| Team | Record | Week Ahead |
| 1. Oklahoma |
9 - 0 |
at Baylor (Wed); vs. Texas Tech (Sat) |
| 1. Kansas |
8 - 0 |
at Missouri (Mon); at Kansas St. (Sat) |
| 3. Missouri |
7 - 2 |
vs. Kansas (Mon); vs. Nebraska (Sat) |
| 4. Kansas State |
5 - 4 |
vs. Texas Tech (Wed); vs. Kansas (Sat) |
| 4. Nebraska |
5 - 4 |
at Missouri (Sat) |
| 6. Texas |
4 - 4 |
vs. Ok State (Tue); at Colorado (Sat) |
| 7. Oklahoma St |
3 - 5 |
at Texas (Tue); vs. Iowa St (Sat) |
| 8. Texas A&M |
3 - 6 |
at Baylor (Sat) |
| 8. Baylor |
3 - 6 |
vs. Oklahoma (Wed); vs. A&M (Sat) |
| 10. Texas Tech |
2 - 6 |
at Kansas St (Wed); at Oklahoma (Sat) |
| 11. Iowa State |
1 - 7 |
vs. Colorado (Wed); at Ok State (Sat) |
| 11. Colorado |
1 - 7 |
at Iowa State (Wed); vs. Texas (Sat) |
Thoughts on the week ahead after the jump.
Biggest Surprise from Last Week: Oklahoma’s home court struggles Yes, the Sooners did win both their games last week, sit atop the Big XII at 9-0, and are in great shape for a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament, however, they struggled to dispatch Texas A&M on Wednesday and Colorado on Saturday. I’ve written about how winning ugly doesn’t matter in college basketball, and it really doesn’t ,but it is fun to point out the less than stellar efforts by the Sooners. On Wednesday, Jeff Capel’s club blew a 15 point lead and was actually down 68-59 to the Aggies with just six minutes to go before rallying. And on Saturday, Colorado stayed within striking distance for most of the game and pulled to within 73-70 in the final minute. This all probably means nothing, though, and I wouldn’t bet against OU getting to 11-0 by week’s end.
Team with Most Favorable Schedule: Kansas State. The Wildcats can complete their resurrection and put one foot in the NCAA tournament waters with another strong week. After starting 0-4, Kansas State has reeled off five straight wins, three of which have come on the road. An unblemished mark this week would put the Wildcats in excellent position for a three or four seed in the Big XII tournament and a probable berth in the NCAA tournament. Kansas State should have no trouble with Tech on Wednesday before hosting Kansas on Saturday afternoon.
Team with Least Favorable Schedule: Kansas. Winning another conference title after losing all five starters from a national championship team would be truly amazing. So far, the Jayhawks are still on track to do just that. This week, though, will be very difficult. With OU having a favorable schedule and getting to host the Jayhawks in Norman, it will probably take a 14-2 conference mark to win an outright title and at least a 13-3 record for a shot at a shared title. Kansas must travel to Missouri on Monday and then to Manhattan on Saturday for their second match up with the red-hot Wildcats on Saturday. If Kansas can split those two, they will still have a shot. However, Kansas cannot afford to fall two games behind the Sooners with just six remaining.
Team on Life Support: Baylor. The Bears’ struggles continued on Monday with a home loss to Kansas and on Saturday with a loss at Texas Tech. The once blossoming Bears have now lost five straight with Oklahoma scheduled to visit Waco on Wednesday. At just 3-6 in conference, Baylor’s hopes of a return trip to the NCAAs are all but dead.
Game of the Week: Kansas at Missouri. ESPN is pretty good about picking the week’s best match-up for Big Monday, and this week is no exception. This is by far the best rivalry in the Big XII North and both teams sport offenses and defenses ranked in the top 25 in efficiency (Pomeroy). A Kansas win would keep them in the conference title hunt, while a Missouri win would add a marquee win to an already impressive resume (RPI #21, Pomeroy Rating #9, and wins over California, Oklahoma State, and Texas).