2024-25 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Conference Quick Hits

Floor Over Ceiling

In the Big 12, there are nights — wait, hold on! Come back!

Okay, so you’ve heard that all before. Fair enough. But have you, like, seen how insane this conference is?

The lowest ranked team in Kenpom is Oklahoma State at 89. 89! That’s a more significant headline than how many teams are in the AP Preseason top 10 (that’s five, if you live under a college basketball rock).

So yeah, give me all the cliches about every games a war, anyone can win at home in any game, yada yada yada. The

Brilliant Scheduling

I still miss round robin, don’t get me wrong.

But the schedule this season is 🔥

The Big 12 expanded the conference schedule to a massive 20 games, and they’ve somehow managed to concoct what looks like an unbelievable close to the season.

Check out the final 5 games for each of the top 5 teams as an example All rankings are KenPom preseason rankings:

None of those teams could expect better than to go 4-1 in any of those stretches, but 3-2 is a reasonable hope for all of them. That’s going to be a heck of a thrilling two weeks of basketball. And, uh, I don’t mind that Baylor is the only one of those five to face just one of the other top teams — and at home!

Scorch the Nets

In the last roster preview article, I gave out some of my favorite lineup possibilities. All of them included Edgecombe (obviously), but one I definitely should have considered is one suggested by this stat from Evan Miyakawa:

Pair those four guards with Norchad Omier, and just fire away. I don’t know what that lineup would do defensively against Hunter Dickinson, but I sure as heck know what they would do to him offensively.

Honorable Honorables

The amount of national recognition garnered by Big 12 players is, frankly, a little absurd. A full fifth of the ESPN Top 100 play in the Big 12 (see the list here). Dickinson was the only unanimous player on the Preseason Big 12 First Team and is on the short list of National Player of the Year on any list. I guess people feel they have to give him that recognition, but…does anyone really believe he’s going to be the best player in the league? Call me a skeptic, but I’m much more intimidated by the guards in the league (Tamin Lipsey, Emanuel Sharp, Caleb Love, Keshon Gilbert), than I am of a big who can only score two points at a time.

Jeremy Roach and Omier both received Preseason All Big 12 Second Team Honors, while Edgecombe got the Scott Drew Annual Best Freshman in the Conference Award (they renamed it). Some conflicting voting came out, though, between the Big 12 coaches (or whoever fills out those votes), and the Associated Press. The coaches named Roach the Preseason (co-) Newcomer of the Year, but Omier received AP Preseason All American honorable mention, not his transfer teammate. On top of that, ESPN’s Top 100 rated Edgecombe as Baylor’s best player at No. 16. Omier was 29, and Roach came in at 38. I’ll also point out that Baylor is the only Big 12 school with a player on the each of the watchlists for the Bob Cousy Award (point guard) and Jerry West Award (shooting guard).

Those three will undoubtedly be the focal points of Baylor’s team this season and will each complement the other’s game. Roach the floor general, Edgecombe the dynamic element, and Omier the cleanup guy at the rim. Dare I say that Scott Drew has himself a Big Three?

Yeah, I think I will. Scott Drew has himself a Big Three to stack up against anybody in the country.

And we get to watch them go to work on Monday.