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The best college basketball conference entering the 2021-22 season could be the Big 12 as it has three schools ranked in the Top 8 of the AP Poll: No. 3 Kansas, No. 5 Texas and No. 8 Baylor, the defending national champion. The Bears are also defending Big 12 regular-season champions, but the Jayhawks are +190 favorites this year. They open the season next Tuesday vs. Michigan State in the Champions Classic. Let’s take a look at the following analysis to help you place your NCAA basketball odds.

Analysis College Basketball Big 12 Conference

Coach Bill Self’s team was picked by the league’s coaches to win the Big 12. Kansas has been the coaches’ choice in 10 of the last 11 seasons and 19 times in the 26-year history of the Big 12. At season’s end, KU has outright or tied the conference regular-season championship 19 times, including an NCAA-record 14 consecutive from 2005-18. For the 2021-22 poll, the Jayhawks collected eight first-place votes and finished with a total of 80 points. Texas received the other two first-place nods to land at second with 70 points. Baylor was third with 67 points, with Texas Tech fourth with 51 points.

KU senior Remy Martin was been named the 2021-22 Preseason Big 12 Player of the Year. Joining Martin on the six-member preseason all-league team are KU seniors Ochai Agbaji and David McCormack.

Martin will play his final season at KU after transferring from Arizona State. He was a three-time All-Pac-12 selection, earning second-team honors as a sophomore and first team his junior and senior seasons. In 2020-21, Martin led the Pac-12 with 19.1 points per game, including 21.5 ppg in conference play. Martin is the 10th Jayhawk to be named the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year and the eighth under head coach Bill Self. Agbaji led Kansas in scoring in 2020-21 at 14.1 points per game. McCormack averaged 13.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in 2020-21 and was the named the first recipient of the Big 12 Most Improved Player Award.

Texas is the +240 second favorite under new coach Chris Beard, formerly of Texas Tech but a Texas alum. In five seasons at Texas Tech, Beard led the Red Raiders to a 112-55 record with three appearances out of four NCAA Tournaments held during that span. Texas Tech advanced to the national championship game in 2019 but lost to Virginia. Beard replaces Shaka Smart, who left for Marquette.

The Horns lost three starters off last year’s team but Beard brought in some stellar transfers. Coaches picked UT to finish second behind Kansas and senior guard Marcus Carr was selected as the Preseason Newcomer of the Year and tabbed to the Preseason All-Big 12 team, while senior guard Andrew Jones and junior forward Tre Mitchell each were named Preseason Honorable Mention All-Big 12.

Carr is just the second UT player and first since Maurice Evans (2000-01) to receive Preseason Newcomer of the Year honors. Carr earned All-Big Ten First Team (Associated Press) recognition last season at Minnesota, where he ranked first in the Big Ten in minutes played (35.8 mpg), third in scoring (19.4 ppg) and assists (4.9 apg) and sixth in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.1).

Baylor is +450 to win the regular-season title again but the Bears lost a lot of talent to the NBA. Plus, top freshman guard Langston Love recently suffered a season-ending knee injury. He was ranked No. 28 nationally in the 2021 ESPN 100 and was part of Baylor’s three-player freshman class ranked as high as No. 4 nationally by ESPN.

Coaches picked Baylor to finish third in the league this year. Senior Matthew Mayer was named to the 2021-22 Preseason All-Big 12 Team and Kendall Brown is the Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year.

Mayer has played off the bench in 93 games over his first three seasons at Baylor, averaging 5.9 points and 2.5 rebounds in 12.9 minutes per game. He increased his scoring production by 68 percent from his sophomore to junior year, averaging 8.1 points per game as a junior last season after posting 4.8 points per game as a sophomore in 2019-20. Brown is the first player in program history selected as Preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year. He was ranked as the No. 12 overall recruit in the country.

Baylor doesn’t open defense of its title until Friday, Nov. 12.

Expert picks Texas wins Big 12, Kansas second