Five Big 12 women's basketball teams are ranked in the nation's Top 25. The league twice has placed six teams in the NCAA Tournament. A Big 12 team has reached the tournament's final eight each of the past two years.

Still, there's something missing as the conference seeks the acclaim that its coaches believe is deserved.

"I don't think we can go to the next level as far as respect for the Big 12 until we get somebody in the Final Four," Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp said Tuesday.

There you have it. Since the Big 12 began play in the 1996-97 season, three Southeastern Conference teams have made a total of five Final Four appearances. The Big East has sent three different teams to the Final Four in that time, the Big Ten and Atlantic Coast Conference two each.

The Big 12? The closest it has come was Texas Tech's loss to Tennessee in the Mideast Regional final last year and Iowa State's loss to Georgia in the 1999 Mideast Regional final.

"We've kind of grown up as a conference, and I think it's really important for somebody to make that next step as soon as possible," Sharp said.

The Big 12 certainly has some contenders. Sharp's team is ranked 11th in the country, Oklahoma is 10th and Iowa State is ninth. Those three are tied for first place in the league at 8-1, with Iowa State 18-2 overall, Texas Tech 17-3 and Oklahoma 17-4.

The league also has No. 19 Colorado and No. 21 Texas in the Top 25 and Baylor had been ranked before falling out this week. Every team in the league is above .500 outside the conference and the Big 12's non-conference winning percentage of .804 is the nation's best.

Only the SEC ranks ahead of the Big 12 in the power ratings.

"I think the SEC still has to be considered the country's best league, but I think overall, from top to bottom, our league can compete with them," Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said.

"But until we get a team in the Final Four or win the national championship, some skeptics, whether east or west of us, will not give us the credit we deserve."

So is this the year it happens for the Big 12?

"I sure hope so and I hope we're the ones to do it," Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale said.

"I sure think there are several contenders from within our league. I could easily see Iowa State or Tech or maybe even ourselves end up there. Everything has to go right. You have to stay healthy."

Ask Connecticut and Tennessee about that last part. Both have lost All-Americans to injury, Svetlana Abrosimova at UConn and Tamika Catchings at Tennessee.

"With Tamika Catchings being injured and Svet, it opens the door up a little bit more than it was before," Fennelly said. "I would not be surprised at all to see a Big 12 team in the Final Four. I sure hope it happens."

Sharp said a big step for the league would be getting a No. 1 seed in one of the four regions.

"I think three of the top four seeds are sewn up," she said, meaning Notre Dame, Connecticut and Tennessee. "I hope the committee would look at the champion of the Big 12 for that final No. 1 seed. Obviously when that is done, the road to the Final Four changes. That would be significant."