Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
The Big 12 Conference has been on a roll as over late, winning 13 consecutive games since last Friday. The last time a member of the Big 12 has lost in that span was last Thursday when the Alabama Crimson Tide defeated the Texas Tech Red Raiders 76-64. In that contest, Alabama star Trevor Releford, younger brother of former Kansas Jayhawk Travis Releford, had a career-high 29 points.
After Releford trounced Texas Tech, the Big 12 has looked impressive. In their conference 13-game winning streak, eight of those games have been by double-digits. Iowa State also defeated then no. 7 Michigan on Sunday and Oklahoma State beat no. 11 Memphis on Tuesday. The only team that has not contributed to the win steak thus far is Oklahoma, who will play Friday against Seton Hall.
The team charged with extending the winning streak? The Kansas State Wildcats. Unfortunately, even with the Charlotte 49ers‘ two best players in Mike Thorne Jr. and Willie Clayton fouling out in final five minutes and only being down three, the Wildcats could not mount a comeback and lost 68-61.
Still, with four ranked teams, an unblemished record against the top 25, nine teams with a .500 or better record and their performance in the last week, the Big 12 conference has made a case for being the best conference in college basketball.
Kansas State may have snapped a conference-winning streak, but they lost a close contest to a likely tournament-bound Charlotte in Puerto Rico. If one of the bottom-feeders in the Big 12 can almost defeat one of the top teams in another conference despite shooting 37 percent from the floor and being out rebounded by 12, it truly speaks to the talent of the Big 12 Conference.
Don’t worry, Big 12 fans, your conference is still unbeaten against the top 25 and have an opportunity to get back to their winning ways when West Virginia and Texas Tech take the floor.
Jack Dooley is a Big 12 Basketball writer for Rant Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JackDooleyOCS and Facebook .
