Kansas, Baylor and West Virginia are hoping to push the Big 12 to a fourth consecutive season as the country's best college basketball conference.
Whether that actually happens, though, will be determined by the likes of Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Kansas State and TCU and whether they can continue to maintain their impressive records now that the schedule is about to get more difficult.
Then again, if Oklahoma and Texas keep playing as poorly as they have been, the Big 12 might send fewer than seven teams to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2013.