NCAA Basketball Predictions: 2008 Big 12 Conference Preview

Written October 13, 2008 by Jack Jones

Everyone is saying that the Big 12 conference is going to be down this year and from top-to-bottom we would probably have to agree. Texas and Oklahoma are going to be contenders and Baylor and Kansas are Top 25 caliber teams. Outside of that Texas A&M is the only other team that we see having a shot at making the NCAA tournament. The rest of the league has some catching up to do. Let’s take a look at our predicted order of finish, along with the latest college basketball odds on each team winning the conference title. All lines are from BetUS. Read our BetUS review to see why this is a great place to bet on college basketball.

1. Texas (+200) – This team has so many good players returning it’s hard not to see them competing for a national title. Oklahoma is the only team close to them in the conference. Read more in our Texas basketball predictions article.

2. Oklahoma (+250) – Getting Blake Griffin back is huge for this team. They have the talent to compete and should give the Longhorns a run for their money. Read more in our Oklahoma basketball predictions article.

3. Baylor (+450) – This team is deep in the backcourt and experienced enough to do some damage. They could surprise some people. Read more in our Baylor basketball predictions article.

4. Kansas (+600) – Nobody is expecting much out of Self’s group after losing all that talent. The good news for Jayhawk fans though is he brought in a great class to get back on top. Read more in our Kansas basketball predictions article.

5. Texas A&M (+800) – This team has a good core of players with Josh Carter, Donald Sloan, and Bryan Davis. If they can get a few of their inexperienced players to shine they could win quite a few games. Read more in our Texas A&M basketball predictions article.

6. Oklahoma State (+750) – This team suits Ford’s new offense well. They have struggled the past couple of years under Sean Sutton, but will rebound a little bit in this transition year. Read more in our Oklahoma State basketball predictions article.

7. Missouri (+900) – Head coach Mike Anderson finally has some of his guys in the program so we will see what he’s made of. Our guess is that he’s going to need another year or two to get this school back on track. Read more in our Missouri basketball predictions article.

8. Texas Tech (+1200) – Pat Knight’s first full year as head coach begins with a pretty bare cupboard inside. Is the backcourt good enough to carry them? Probably not but you can read more in our Texas Tech basketball predictions article.

9. Nebraska (+1500) – Doc Sadler is slowly but surely turning this program around. They won’t finish high this year, but in the next few years this is a program to watch. Read more in our Nebraska basketball predictions article.

10. Kansas State (+2000) – This team will fall hard and fast without Michael Beasley and Bill Walker. If they made the NIT tournament the fans would have to be pretty happy. Read more in our Kansas State basketball predictions article.

11. Iowa State (+3000) – This is a young team that is going to need a year or two to develop. Head coach Greg McDermott is running out of time though. Read more in our Iowa State basketball predictions article.

12. Colorado (+5000) – Not too many good things we can say about this bunch. We think Jeff Bzdelik can get this thing turned around, but it sure isn’t going to be this year. Read more in our Colorado basketball predictions article.