MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Surrounded by a mass of media in a back hallway of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Bob Huggins was eventually asked the question that officially kicked off the Big 12 season for the 16th-ranked Mountaineers.
Do you think playing in this NCAA-tournament atmosphere will help WVU moving forward?
Not wanting to downplay what the Mountaineers had just accomplished by knocking off then-No. 2 Ohio State, Huggins still didn’t hesitate to unveil what lie ahead for the Mountaineers.
“We’re going to Allen Fieldhouse next week, so we get a whole lot of that in our league,” Huggins said. “We get a whole lot of tournament atmosphere.”
West Virginia’s introduction to the 2020 Big 12 season will be unlike any of its previous seven league openers with the Mountaineers’ visit to the third-ranked Jayhawks (10-2) at 4 p.m. Saturday.
WVU (11-1) is 0-7 at Kansas, including two overtime losses. Each game came in front of a sold-out crowd of 16,300.
“It’s great that we won this game, but we have to know that there are bigger games for us coming up,” WVU guard Chase Harler said after the Ohio State win. “We’re starting the Big 12 on the road at Kansas and then Oklahoma State. Those are two of the best teams in the league, so we’ll find out a lot more about ourselves coming up.”
All 10 Big 12 teams will be in action Saturday in league games, so here is a look at how the Big 12 has fared to this point and what to expect the rest of the season.
One big win, one big loss
While the Mountaineers’ 67-59 victory against the Buckeyes was a signature victory for the Big 12, too, the league took a major hit in Iowa State’s 70-68 loss against Florida A&M on Tuesday.
The Rattlers were a 25 1/2-point underdog and was previously 0-106 against teams from major conferences.
“No excuses,” Iowa State coach Steve Prohm told reporters after the game. “We got beat and you’ve got to live with it.”
As for other major wins for Big 12 teams in non-conference play, Texas Tech knocked off then-No. 1 Louisville and did it without leading scorer Jahmi’us Ramsey, who was nursing a sore hamstring.
Baylor has three wins against top 25 teams in Villanova, Arizona and Butler.
Kansas is 1-2 against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25, with a season-opening loss against Duke, as well as a loss to Villanova.
The Jayhawks beat Dayton to win the Maui Invitational this season.
Another non-conference note comes in the form of the first-ever Big 12/Big East Battle, which the Big East won, 8-2, this season.
Projections, looking back
The Big 12 coaches selected Kansas center Udoka Azubuike as the Big 12’s preseason Player of the Year.
The 7-footer has averaged 13.0 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, but has had flashes of inconsistency.
He had 29 points in the Jayhawks’ victory against Dayton, but has combined for just 23 over his last three games.
Here are how the other selections have worked out so far:
* Preseason first-team: Devon Dotson (Kansas) is leading the Big 12 in scoring at 18.8 points per game.
* Tristan Clark (Baylor) missed the team’s first four games while still recovering from a knee injury last season. He’s averaging 5.3 points per game.
* Tyrese Haliburton (Iowa State) leads the Big 12 in assists (7.7 per game) and is averaging 17.3 points and shooting 54% from the field.
* Desmond Bane (TCU) is fifth in the Big 12 in scoring at 17.1 points per game.
Top freshmen
West Virginia’s Oscar Tshiebwe was voted the league’s preseason Freshman of the Year, but will enter conference play with a few contenders for the award.
Leading the way is Texas Tech’s Ramsey, who is second among Big 12 scorers, averaging 18.4 points. Teammate Terrance Shannon Jr. is scoring 12.1 points as a freshman for the Red Raiders.
Tshiebwe is averaging 11.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game.
Projections, looking ahead
The Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) is no longer used by the NCAA selection committee as an evaluation tool.
The RPI still continues to make its own season predictions based off its rankings.
Heading into Big 12 play, this is how the RPI predicts the final Big 12 standings:
1. Kansas 14-4
(tie) West Virginia 14-4
3. Baylor 10-8
(tie) Oklahoma State 10-8
5. Oklahoma 9-9
6. Texas Tech 7-11
(tie) Texas 7-11
(tie) Iowa State 7-11
(tie) TCU 7-11
10. Kansas State 5-13
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