t Memphis. Of course it was, because the regular season has just been a formality for the past couple seasons for UH. Even the AAC conference tournament was a formality until the final when Memphis would be very angry (see the Mad Men “I don’t think about you” meme). There is something fun now being in the Big 12. I’ve seen the “every single night” meme thrown around pretty regularly. UH sometimes plays with the tenacity of a tiger who lives in a zoo (he is mightily depressed). Now, that UH actually has to try during a lot of games, I think they’ll be better prepped

Even the weak teams, like UCF and Texas (this is what you get for leaving), are beating top teams. And then, while those losses are going on, you can then see teams ranked in the 20s play each other. I know I’m continuing to harp on how good this all is, but it’s genuinely so enjoyable to see this. I will say, maybe to my detriment, there was no outright amazing conference last season (yell at me if you want). I also thought that last season was just okay (again, yell if you want). This season feels like a different animal. While there is no outright best team, there are a lot of really good teams (until a team presses Purdue or makes shots against UH).

We’re also not close to done with how good the Big 12 is going to be until March.

Insert your favorite Jon Rothstein quote here about how much college basketball enthralls you.

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