With the NBA on hiatus, and now resolve to their collective bargaining agreement in sight, basketball fans will be turning to the college ranks to give them their fix. The Big 12 is back for another season and with a ton of parity should keep sports betting fans excited until the madness gets underway in March, with perhaps a little change at the top.

The Kansas Jayhawks dominated the conference a year ago before being upset in the NCAA national title tournament, and will be hungry to do even better this season. Standing in their way is a talented Baylor Bears’ team that return six of their top seven leading scorers from a year ago, including Perry Jones III. That’s a lot better of a score than the Jayhawks registered this past offseason, as Kansas has lost seven players from last year’s team. Head coach Bill Self always has his teams prepared so the drop off shouldn’t be too drastic, but nonetheless it will be a tough fishing battle for the Jayhawks to keep pace with Baylor.

A little further down the line are Texas A&M and the Missouri Tigers, two teams with several quality returning players and the talent to make a run. Both clearly have an edge over the Texas Longhorns, which don’t return a single starter, with A&M perhaps having the best chance to compete against Baylor and Kansas at the top of the conference thanks to Khris Middleton and a new and enthusiastic sports betting bonus coaching staff.