It’s been a brutal week for Big 12 basketball fans. Honestly, it’s been a brutal week for college hoops, period.

BYU’s Richie Saunders and Texas Tech’s JT Toppin, two potential All-Americans, suffered season-ending ACL tears within five days of each other.

Toppin went down while driving to the basket late in the second half of Texas Tech’s loss at Arizona State on Tuesday.

It’s hard to overstate the impact this has on the Red Raiders. Toppin is one of only five players in Big 12 history to average 20 points and 10 rebounds per game in a season. He’s the nation’s leader in points in the paint and the only player in the country in the top ten in scoring and rebounding. 

Some metrics have Texas Tech dropping 28 spots after losing him.

It’s a loss for the sport, not just the Big 12, to see him go down. As the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year, Toppin helped Texas Tech beat three top-five teams (Duke, Houston, and Arizona) and turned the Red Raiders into a real national title contender.

He has a season of eligibility left, and with Tech’s resources, they could make a strong push to bring him back. But it’s hard to picture this season going beyond the second weekend of the NCAA tournament without him.

Texas Tech isn’t especially deep, and now the frontcourt will lean heavily on sophomore Luke Bamgboye and redshirt freshman Marial Akuentok, who combine to average just 20 minutes per game.

It was just as gutting to see Saunders go down in BYU’s win over Colorado on Saturday.

As much attention as AJ Dybantsa draws, Saunders was the heart and soul of BYU and a perfect ambassador for the program. In the transfer portal era, he built himself from a role player into a borderline All-American over four years.

BYU coach Kevin Young made it clear that the respect for Saunders extends well beyond Provo. 

The Cougars were already struggling with Saunders. They’ve lost six of their last nine games, including a 75-68 loss in Tucson on Wednesday. 

Injuries have really taken their toll on this team. Three other likely rotation players (Dawson Baker, Nate Pickens, and KJ Perry) are also out for the season. 

BYU will easily make the NCAA tournament, especially with the schedule softening up. But how deep a run can the Cougars make without Saunders? 

Dybantsa has been on a heater lately. He can carry a big chunk of the scoring, but he’s going to need real help around him.

It’s hard to see a second weekend future for the Cougs at the moment. 

As if that wasn’t enough, Arizona star Koa Peat missed Wednesday’s game against BYU and won’t play Saturday against No. 2 Houston. He’ll be reevaluated next week with a lower-leg muscle strain.

This doesn’t appear to be a long-term issue, but the way things are going in the league right now, it’s easy to be cynical.

What You Need to Know

• The Darryn Peterson load management saga continues to develop at Kansas. Peterson was seen pulling himself out of last night’s KU win at Oklahoma State immediately after hitting a three. 

• KU head coach Bill Self couldn’t hold back his frustration after the game. 

• If you missed the finish of Monday night’s Iowa State win over Houston, do yourself a favor and check out the highlights. 

• Big, bad Texas is backing out of two non-conference football games against a Big 12 opponent. 

• K-State head football coach Collin Klein dishes on the crazy injuries he suffered as a player in this interview with the 3MAW podcast.

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