How Arizona's Loss to Kansas Altered Conference Favorite Status

The Arizona Wildcats are no longer favorites to win Big 12 following first loss.

Arizona Wildcats forward Koa Peat (10) dunks the ball against Kansas Jayhawks during the game inside Allen Fieldhouse on Feb. 9, 2026. | Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Big 12 is one of the best, if not the best, conferences in all of college basketball this season. They have great teams from top to bottom. The Big 12 features some of the best teams in the nation right now. That is what makes this conference and college basketball great. On any given night, you could be on your feet with the matchups. This season, all eyes have been on the Big 12, and things are just going to keep heating up with less than a month to go in conference play.

The Arizona Wildcats are looking to win the Big 12 and be the team that is at the top when it is all said and done. The Wildcats hit their first road bump of the season earlier this week in Kansas, when they fell to the Jayhawks. That loss was the first one of the season for the Wildcats. That loss has now put them in a tie with the Houston Cougars at the top. Both teams are 10-1 in conference play. That is going to be the battle to see till the end.

Arizona NOT favorites to win Big 12

Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd yells out during the game against Kansas Jayhawks inside Allen Fieldhouse on Feb. 9, 2026. | Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Isaac Trotter of CBS Sports says that the Arizona Wildcats are not the favorites to win the Big 12 following their first loss of the season.

Arizona might be No. 1 in the country, but it is not the favorite to win the Big 12 after Monday's 82-78 loss to No. 9 Kansas without Darryn Peterson. No Big 12 team has a tougher rest-of-conference schedule than the Wildcats. This gauntlet is here to stay. Five of the Wildcats' next six games are against the best the Big 12 has to offer: Texas Tech, BYU, Kansas (again), Iowa State and Houston.

Arizona has the physicality, size, halfcourt defense and interior dominance to survive, but it needs more from Koa Peat and Jaden Bradley, who were a combined 4-for-18 from the floor against KU with four missed free throws to boot. Odds to win the Big 12, per the CBS Sports model: 19.2%.

Jan 31, 2026; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Desert Financial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Trotter's new Big 12 favorite?

Trotter has Houston as favorites to win the Big 12.

A familiar face is back atop the Big 12 projections. Houston arguably has the best backcourt in the sport with Milos Uzan, Kingston Flemingsand Emanuel Sharp, and it has one of the easier paths that the conference can offer. (Easy, he writes, to describe the same slate that includes two road dates to Kansas and Iowa State, arguably the toughest venues in the league. Suuuure!)

Arizona Wildcats forward Koa Peat (10) looks for a pass against Kansas Jayhawks during the game inside Allen Fieldhouse on Feb. 9, 2026. | Evert Nelson/The Capital-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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