Big 12 Power Rankings: Sun Devils face gauntlet in Randy Bennett's first year
Basketball season is upon us.
The Sun Devils will soon tip off the much-awaited Randy Bennett era, but things will be far from easy. Playing in the best basketball conference, Bennett will have his work cut out for him, as Arizona State was selected to finish 12th by conference media members.
In anticipation of the start of the season, here are our preseason power rankings, which match the ballot Echo From the Buttes submitted for the Big 12 media poll.
Houston Cougars
Arizona is getting all the preseason love right now, but Houston looks to be the stronger team. Kelvin Sampson has been a machine of late, and his Cougars squad returns several key players, primarily defensive stalwart Joseph Tugler.
To offset the loss of Kingston Flemings to the NBA, Sampson brought in LSU transfer Dedan Thomas Jr., a walking bucket. Between that addition and the promotion of some key bench players to starting duty, Houston should be ready to play their best basketball right out of the gate.
Arizona Wildcats
The Wildcats are going to be highly rated to start the year, and appropriately so. They've got some of the best players in the nation in returners Motiejus Krivas and Ivan Karchenkov, not to mention 5-star true frosh Caleb Holt.
The reason Arizona isn't in the top spot, though, has everything to do with what they lost. Brayden Burries, Koa Peat, and Jaden Bradley are all in the NBA now after finishing last year as the three top scorers for the Wildcats. That's an awful lot of production to replace in one offseason, especially in such a stacked conference.
Texas Tech Red Raiders
Texas Tech looked like the best team in the Big 12 early on last year, mowing down opponents left and right, including both of the teams ranked ahead of them on these power rankings. Then star JT Toppin tore his ACL, and the Red Raiders slowly trickled down the conference standings.
Toppin is still recovering from that injury, and an exact return date isn't yet known, but Texas Tech still has a strong roster. If Toppin can get back into action prior to the start of Big 12 play, the Red Raiders may very well see themselves vault up this list again.
BYU Cougars
How do the Cougars fare in their first year after superstar AJ Dybantsa? That's the question on everyone's minds, but head coach Kevin Young has done a solid job of retooling the roster around their second-best player from a year ago, Rob Wright III.
Collin Chandler transferred in from Kentucky and Jaxon Kohler from Michigan State, alongside one of the top high school recruits in the nation in Bruce Branch. Kohler, in particular, is an intriguing addition after spending four years in Tom Izzo's elite program. BYU certainly has the talent to contend in the Big 12, but it's just a matter of Young fitting the pieces together.
Kansas Jayhawks
Bill Self has been a mainstay in college basketball for a long time, but his Jayhawks haven't reached the Sweet Sixteen since 2022. Kansas is hoping to turn that around this year with Tyran Stokes, the top freshman in the country and presumptive first overall pick in the 2027 NBA Draft.
Of course, BYU went down that same road with Dybantsa last year and went one-and-done in the tournament. Self will need others to chip in and support Stokes throughout the year, and surely the experienced coach will be up for the challenge, but this season in Lawrence will largely hinge on whether or not Stokes lives up to the hype.
Iowa State Cyclones
The Cyclones have been a strong program under the leadership of coach TJ Otzelberger for a while now, and this year should be no different. A successful court case earned another year of eligibility for star guard Tamin Lipsey, a major boon for Iowa State's chances.
The bigger story now is the injury to Killyan Toure, which is expected to keep the guard out until mid-to-late January. That means the budding star will miss the Big 12 opener against Arizona and likely games against Houston, Texas Tech, and BYU. However, his return should give a meaningful boost to the Cyclones down the stretch, and it's most important to be playing your best ball in March.
TCU Horned Frogs
Jamie Dixon has been the model of consistency at TCU, taking last year's Horned Frogs squad to the tournament for the fourth time in five years. They lost top scorer David Punch to the transfer portal, but return a bulk of last year's team.
The biggest challenge for Dixon will be overcoming all the new additions this conference saw in the offseason. TCU has thrived largely on being the top of the middle class in the Big 12, typically good enough to go dancing, but that middle class has seen an influx of talent this year.
Arizona State Sun Devils
After TCU, the Big 12 splinters off into a collection of teams that could be sorted any which way, but the Sun Devils emerge at the top of the pack. Much of that has to do with the Randy Bennett factor. The longtime St. Mary's coach has a unique system built to slow down games and methodically probe even the best defenses while taking away the three on the other side of the court.
Bennett has assembled a solid first-year roster, largely made up of the top talent from the West Coast Conference, all of which seem to fit his system like a glove. St. Mary's transfer Paulius Murauskas was voted the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, and he should help anchor an offense that has the potential to upset any of the teams ranked ahead of them here.
Cincinnati Bearcats
The other team that made a huge splash in the coaching cycle this past summer is Cincinnati. After two straight tournament appearances in as many years with Utah State - not to mention a career 297-159 record across D-I and D-II basketball - Jerrod Calhoun returned to his alma mater.
Like Bennett, Calhoun is a proven winner - you have to go back nearly a decade to find his last losing season - but Cincinnati has been a languishing program ever since Mick Cronin left, and that was before joining the prestigious Big 12. Calhoun feels like the right coach to turn things around, but it may take a little time.
Oklahoma State Cowboys
Oklahoma State looked like a tourney team for most of last year, as second-year coach Steve Lutz's explosive offense was often too much to handle for defenses. But the Cowboys faded down the stretch, losing seven of their final nine regular season games to miss out on the Big Dance.
Lutz lost five of his six players from last year that averaged double-digit points, practically a full roster reset. His transfer class featured a couple big names, notably North Carolina's Luke Bogavac and UCF's Jordan Burks, but Lutz is looking to replace a lot of production from last year.
West Virginia Mountaineers
Like Oklahoma State, West Virginia felt like a possible tourney team until a late-season collapse pushed them off the bubble. The Mountaineers lost four of their final five games and got blown out in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament, but they went on to win the College Basketball Crown tournament.
Second-year head coach Ross Hodge has assembled a who's who of notable transfer players, headlined by former Sun Devil and Red Storm guard Joson Sanon, in addition to former tourney star Finley Bizjack. West Virginia may end up making the biggest jump from last year to this year in the Big 12, but it's heavily dependent on Hodge fitting all the pieces together.
UCF Knights
UCF snuck in as the final Big 12 team to make the NCAA Tournament last year, thanks in large part to upset wins over Kansas, Texas Tech, and BYU. A four-point loss to UCLA in the Round of 64 further validated their place in the Big Dance.
However, head coach Johnny Dawkins lost three of his top four scorers from last year's squad, and the one returner of that bunch - Riley Kugel - may or may not play the whole year amid ongoing legal battles regarding college eligibility rules. Dawkins is a good coach, but the sheer roster turnover feels hard to overcome.
Baylor Bears
Scott Drew and Baylor won a national title back in 2021, but the program has been on a downward trend since then. They haven't reached a Sweet Sixteen post-natty and, last year, fell below 20 wins and missed the NCAA Tournament outright.
Drew is hoping to bounce back this year, snagging some under-the-radar transfers like Liberty's Brett Decker and Penn State's Kayden Mingo, the latter of whom saw his younger brother, Dylan Mingo, commit to Baylor as a 5-star guard. Hype is building after exhibition wins over top-ranked Florida and Illinois teams, but the Bears will have to prove it in non-exhibition games before they jump up the power rankings.
Kansas State Wildcats
Just four years ago, Kansas State reached the Elite Eight. But after failing to even make the tournament each of the next three years, head coach Jerome Tang was fired and Casey Alexander was brought in from Belmont, where he went 166-60.
Alexander is an incredible coach, but this roster is very much the rebuilding type. Only one player returned from last year's bunch, and Kansas State ranked 78th in the nation, just barely ahead of Dayton. Expect this season to largely consist of Alexander establishing his culture and laying the foundation for the future of the program.
Utah Utes
First year head coach Alex Jensen took over his alma mater last year and was rudely welcomed by the Big 12 gauntlet. Utah went 2-16 in conference play, with both wins coming by very slim margins over programs that finished squarely in the middle of the conference.
Without a major roster overhaul and little recruiting success thus far, Jensen probably can't be expected for a major improvement this year. The Utes may be better than they were a year ago, but it's an admittedly low bar.
Colorado Buffaloes
Tad Boyle has been coaching the Buffaloes for so long that his first year on the job was the last time Colorado was in the Big 12, right before joining the Pac 12. He enjoyed a great run of success from dropping down to a weaker basketball conference, but Boyle has yet to even hit 20 wins since rejoining the Big 12.
Last year's squad overperformed with 17 wins and a 7-11 conference record, but their four best players were poached in the portal and replaced with a handful of players from the middle tier of the mid-majors. Boyle is a well-respected coach, but it would take a miracle for his team to be more than a minor speed bump for the majority of this conference.
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