The Big 12 has a lot of legitimate national title contenders this season but it is fair to question whether No. 16 BYU is actually one of them. Despite possessing an expensive roster of portal additions like Rob Wright and a contender for the top pick in June's NBA Draft in A.J. Dybantsa, the Cougars appear a notch behind the best teams in their own conference.
Both games for the Cougars last week followed the same script as BYU was blitzed in the first half before surging just shy of a win in the second. While BYU is certainly trending in the wrong way in this week's Stock Watch, let's start things off with a look at who is on the rise, sticking in the Big 12 with Darryn Peterson's first signature moment for Kansas.
College Basketball Stock Watch - Rising
Darryn Peterson
The Peterson vs. Dybantsa duel on Saturday was decisively one-sided when Peterson was in the game as he smoked Dybantsa in the first half before more leg issues sidelined him early into the second half. The Jayhawks got Peterson through the full game on Monday against No. 13 Texas Tech and he had his signature moment for No. 11 Kansas, splashing back-to-back threes in the final 1:20 to help steal a 64-61 road win against one of the Big 12's top dogs.
Even though Peterson hit just 5-of-14 shots from the floor, he got to the free throw line often, nailing six of eight from the charity stripe while playing a season-high 35 minutes. The Jayhawks have shown they can be competitive against strong teams even without Peterson but he is the kind of difference maker who can elevate Kansas into the national championship conversation, which he teased by taking over the end game on Monday.
Indiana Hoosiers
The Hoosiers have been hovering awfully close to the bubble for a while thanks to an average start to their season but Darian DeVries' team is starting to kick things into high gear. A five-point home win over then-No. 12 Purdue may have been the turning point for Indiana's season as they were able to follow it up with a gutty road win at fellow Big Ten bubbler UCLA, hanging on to win 98-97 to improve to 6-5 in league play.
This resume figures to stay bubbly because Indiana has a lot of tough games left, including a road trip to No. 5 Illinois and Purdue in a few weeks as well as a visit from No. 10 Michigan State in late February, but the Hoosiers are playing well enough now to feel confident they can survive that stretch. If DeVries can get his team to go 5-4 down the stretch, they will enter the Big Ten Tournament at 20-11 with a few quality wins on their ledger, which should be enough to lock down a bid this year.
Saint Louis Billikens
Advanced metrics are very high on No. 19 Saint Louis, which looks like an absolute wagon in the Atlantic 10. The only loss the Billikens have suffered this season came by a point to Stanford in Palm Springs in November and they have won 15 in a row since, tying them with No. 6 Gonzaga for the fourth-longest active win streak in the nation.
Few teams have much of an answer for Saint Louis' explosive offense, which averages 91.4 points per game (good for eighth in the country) as former Indiana State big man Robbie Avila serves as the fulcrum point for the unit to work around. There are a few good win opportunities for the Billikens down the stretch, including a matchup with VCU and a season-ending trip to 20-2 George Mason, so Saint Louis may be able to put themselves into a position where they don't need the auto bid to go dancing.
West Coast Conference
The conference that has served as Gonzaga's fiefdom for the better part of a quarter century has stepped up its quality of play with the Bulldogs set to depart for the new-look Pac-12 next season. While Saint Mary's has done a good job positioning itself to be the new North Star of the WCC, the league could have a three-bid season with Santa Clara right in the mix for an at-large bid alongside Gonzaga and the Gaels.
The traditionally small conference has punched above its weight in the past and it wouldn't be shocking if all three of those schools not only got into the dance but won at least a game when they get there. The WCC won't be the same once Gonzaga is gone but this season has shown that the league won't become completely irrelevant in a post-Bulldog universe.
College Basketball Stock Watch - Falling
BYU Cougars
It feels like a whole different season when the Cougars beat Clemson at the buzzer at the Jimmy V Classic in December. The past two weeks have been very humbling for BYU, which has dropped three of four games in league play against the types of teams it will be running into in the second weekend of March Madness, losing by 13 to Texas Tech before dropping three-point decisions to both Arizona and Kansas last week.
Dybantsa, in particular, has seemed to have trouble getting going against stronger teams that have better defensive schemes to take away his strengths. A 17-4 record means there won't be any bubble fears for the Cougars anytime soon, especially if they continue to beat the teams they're supposed to in league play, but these past few games may have shown us a ceiling they won't be able to break through in March.
Creighton Bluejays
The Big East may end up with just three teams in the NCAA Tournament this season and a big reason why appears to be the complete disaster Creighton has become. After entering the year as the conference's third ranked side behind UCONN and St. John's, the Bluejays got crushed against a very tough non-conference schedule and needed to do good work in league play to repair that damage to their resume.
While it looked as if Gregg McDermott had stabilized things by mid-January, the bottom has fallen out for Creighton again, which has dropped three of its past four games, with two of the losses coming to the league's bottom feeders Providence and Marquette, the latter by 24 on the road. At 12-10 overall and 6-5 in the league, it's looking a lot like auto bid or bust for Creighton if they don't run the table from here on out.
Alabama Crimson Tide
There were points this season where Alabama looked like the SEC's best team and early wins over St. John's, Illinois and Clemson still show how good the Crimson Tide can be. It is fair to wonder whether the controversial addition of Charles Bediako, who is back in college basketball thanks to a court order giving him temporary eligibility, has upset the chemistry of a team that has looked more vulnerable of late.
Alabama is now just 1-2 since Bediako returned to the floor and got blown out at No. 19 Florida on Sunday to fall out of the Top 25 for the first time this season. Bediako's next hearing is scheduled for Friday, which should allow him to suit up as Alabama hosts SEC-leading Texas A&M on Wednesday, but this team is far more talented than its current record (14-7 and 4-4 in SEC play) shows.
Mountain West Conference
The days of the Mountain West sending six teams to the NCAA Tournament are far behind us and this league will also look very different next season as a whopping five schools (Boise State, Colorado State, Utah State, San Diego State and Fresno State) flee for a bigger paycheck in the new Pac-12. The Mountain West's last hurrah has been a downer as it only has three teams truly in the mix for the NCAA Tournament, with both San Diego State and New Mexico hovering awfully close to the bubble thanks to a few questionable defeats.
The middle of the league has also been down this season, creating far more landmines for the conference's top teams to navigate to stay on the right side of the cutline. Even though the two aforementioned schools and current leaders Utah State are all tournament worthy, there's a decent shot the Mountain West sends just two teams dancing in its final year in its current configuration.