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Biggest of Big 12 challenges
Texas Tech is one of the favorites to win the league next season. It also might have the toughest schedule of any Big 12 school. Plus: Zakai Zeigler denied 5th season, Arkansas lands another big man, an NEC will host a Big Ten school, and John Calipari's method to avoid locker room tension,
Tristan Freeman
June 13, 2025
Good morning! A quick programming note: No Daily all next week. Mike apparently needed a vacation.
We’ll be back on June 23. See you then.
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1. Who has the toughest Big 12 schedule?
With the Big 12 moving to an 18-game league schedule, the unbalanced respective schedules for each team suddenly become more important, especially for the regular-season title. It matters which teams you play twice — and where — more than ever.
So this conference schedule opponent matrix matters.
Which team has the toughest and easiest schedules in the Big 12?
To help, I used Field of 68’s own Rob Dauster’s most recent WTE power rankings for 2025-26, which include six teams from the Big 12. Using that, there are five programs — Texas Tech, BYU, Iowa State, Kansas, and Arizona — that play two different top-25 teams, home and away.
(It’s notable that BYU is included among them. That’s a nod to the Cougars’ improved roster that includes perhaps the best incoming freshman in A.J. Dybantsa.)
For the tiebreaker, I looked at which team each of the five plays exclusively on the road. Only Texas Tech plays two top-25 teams (Arizona and ISU) in that scenario. There are always surprises once the season starts in November. But right now, the Red Raiders look to have the toughest league schedule for next year.
And what about reigning champ Houston? The Coogs have home-and-home games Baylor, Cincy and Texas Tech, but do face Iowa State, BYU and Kansas only on the road. That’s a tough series of road games, but those home-and-home games should be more winnable than the other five.
2. Judge rules on Zakai Zeigler playing 5th year
Remember the dozens of seniors without any eligibility entering the transfer portal before the deadline? It was done under the slim possibility that they would get an extra season. That’s what Zakai Zeigler, a four-year starting guard at Tennessee, was trying to do.
