Big 12 Flexes Its Muscle as Arizona Holds the Crown in Latest AP Top 25
The latest AP Top 25 didn’t bring any major surprises-but it did reinforce what’s becoming increasingly clear: Arizona is the team to beat in college basketball right now. Monday night’s road win over BYU was just the latest statement from a Wildcats squad that’s been setting the tone all season long. But while Arizona continues to lead the national conversation, the battle brewing just below the top spot is all about conference supremacy-and right now, the Big 12 and Big Ten are trading haymakers.
Let’s start with the Big 12, which is making a compelling case as the deepest, most dangerous league in the country. Six teams in the top 14 of the AP poll?
That’s not just impressive-it’s a sign of sustained, top-to-bottom strength. And while the Big Ten isn’t far behind with five teams in the top 12, the numbers give the edge to the Big 12, especially when you dig into non-conference performance.
The Big 12 has been dominant outside league play. With one non-conference game still to go-Baylor vs.
Louisville in Dallas next month-the conference owns the nation’s best non-conference winning percentage at .806. That includes a .636 mark in road and neutral-site games and a .613 clip against Power 4 opponents.
Those aren’t just good numbers; they’re elite. And they speak to how battle-tested these teams are by the time conference play rolls around.
Inside the league, the Big 12 has been just as tough. Home teams are winning at a .667 clip (38-19), the highest in-conference home win percentage among power leagues.
And when the visiting team isn’t ranked in the top 15? Home squads are 32-7.
That’s a gauntlet. Every night is a test, and there are no easy outs.
Analytics back up the eye test, too. Popular metrics like NET Rankings and KenPom both have eight Big 12 teams in the top 50.
EvanMiya and Barttorvik go even further, slotting nine Big 12 programs into that range. That kind of depth is rare.
And while Arizona sits atop both NET and KenPom as the consensus No. 1, the Big 12’s collective strength is hard to ignore.
Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang summed it up best after a tough road loss to West Virginia-a team that’s quietly 13-0 at home this season. “Brutal,” Tang said.
“Brutal and... what’s a better word than ‘exciting’?” That’s the paradox of the Big 12 right now.
It’s a grind, yes. But it’s also a proving ground.
Kansas State has already faced Arizona and still has dates with Houston, Iowa State, and Texas Tech ahead. For competitors, this is the kind of schedule you live for.
As for West Virginia, they’ve been one of the league’s more intriguing stories. Now 14-7 overall and 5-3 in Big 12 play, the Mountaineers have taken their lumps on the road-losing to Iowa State, Houston, and Arizona by a combined 85 points-but they’ve bounced back every time. They haven’t dropped back-to-back games in conference play, and their resilience has kept them in the thick of the Big 12 race.
Head coach Ross Hodge emphasized the importance of short memory in a conference this unforgiving. “Whether you win like today or you lose a heartbreaker or you get your butt kicked, in this league, you better be able to get to the next thing pretty quickly,” Hodge said after Tuesday’s win.
He pointed to recent examples: after West Virginia beat Kansas, many wrote the Jayhawks off-only for them to respond with a winning streak. Same with Arizona State, who rebounded from a loss to WVU by beating Cincinnati by 15.
That kind of bounce-back mentality is essential in the Big 12. With the first half of their conference slate now behind them, the Mountaineers have secured a winning record and look ahead to a pivotal stretch. Saturday brings a home showdown with Baylor, and the back half of the schedule includes home games against Texas Tech, BYU, Utah, and UCF, plus road trips to Cincinnati, UCF, TCU, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State.
“It’s a grind,” Hodge said. “So many good players.
So many good teams. Throw in the travel and multiple time zones-it’s a grind.
It’s unforgiving.”
That’s the Big 12 in a nutshell. Every game is a battle.
Every win is earned. And with Arizona holding the top spot nationally, the rest of the country is watching as the Big 12 and Big Ten continue to trade blows for the title of college basketball’s toughest conference.
Right now, the Big 12 might just have the edge-and it’s not just the rankings saying so. It’s the results, the metrics, and the coaches living it every night.