Bill Self and Scott Drew came into the Big 12 together in 2003. Would anyone have predicted 19 years later that they would own what has become the best league in college basketball in the 2020s?
That’s what it’s looking like so far this decade. Baylor and Kansas had arguably the two best teams in men’s college basketball in the postseason-less 2020. Then Drew won the league and the national title in 2021 with Kansas finishing second, followed by the two teams sharing the league title last season and Kansas winning the national championship.
Now we’re to the point where, no matter the rosters, you should probably just put those two at the top. Last year in the official unofficial Big 12 media poll, the media folks were buying the hype in Austin and voted the Longhorns second. My friends have learned their lesson this year. Only four ballots do not have KU and Baylor, in some order, at the very top. (There are a few Longhorn believers again, and maybe they’re onto something — Ken Pomeroy’s preseason projections have Texas as the second-best team in the country.)
Now how do you decide between Baylor and Kansas?
Since Self and Drew joined the league, only one team has won the Big 12 without shooting better than 35 percent from 3 in league play.
