The Pinnacle of College Hoops

Bad Losses
-None

Team Breakdown
-The Cowboys have gotten off to a very hot start this year winning 15 of their first 16 games and are going into the Big 12 campaign as one of the favorites along with Kansas, Texas A&M and Texas to win the conference.  While OSU might not be as talented or as deep as those teams they do have two of the very best players in the conference and have beaten three quality opponents in Missouri State, Syracuse and Pittsburgh.
This team is winning games with very efficient offense.  They have one of the best interior finishers in the country in Mario Boggan(21.7ppg) who is also one of the strongest low post players in the country.  Even though Boggan is undersized as a 6′7 center he’s a bullish player who knows how to get good position down and low and knows how to finish strong on the interior.  He’s also has surprisingly quick feet and is effective facing up to the hoop and scoring as well. 
The other player that has stepped up big time this year is senior combo guard JamesOn Curry(18.9ppg).  Curry is difficult defend because he’s so quick and so good at getting by his defender but if you give him space and play off of him he’ll knock down the perimeter shot with deadly consistency.  This year though he’s also handling a lot of the point guard duties(4.7apg) and is not only scoring but creating shots for his teammates and running the offense.
With Curry and Boggan, OSU has a solid inside-outside combination that makes them very difficult to defend.  However, outside of those two players this team lacks a consistent third scoring option and do not have a lot of depth on it’s roster.  This is also not a very good perimeter shooting team.  Outside of Curry and Harris(11.6ppg) this team is extremely inept from the perimeter.  One other area of concern on offense is team ball handling.  Curry is not a true point guard and their other point guard, Byron Eaton, has struggled with consistency, taking care of the basketball and shooting from the outside.
Defensively, this team is rather average, however, they do have an absolute defensive stopper in Marcus Dove, who at 6′9 can defend up to a number of different positions and gives OSU a perimeter shutdown defender.  Their lack of height on the interior means they don’t have an interior shotblocker which hurts them in the half court setting defensively.
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#2 Kansas 13-2 (0-0)

Bad Losses
-Oral Roberts 71-78
-Depaul 57-64

Team Breakdown
There is no question that is the most talented team in the Big 12, however, they struggled early in the year and were upset by Oral Roberts at home as well as Depaul on the road.  Both of those losses showed that Kansas had some things to work on but they’ve responded well in winning their last seven games with wins over Southern Cal, Boston College and South Carolina.  For this team to continue it’s success they will need to find a go to scorer and will need to not play down to their opponents.
There are not many better defensive teams out there than this Kansas team.  With Sasha Kaun(5.3ppg) getting back to full strength this team has shown excellent interior defense as well as excellent perimeter defense.  Kaun, Arthur(12.5ppg) and Wright(11.9ppg) give Kansas three interior shot blockers who rebound the basketball extremely well to go along with three very quick and attacking defensive guards in Chalmers(12.7ppg), Robinson(6.1ppg) and Collins(7.4ppg).  Last but not least is Brandon Rush(13.3ppg) who is a very underrated on ball defender.  In terms of half court defense, full court defense and rebounding, this team is as good as it gets in college basketball.
Offensively, KU is not quite as dominant but they do have up a number of different scoring options and a ton of athletes.  A lot of KU’s offense comes in transtion, via turnovers.  This KU team loves to pressure the basketball and their guards are very good finishers and passers in the open court.  When teams are able to slow the game down though this team becomes a much less effective offensive team.  A lot of that is because this team does not have a go to scorer.  Heading into the season, most people thought that Brandon Rush would be the teams main scoring threat, however, he hasn’t shown the ability to break defenders down off the dribble with consistency. 
Chalmers is probably the teams most capable scorer and biggest offensive threat to the opposition.  He’s struggled a little with his jumper this year but he’s certainly capable of hitting long rangs shots and scores most of his points in transition with his speed and quickness.  Freshman Darrell Arthur is another player who could step up as the teams main scoring threat.  He arguably has the most offensive talent and skill on the team.  Until someone steps up and becomes the teams leader and consistent main scoring threat this team will likely not live up to it’s lofty preseason expectations.
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#3 Texas A&M 13-2 (1-0)

Quality Wins
-Saint Louis 69-33
-Auburn 87-58 on the road
-Winthrop 71-51

Team Breakdown
It’s hard to tell just how good this Texas A&M team is right now because of their relatively soft schedule.  What we do know about this team though is that they can defend as well as any team in the country in the half court setting.  The Aggies are a defensive minded team with good size on the interior and excellent on ball defenders on the perimeter.  Guards A.C. Law(15.3ppg) and Dominique Kirk(6.9ppg) form one of the best back court tandoms defensively in the country.  They’re also both quality ball handlers that know how to setup the offense and create shots for teammates.  Especially, Law who has developed into one of the finest all around guards in college basketball.  His ability to score, pass, defend and run the offense makes him one of the most valuable players in the Big 12.
Where this teams biggest strength may be though is on the interior with Joseph Jones(13.5ppg) and Antanas Kavaliauskas(12.2ppg).  Both are strong low post players that can score with their backs to the basket.  Jones has proven himself to be an All Big 12 player the last two years and is a physical interior player and one of the best finishers in the conference.  Kavaliauskas is more of a skilled post player with a very soft touch and decent shooting ability.  This size upfront also helps out A&M in the rebounding and post defense departments.
This team also has one of the best perimeter shooters in the Big 12 in Sophomore Josh Carter(12.9ppg) who is currently shooting at a blistering 53% from behind the arc.  With Carter shooting the basketball from the outside and Jones and Kav on the interior as well as Law and Kirk on the perimeter, this A&M team has a very formidable offensive attack to go along with being one of the best defensive teams in the country.
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#4 Texas 11-3 (1-0)

Quality Wins
-LSU 76-75
-Arkansas 80-76

Bad Losses
-None

#5 Texas Tech 13-4 (2-0)

Starting Lineup
C-Esmir Rizvic 7′0 250 JR
PF-Michael Prince 6′7 195 SO
SF-Martin Zeno 6′5 205 JR
SG-Jarrius Jackson 6′1 200 SR
PG-Charles Burgess 6′1 185 JR

Team Breakdown
This is a very perimeter oriented team that relies almost exclusively on their perimeter players to score for them.  Their lack of anything reliable on the interior is a major weakness and a question mark heading into every basketball game.  However, with Jarrius Jackson(21.1ppg), Martin Zeno(16.5ppg) and Charles Burgess(10.3ppg), Texas Tech has three guards that can effectively play together, score points and generate offense from the perimeter.  Texas Tech uses a number of different players at the interior positions but haven’t, yet, found a set starter at either position.
Anytime you have a team that is guard dominated with ineffective post players you’re likely to struggle rebounding the basketball and that is just the case with this Texas Tech team.  The Red Raiders are arguably the worst rebounding team in the Big 12 and they’ll struggle holding their own on the boards in just about every contest they have this year.  The main way that teams can make up for lack of rebounding is by pressuring the basketball and forcing turnovers in order to even out the shot attempts.  This Texas Tech team has the athletes and perimeter players to force turnovers and they will look to pressure as much as possible this season. 
Even though this team is short on talent, depth, rebounding and interior producution in the front court they do have the best scoring threat in the Big 12 in Jarrius Jackson.  Jackson is one of the most underrated and underappreciated players in the country.  He’s consistenly been one of the best scorers in the college basketball over the last couple of seasons and he’s good enough to keep Texas Tech in the hunt for the NCAA Tournament come March.
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#6 Missouri 11-3 (0-1)

Quality Wins
-Arkansas 86-64
-Mississippi State 83-75

Bad Losses
-Purdue 62-79 on the road
-Iowa State 65-66

#7 Nebraska 11-3 (0-0)

Quality Wins
-Creighton 73-61
-Western Kentucky 82-71

Bad Losses
-Rutgers 73-75 on the road
-Hawaii 72-81