Big 12 Power Rankings: Cool ‘Cats

Editor’s note: Each week, Yahoo! Sports college basketball writer Jason King will rank teams in each of the Big Six conferences plus the best of the rest. Thursday’s entry – The Big 12 Conference.

(Through Feb. 11 games)

No Michael Beasley. No Bill Walker. No problem.

One year after losing their top two stars to the NBA draft, the Kansas State Wildcats are hardly showing signs of a decline. Instead Frank Martin’s squad has joined Missouri as the surprise of the Big 12, as the Wildcats will enter Saturday’s showdown against Kansas having won six straight.

Unlike Beasley and Walker, no player on this team has much of a chance to play in the NBA. That makes the coaching job Martin has done even more impressive. Two months ago Kansas State was losing to non-conference doormats such as Oregon and Iowa. Now they’re winning road games at Texas and Texas A&M while massacring opponents – including Missouri – at home.

Still, impressive as they’ve been as of late, the Wildcats still need some quality wins to bolster their NCAA tournament resume. A good place to start would be Saturday’s game against the No. 16 Jayhawks.

Now on to the rankings. Last week’s rank in parenthesis.

		1.		Oklahoma (24-1, 10-0)		The Sooners became the first NCAA Division I team to win 24 games this season when they defeated Baylor . At 10-0, Oklahoma is off to its best start in conference play since winning its first 11 league games in 1985. After playing host to Texas Tech on Saturday, Jeff Capel’s squad has a week off before a vital two-game stretch against Texas and Kansas. (1)
		2.		Missouri (21-4, 8-2)		Missouri’s 14-point halftime deficit against Kansas on Monday prompted this one-liner during Mike Anderson’s speech to his team: “Fourteen points? We can score that many points in three minutes?” Sure enough, the Tigers rallied to beat the Jayhawks 62-60 in Columbia. (3)
		3.		Kansas (19-5, 8-1)		Sherron Collins is the Jayhawks’ leader and one of top point guards in the country. Lately he hasn’t played like it. Collins has made just 17 of his last 54 shots and only 5 of his last 23 3-pointers. Collins will need to be at the top of his game for KU to win at K-State on Saturday. (2)
		4.		Kansas State (17-7, 6-4)		Darren Kent, a senior who rarely got off the bench during his first three college seasons, is beginning to play a huge role for the surging Wildcats. Kent has scored in double figures in six of his last eight games, including an 18-point outburst in Wednesday’s victory over Texas Tech. (4)
		5.		Nebraska (15-7, 5-4)		Think the Cornhuskers are ranked too high. Well, they’ve defeated two teams listed ahead of them (Kansas State and Missouri) and the team ranked directly behind them (Texas). Doc Sadler’s squad may have a tough time maintaining this position considering two of its next three games are against ranked teams (Missouri and Kansas) on the road. (8)
		6.		Texas (16-7, 5-4)		Tuesday’s 25-point win over Oklahoma State provided a much-needed dose of momentum for the Longhorns, who had lost three straight. Still, Texas has no chance at making a deep NCAA tournament run until it starts getting a more consistent effort from stars Damion James and A.J. Abrams, who need to play with more discipline. (5)
		7.		Texas A&M (17-7, 3-6)		Amazingly, some bracket “experts” are still listing the Aggies as an NCAA tournament bubble team. Texas A&M will probably need to win six of its final seven regular-season games to even be considered, which is a possibility considering there’s only one ranked opponent (Missouri) on the Aggies’ schedule. (6)
		8.		Oklahoma State (14-9, 3-6)		The Cowboys have too much talent to be losing like this. Scoring points is great, but winning usually involves playing a little defense, too. Travis Ford seemed like a questionable hire when he was brought on to replace Sean Sutton last April. Nearly a year later, that’s the still the case. (7)
		9.		Texas Tech (12-12, 2-7)		Hopefully Pat Knight is recruiting well, because at this point, there’s a good chance the Red Raiders won’t win another game all season. They still have to play Oklahoma twice and Kansas once. The best opportunity for a victory might be against Texas A&M Feb. 21 in Lubbock. (10
		10.		Baylor (15-9, 3-7)		Wednesday’s loss to Oklahoma was the 30th straight for Baylor against the Sooners. Scott Drew has attributed his team’s six-game losing streak to bad luck and the rigors of competing in a tough conference. The absence of discipline, playing no defense and taking horrendous shots may have something to do with it, too. (9)
		11.		Iowa State (13-11, 2-7)		As the regular season nears its end, it will be interesting to see if Cyclones forward Craig Brackins garners any All-American votes. Brackins has little chance of landing on the first or second team, but he may merit a spot on the third team. Not sure there are 15 players in college hoops better than Brackins. (12)
		12.		Colorado (9-14, 1-8)		Colorado could win the rest of its games and they still might not move out of the cellar because, frankly, Wednesday’s effort against Iowa State was inexcusable. The Buffaloes trailed 37-9 at intermission. Nine points in an entire half? Wow. Jeff Bzdelik evidently hasn’t found the right players for his Air Force offense. (11)