Hop's Big 12 Hoops Power Rankings

Aggie Websider's David Sandhop takes a look at the first weekend of Big 12 basketball and updates his power rankings for the conference. Did the Jayhawks' loss to Tennessee drop them in the latest rankings? What impact did Kansas State's road loss to Missouri have in this week's ranking? It's all in this week's edition of Hop's Big 12 Hoops Power Rankings

The first weekend of the Big 12 season is in the books. Only one team in Hop’s Big 12 Hoops Power Rankings previous edition suffered a conference defeat on Saturday. No. 3 Kansas State lost 74-68 on the road against a solid Missouri team. Given that the game was in Columbia, the result isn't a huge surprise. The rest of the upper division opening up conference play all won, and they all won at home. Thus, there really were no major head-turners in week one. For that reason, there were no changes at the top of the latest weekly rankings

A top six team did lose, but the Jayhawks visited No. 16 Tennessee and suffered their first loss of the season 76-68. But with Kansas State also losing, the Jayhawks kept their No. 2 for the week.

The movement in the rankings occurred in the lower division. Missouri moved up a spot to No. 7 with its win over KSU coupled with OSU's dismantling of Texas Tech in Stillwater.

Oklahoma's 30 point loss in Waco dropped the Sooners down to the No. 10 slot, and elevated Nebraska to the No. 9 spot by default despite the Cornhuskers' 11-point loss to the Aggies.

Iowa State continues to struggle of late squeaking by North Dakota State by one point in non-conference play on Saturday, and they dropped to the No. 12 spot despite Colorado's 17-point loss to the Longhorns in Austin.

Four big games are on tap next week that could affect the weekly rankings, and the Aggies are playing in two of them. On Tuesday, Texas A&M travels to Manhattan to take on nationally ranked and No. 3 rated Kansas State. The Wildcats are reeling after losing to Missouri and then dealing with the controversy of head coach Frank Martin hitting a player during Saturday's game.

On Wednesday, Missouri travels Texas Tech for what will be a close battle. If Missouri can leave Lubbock with a victory, they could be poised to move up the Big 12 pecking order On Saturday, No. 6 Oklahoma State visits Waco to faace the No. 4 Baylor Bears. The Bears are on the verge of taking over the No. 3 spot, and a win over the Cowboys could do the trick.

Finally, the Aggies stay on the road and will be in Austin on Saturday to face what will likely be the No. 1 team in the nation - the Texas Longhorns. Realistically, the Aggies will be thrilled with a 1-1 week. Breaking even against two Top 10 teams on the road will see A&M move up next week's Big 12 rankings.

Here’s the rankings:


Hop’s Big 12 Power Rankings (1/11)


  Team              Spots Moved From Last Week

1.  Texas                              -

2.  Kansas                           -

3.  Kansas State                -

4.  Baylor                             -

5.  Texas A&M                     -

6.  Oklahoma State            -

7.  Missouri                        +1

8.  Texas Tech                    -1

9.  Nebraska                       +1

10.  Oklahoma                    -1

11.  Colorado                     +1

12.  Iowa State                    -1