Six months after Florida rallied from a 12-point deficit to stun Houston in the national championship game, the eve of a new college basketball season sits on the horizon. It’s a welcome sight for hoops junkies, and there will be plenty of intriguing storylines to follow, especially in the Big 12, which had its Media Day on Wednesday.
With the intrigue comes questions that have yet to be answered, especially given the ever-changing landscape due to the transfer portal, coaching carousel and NIL deals. Only a few weeks remain until the regular season begins, and here are five burning questions for the Big 12 bouncing around inside my head:
1.) Will the Big 12 bounce back?
Last season, Houston finished as the national runner-up, Texas Tech advanced to the Elite Eight and five other teams from the league reached the NCAA Tournament, but the Big 12 ended up third nationally behind the SEC and Big Ten in the KenPom rankings. It was a step back for the league after finishing first in the same rankings the previous three years and winning national championships in 2021-22 (Kansas) and 2020-21 (Baylor), but all signs point to the Big 12 being strong again this season.
A record-tying six conference teams are ranked in the preseason Associated Press top 25, which matches a league record and ties for the national lead. All six ranked teams are in the top 20, with three inside the top 10, the most of any conference. Reigning Big 12 regular-season and postseason champion Houston is second in the preseason AP top 25 behind Purdue and was picked to win the league for a third straight year. The Cougars were joined in the top 10 by BYU (eighth) and Texas Tech (10th), and all three have the potential to win it all. Arizona (13th), Iowa State (16th) and Kansas (19th) were also ranked.
Joe Lunardi projects eight Big 12 schools to make the NCAA Tournament — every league team in the preseason poll plus Baylor and Cincinnati — with only the SEC and Big Ten (11 apiece) having more teams in the Big Dance. The top half of the Big 12 is undoubtedly strong — perhaps the best of any conference nationally — but the league as a whole will be better if the middle and lower-level teams improve from last season.
2.) Can Houston do it again?
The Big 12, once owned by Kansas (21 regular-season conference titles, including an NCAA-record 14 straight from the 2004-05 season to the 2017-18 campaign), has belonged to Houston since its arrival two seasons ago. The Cougars are the first team in a century to join a major conference and win the regular-season league championship in both of its first two years. The last team to do it? Idaho when it won the Pacific Coast Conference (now Pac-12) in the 1921-22 and 1922-23 seasons, respectively.
Houston has surpassed all outside expectations by going 67-10 overall since leaving the American to join the Big 12, including a 34-4 record against league opponents. Last season, the Cougars won a single-season school record 35 games and set program and Big 12 records with a 19-1 league mark. Kelvin Sampson has rebuilt this program with physically and mentally tough players who are committed to defense, rebounding and winning above all else.
It’s easy to see why Houston was picked to three-peat in the Big 12. The Cougars return three starters from last season in senior sharpshooting guards Emanuel Sharp and Milos Uzan and rugged junior forward Joseph “JoJo” Tugler, and they added the nation’s third-ranked recruiting class per 247Sports.com, headlined by five-star recruits Chris Cenac Jr., Kingston Flemings and Isiah Harwell. The pieces are there for the Cougars to win big again, but they’ll need strong seasons from Sharp, Uzan and Tugler — all of whom made the Preseason All-Big 12 Team — and quality contributions from those newcomers.
Big 12 Preseason Power Rankings for the 2025-26 Season
Can Houston win a title? Is Arizona bound for the Final Four? The Big 12 added new programs last year and the shakeup is just getting started.
3.) Exactly how good will Texas Tech and BYU be?
On paper, it looks like the next best teams in the Big 12 after Houston will be BYU and Texas Tech. On the court, exactly how good those teams can be remains to be seen.
BYU overcame a bumpy start in its inaugural Big 12 season under new coach Kevin Young to reach the Sweet Sixteen. There are bigger expectations this season as the Cougars were picked to finish second in the league following the addition of the program’s highest-rated recruit in five-star freshman A.J. Dybantsa. The 6-foot-9 wing was a unanimous preseason All-Big 12 selection after being the top-ranked Class of 2025 recruit in the 247Sports Composite. He had 30 points in an exhibition loss to Nebraska but must learn to share the ball with former Baylor guard Robert Wright III and returning senior Richie Saunders and adjust to playing at the collegiate level in an ultra-competitive league. The Cougars have a nice returning core — Saunders was voted the Big 12’s Most Improved Player and first-team all-league last season, and starting big man Keba Keita is also back — but they must improve their perimeter defense to make it a historic season. The trio of Dybantsa, Wright and Saunders could be enough to get BYU to its first Final Four.
Last season, the Red Raiders rolled to 28 wins and handed Houston its lone Big 12 loss before falling to eventual national champion Florida in the Elite Eight. They’ve lost four starters, but coach Grant McCasland returns the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year in 6-foot-9 junior forward J.T. Toppin and a potential star in 6-foot-3 sophomore guard Christian Anderson. McCasland also added some versatile D-I transfers in Donovan Atwell (UNC Greensboro), Tyeree Bryan (Santa Clara) and LeJuan Watts (Washington State) and an athletic defender in big man Luke Bamgboye (VCU). Toppin was named the league’s Preseason Player of the Year, Anderson joined him on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team and Watts was honored as its Preseason Newcomer of the Year as Texas Tech was picked to finish third in the league. The ceiling for this group will largely depend on how well they can defend, especially with its collective youth on the interior. McCasland has his Red Raiders believing that they can bring a national championship back to Lubbock.
4.) Will Kansas and Baylor bounce back?
The last two national champions from the Big 12, Kansas and Baylor, have fallen short of their own expectations in recent seasons.
In the previous two seasons, the Jayhawks opened as the No. 1 team in the AP poll before setting records both years for single-season losses under Bill Self. Last season, KU lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006 and had 13 losses, the most for the program in 42 years. This season, Big 12 coaches picked the Jayhawks to finish sixth, the lowest projection in the Self era. With 10 newcomers on the roster, Self will hand the keys to five-star phenom Darryn Peterson, the Big 12 Preseason Freshman of the Year and a unanimous preseason all-league selection. The 6-foot-6 guard was rated the nation’s top Class of 2025 recruit by 247Sports and On3 but cannot be expected to do everything for the Jayhawks. They need more from sophomore big Flory Bidunga and solid contributions out of transfers Tre White (Illinois) and Melvin Council Jr. (St. Bonaventure) and freshman Kohl Rosario or risk another early March exit.
Back in the 2020-21 season, Baylor won its first national championship with elite defense and efficient shooting to complete arguably the most improbable turnaround in college hoops given what Scott Drew inherited two decades earlier. The Bears have since suffered four straight first-round NCAA Tournament losses. Drew now has a completely new roster with another five-star recruit in 6-foot-5 wing Tounde Yessoufou and several D-I transfers, including guards Obi Agbim (Wyoming), Dan Skillings Jr. (Cincinnati) and Cameron Carr (Tennessee), forward Michael Rataj (Oregon State) and center Juslin Bodo Bodo (High Point). Yessoufou, originally from Benin, finished as California’s all-time leading scorer. Agbim was MVP of the World University Games over the summer as Baylor represented Team USA. Rataj, a proven scorer and rebounder, was first-team All-West Coast Conference. The Bears must play together and improve defensively for better results.
5.) Will freshmen rule the Big 12?
We’ve already discussed the league’s two top-flight freshmen in Peterson and Dybantsa. Both could have Cooper Flagg-like impacts this season as serious National Player of the Year candidates for title-contending teams. Peterson is projected to go No. 1 in ESPN’s latest 2026 NBA mock draft, while Dybantsa is predicted to be the second pick.
You’ve also read how Houston will lean on a trio of blue-chip freshmen to continue its winning ways, with the 6-foot-11 Cenac currently No. 11 on ESPN’s 2026 NBA mock draft big board. Baylor has a projected first-rounder in Yessoufou, who is No. 18 in ESPN’s big board rankings.
What about Arizona? Picked to finish fourth in the Big 12, the Wildcats have four returners, including senior starting guard Jaden Bradley, from a 24-win team and added the nation’s second-best recruiting class (behind only Duke, according to 247Sports). Tommy Lloyd’s squad will be young but talented with five freshmen in the projected rotation, led by five-star recruits Koa Peat and Brayden Burries, both of whom were McDonald’s All-Americans.
Another projected first-round draft pick, Peat is a physical 6-foot-8 forward who helped Lloyd and Team USA secure gold in July at the FIBA U19 World Cup. Burries should replace some of the scoring lost following the departure of Caleb Love as the Wildcats look to take another step forward after three Sweet Sixteen appearances in four seasons under Lloyd.
