2023-2024 Big 12 Men's Basketball Preview

Last season, the Big 12 conference was the most exciting and competitive conference in the country. A nation-high, 70 percent of the conference made the NCAA Tournament.

Four teams finished in the Postseason Coaches Poll Rankings including No. 7 Texas, No. 9 Kansas State, No. 11 Kansas and No. 19 Baylor. TCU, West Virginia and Iowa State all received votes, as well.

Four new teams joined the conference this season. BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF as the conference gets even more interesting.

The most intriguing of the new teams is Houston. A team that was always at the top of the American Athletic Conference and NCAA rankings.

Houston enters the season after losing their top two players in the first round of the draft. Despite this, the Cougars bring in two four-star recruits and a three-star guard. They also went into the transfer portal and picked up two transfers including former Baylor guard LJ Cryer.

Houston should not lose a step despite making the switch to a bigger conference.

The big teams in the conference will still be the big teams.

Despite losing players to the draft, the Big 12 was the transfer portal kings as four teams finished inside the top 10 among transfer portal recruiting rankings. Kansas, West Virginia and TCU all finished in the top three, while Texas ranked eighth in the nation among transfer recruits.

Kansas also lost its top two players, Jalen Wilson and Gradey Dick. So, Bill Self decided to bring in tons of talent.

According to 247 Sports Composite Rankings, the Jayhawks finished with the ninth overall recruiting class and the first-ranked transfer class.

Hunter Dickinson headlines the transfers for the Jayhawks and he will immediately be the starting big man for them.

After achieving a season of success like they haven’t seen in years, Texas gains even more talent as Shaka Smart looks to run things back to the Big 12 Championship.

The big name they were able to bring in was Max Abmas, a sharpshooting point guard from Oral Roberts. Abmas made a name for himself when he led Oral Roberts to the Sweet Sixteen in 2021.

Kansas State and TCU’s runs in the NCAA tournament should not be flukes as they will be just as good, if not better this year.

Kansas State got Creighton transfer Arthur Kaluma as their big name add, while TCU gained a commitment from Delaware transfer Jameer Nelson Jr., the son of former NBA player Jameer Nelson.

The Big 12 is entering unprecedented territory with the addition of four teams. Coming off such an exciting season, the conference as a whole has a lot to live up to. These additional teams help the conference be even more exciting and competitive this season.

12 out of the 14 teams are in action when the season kicks off on Nov. 6, 2023.

Andrew Deal is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email asd5765@psu.edu.