In some ways, Big 12 men’s basketball picture resembles what the conventional wisdom was a few months ago.
Preseason favorite Kansas remains the highest ranked Big 12 team at No. 3 nationally. Three conference teams are ranked among the top 12 in the AP poll. As a whole, the Big 12 still has the third-best RPI among Division I conferences, although not quite as high as recent seasons.
There are also significant surprises, from Baylor being the biggest threat to Kansas’ run of 12 straight regular-season conference titles to Texas probably playing its way out of the NCAA tournament in the non-conference.