With the calendar turning to February in just a few days, and March being the month that follows February, it doesn’t seem all that ridiculous to start looking ahead at the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
While ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi and others do this year round, even in the offseason when no games are being played and coaches are still putting together their recruiting classes, several other college basketball analysts start to fire up their serious thoughts right around now.
Toss ESPN’s Jay Bilas into that mix. I realize that Bilas probably was asked for and gave his Final Four picks during some kind of season preview a few months ago. No harm in doing that. But the input he can provide today, now that he’s seen a ton of games and a ton of teams is much more valuable.
On Wednesday, Bilas, with a little help from John Gasaway, posted his Top 68 teams in college basketball rankings on ESPN.com’s Insider page, and, not-so-surprisingingly, the former Duke player and current face of college basketball broadcasting had eight of the Big 12’s 10 teams ranked in his Top 68. Whether they’ll all stay there or get into the tournament remains to be seen. *(For what it’s worth, Lunardi currently has the same eight IN the tournament in his latest Bracketology projections).*
Anyway, as is the case in the Big 12 standings, the Jayhawks are the top Big 12 team listed on Bilas’ rankings, with KU coming in at No. 13.
Here’s what Bilas has to say about KU:
> Bill Self and his staff have done a
> marvelous job winning with this team
> and, while there is a long way to go,
> KU seems on the way to its 11th
> straight Big 12 title. Self has had to
> push a lot of different buttons, and
> call a lot of different players into
> action to piece together wins. The
> Jayhawks have lost only three games,
> and have won against a very solid
> schedule. While rated No. 1 in the RPI
> (which tells you all you need to know
> about the RPI), Kansas is rated 18th
> in offensive efficiency and 39th in
> defensive efficiency. The key has been
> the play and steadying influence of
> Frank Mason solidifying the point
> guard slot. The development of Kelly
> Oubre and Cliff Alexander will be the
> difference going forward. — Jay Bilas
As for the rest of the conference, Bilas & Gasaway break the Big 12 down like this, at least today…
16 – Iowa State
18 – Oklahoma
20 – Texas
22 – Baylor
23 – West Virginia
49 – Oklahoma State
55 – Kansas State
For those of you who are “ESPN Insiders” and would like to look at Bilas’ entire Top 68, the complete list can be found here.
