For the second year in a row, ESPN has brought its “College GameDay” crew to Lawrence for a Kansas-Baylor matchup in the mid-February thick of the Big 12 Conference schedule.
That battle pits what analyst Jay Bilas, the three-decade fixture of ESPN’s college basketball coverage, called a “gold standard nationally” in No. 4 KU against a quality team that has recently put itself “in the same ballpark” in No. 13 Baylor.
But to hear Bilas and his fellow analyst Jay Williams, the former Duke star, tell it, it’s just another day in this year’s edition of the Big 12.
“I think every game in this conference is massive,” Williams told local reporters in Lawrence Friday afternoon, ahead of Saturday’s broadcast. “I think that’s the part that makes it great. It’s each and every single night.”
The league currently features six ranked teams and the top 12 of its 14 members are separated by just three games, more than halfway through the conference schedule.
Williams said “top to bottom, you get the best matchups in this conference.” Bilas used a similar phrase, with a caveat: “I don’t know that this is the strongest the league has ever been at the top. I wouldn’t say that. But I would say it’s never been stronger. I can’t think of any league that’s been stronger top to bottom than this league.”
He also noted that the talent in the league makes the Big 12 slate like an NBA schedule in that there are “schedule losses” — games significantly harder to win due to an inopportune timing and choice of opponent — and he characterized KU’s against Kansas State on Monday, positioned between the Houston and Baylor games, as an example.
“I think it’s the best league in the country,” Bilas said. “But that doesn’t mean the champion is going to come out of here, we’ll see. But it certainly could.”
Williams said that he thinks if anyone comes out of the league, it will be KU.
“I know the Big 12 has more ranked teams than any other conference,” he said. “I don’t think there are a lot of national contenders in this conference. I think Kansas is truly the only national contender. I don’t know if I believe in Houston, and their depth. I don’t know if I believe in some other teams in the conference.”
The Jayhawks have eight games left in the league slate, followed by a conference tournament, to fashion themselves into a March Madness threat. That grind continues Saturday at 5 p.m., following the “GameDay” broadcast from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.