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Myron Medcalf, ESPN Staff Writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Last week, the SEC and its coaches proclaimed the men’s basketball product was superior to the rest around the country. And with nine SEC teams in the Associated Press preseason top-25 poll, they have a case.
The Big 12’s leadership, however, is not convinced.
During their men’s basketball media day on Wednesday, the Big 12’s top coaches declared the conference the undeniable king of college basketball.
“Every league is really hard, especially when you get into league play and the stakes are higher and the awareness of each other is different,” Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller said. “Every league is really hard. I think when people, like myself, stand up here and say we have the best league, it’s not a slight towards anybody else’s league or disrespect. It’s a fact. I don’t think it’s an opinion. Just look at the numbers. Seriously, look at the numbers.”
The conference lost Texas and Oklahoma, but added Arizona and three others a year after welcoming Houston, BYU, UCF and Cincinnati. The No. 10 Wildcats and No. 4 Cougars are among five Big 12 teams in the top 10 of the AP preseason poll, along with No. 1 Kansas, No. 5 Iowa State and No. 8 Baylor.
Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang, who led his team to the Elite Eight in his first season in Manhattan two years ago, said the gap between the Big 12 and the rest of the country is vast.
“It’s not close,” Tang said. “It’s not debatable. I guess people can debate what they want to. But the results show it. There have been three schools in the last four years to win a national championship and two of them are from the Big 12. It has the best players, best coaches, best environments and kids want to be a part of that.”
Based on KenPom’s rankings, the Big 12 has 13 teams that finished last season in the top-75 during the 2023-24 season. The Big 12 has also finished first in KenPom’s conference ratings for three consecutive years and nine of the past 11 seasons.
With a 20-game schedule and a more robust field, Jayhawks coach Bill Self said this will be the most challenging league he has ever faced.
“A lot of leagues are top heavy, but they’re also bottom heavy,” Self said. “This league has no bottom. No matter where you go, winning on the road or not winning on the road will not be considered an upset in coaches’ minds.”
Two of the last four national champions have come from the Big 12 — Baylor in 2021, Kansas in 2022 — but Kelvin Sampson said he’s not focused on the league’s slate, because he refuses to look too far ahead.
“If you don’t think little things will kill you, get locked up in a tent with a mosquito and you think about the damage that thing can do to you,” Sampson said. “The Big 12 is an elephant. Ain’t nothing you can do about those things now. What I focus on is I focus on coaching my team. I would have a hard time probably writing down all 16 [Big 12] teams. Everybody knows it’s a tough league, but that’s not jaw-dropping.”
The Big 12 will have to justify the preseason buzz once the NCAA tournament arrives. The gauntlet within the league, however, could hurt good teams that struggle in what is arguably the most competitive conference in America, Self said.
“I think there is going to be the appearance of off days far more often for teams in our league that aren’t really off days,” Self said. “You just got beat.”