The Wildcats may yet dethrone the Big 12’s seemingly forever reigning champions, but they missed out on the opportunity to shovel a substantial amount of dirt on their rivals’ graves on Monday.
A Kansas State victory in Allen Fieldhouse would have all but officially put an end to the Kansas basketball program’s 14-year run as kings of the conference.
And that fact wasn’t lost on the Wildcats following KU’s 64-49 victory, which put the Jayhawks 1 game back of first-place K-State with three games to go in the regular season.
“We talked about just keeping our emotions in check,” Barry Brown said of the players’ plans entering the marquee Sunflower Showdown, in which they understood they had a chance to knock KU out. “And I think throughout the game (K-State’s emotions) kind of went high and low and then high again. I think they kind of played a factor into it and some of the shots that we took and some of the things that went on throughout the game.”
The spiritual and mental well being of the Wildcats (21-7 overall, 11-4 Big 12) will be monitored closely by their coach, Bruce Weber, in the days ahead. Unlike the Jayhawks (21-7, 10-5), they control their own destiny in this frenzied league title race.
“We are a first-place team,” Weber pointed out after Monday’s loss at KU. “We’ve got a three-game season in eight days. You know, what are we about? Are we about leadership, toughness, discipline? If we’re about those things we’ll be fine.”
That schedule mentioned by Weber is one of great interest to the Jayhawks, too, because they need K-State — as well as Texas Tech — to lose again at some point this week or next in order to have a chance at gaining a share of this year’s Big 12 title.
Here’s what’s left for the Wildcats:
• Baylor on Saturday
• at TCU on Monday
• Oklahoma on March 9
Weber has maintained since this past week, he shared, that he thought the upcoming Baylor game in Manhattan would be the “toughest” one among his team’s final four games — a stretch that began with Monday’s loss at KU.
It wasn’t that Weber thought the Bears (18-9, 9-5) were better than the Jayhawks or a more difficult matchup for his Wildcats. K-State’s coach just figured it could be difficult for his group to emotionally recover from its trip to Allen Fieldhouse in time to be thoroughly prepared for all that Baylor has to offer.
“Just because, no matter what, (KU versus K-State) is so big. And no matter what happened, win or lose, you’ve got to get ready for Baylor. And I just thought it was going to be — what do you call them? Trap games? You guys use different words. I don’t know,” Weber explained.
“And Baylor, the way they play and how hungry they are and physical, we’ve got to come ready to play. I knew it was going to be tough. I didn’t tell the players that. I told (reporters) that and I told our staff that. I said it to our staff probably a week ago,” Weber related. “And again I’m always worried. I was worried about Oklahoma State. And I cussed (the Wildcats) out at shootaround (before the game with OSU), and they responded. I guess I didn’t have the right message (Monday against KU).”
At face value, the Wildcats don’t look like a team that will suddenly begin reeling just because they lost at Kansas.
In the meantime, Weber hopes his postgame message to his team sets the stage for a successful final push to the regular season.
“It’s done and over with. We’ve got to worry about Baylor,” Weber said of his first point in the visitors’ locker room after the rivalry game defeat.
“And to hang together and being coachable. That’s the biggest thing,” Weber would continue. “We’re good and we’re in first place because we’ve got a great group. They’ve been very, very coachable. They listen. They want to do what we say. We’ve got great, great leadership, and that’s got to be the driving force down the stretch.”
Regardless of what KU does from now to March 9 or what becomes of Texas Tech’s last four games on the calendar, the Wildcats know if they go 3-0 the Big 12 championship is theirs — either outright or as co-champs with the Red Raiders.
That knowledge can either be empowering or overwhelming.
Following K-State’s loss, Kamau Stokes’ words leaned toward the former.
“I don’t feel like our confidence is low at all. We talked about it in the locker room. At the end of the day we’re still in first place,” Stokes said. “In order to stay there we’ve got to worry about Saturday. The only difference is we’re sharing it now (tied with Tech in the loss column). I feel like our confidence is at a point where we don’t want to share first place with anybody. So we’ve got to get back in the gym, learn from this game and, like I said, get ready for Saturday, because that’s a big game.”
It’s one KU fans dreaming of the program’s historic streak living on should keep their eyes on, because Baylor is the best of K-State’s final three foes. Entering Tuesday’s games, KenPom.com ranked the Bears 32nd nationally, ahead of No. 40 OU and No. 42 TCU.
The Jayhawks, for a change, aren’t in good position entering the season’s final days. That upper hand belongs to the first-place Wildcats, who last won a conference title in 2013, when they shared it with, well, you know who.
