Texas (15-0, 1-0) moved to #1 in the AP polls on Monday, but with Kansas, Kansas State and Texas Tech losing on the road Saturday, the Big 12 took a bit of a hit.
The Longhorns claimed its first-ever top ranking, moving up from second after a 103-86 win over the Colorado Buffaloes (9-6, 0-1). Rick Barnes' juggernaut goes on the road again Wednesday to face Iowa State (11-4, 0-0).
After holding the top ranking since the season began, KU (14-1, 0-0) slipped to #3 after losing 68-76 to Tennessee Sunday in Knoxville. Bruce Pearl's Volunteers (12-2) moved up to #9 from the 11th spot and used smoke and mirrors after losing four scholarship players following a traffic stop that turned from bad to worse. Pearl dismissed Tyler Smith after police found alcohol, drugs and a handgun in a carful of scholarship players. The other three have been suspended indefinitely, forcing Pearl to rotate a number of walk-ons to upset the Jayhawks. The Vols, always a long and athletic bunch, outran, outjumped and outhustled Bill Self's 'Hawks, playing their first quality opponent of the season. KU tips off its conference schedule Wednesday in Lincoln against Nebraska (12-4, 0-1), which lost 53-64 Saturday on the road to Texas A&M (12-3, 0-1).
K-State (13-2) dropped two spots to #13 after losing 68-74 in Columbia to Missouri (13-3, 1-0). In his post-game comments, Wildcat Coach Frank Martin questioned pollsters and prognosticators who picked the Tigers to finish as low as 8th in the Big 12, calling it a "slap in the face" of a team that went to the Elite Eight in last year's NCAA tournament.
Pat Knight's Red Raiders (12-3, 0-1) fell out of the Top 25 when they dropped their conference opener 52-81 at Oklahoma State (13-2, 1-0). Travis Ford's Cowboys go to Norman tonight to face Oklahoma (9-6, 0-1) which was walloped 60-91 on the road at Baylor (13-1, 1-0) in its conference opener. The Bears moved up to #22 in the polls, after being unranked in the early going. Bryce Drew's crew goes to Boulder Tuesday.
Texas A&M (126), Missouri (64), Oklahoma State (26) and Texas Tech (10) all received votes in this week's poll. That puts eight conference teams in the top 40.
Mizzou travels to Lubbock Wednesday for an 8 p.m. tipoff against Tech on ESPNU. Stealing this game on the road could be crucial to the Tigers' plans for March. After the Illinois win, I chalked up the home opener against K-State as a loss and suggested MU would need to pick up a road win against Tech or Oklahoma to offset any home losses. While it is still too soon to foresee how the Big 12 will play out, a win Wednesday would clearly give the Black and Gold a leg up in the conference race.
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