How Kansas can clinch more than a share of Big 12 title No. 13 on Wednesday night

By Matt Tait     Feb 20, 2017

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The Kansas bench celebrates a three from Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk during a surge by the Jayhawks in the second half, Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017 at Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.

As everyone reading this surely knows, the Kansas men’s basketball team currently holds a three-game lead over three Big 12 teams with four games to play.

That means, with a win Wednesday night, Kansas can clinch at least a share of its 13th consecutive Big 12 title.

But did you know that it’s possible that the Jayhawks could clinch the league title outright with a win at 6 p.m. on Wednesday night at home against TCU?

It will take some help and it’s probably a big time long shot, but it is possible.

Both West Virginia and Iowa State play Monday night. Each would need to lose to keep this scenario alive. If either wins — WVU hosts Texas and Iowa State plays at Texas Tech — then the best Kansas can do on Wednesday is clinch a share.

For the sake of this blog, though, let’s say the Mountaineers and Cyclones cooperate and both lose. That would bring Baylor into the picture and the Bears, who dropped from 4th to 9th in [this week’s AP Poll][1], would need to lose to Oklahoma at home on Tuesday to set up the KU-clinches-outright scenario.

Like I said, it’s probably a long shot at best, but KU has received more help than this during this incredible run of consecutive conference titles so I’m not counting anything out.

More likely, though, KU will be able to celebrate a league title next Monday, when the Jayhawks host Oklahoma for Senior Night at Allen Fieldhouse.

For my money, though, I’d like to see it happen Wednesday so the Jayhawks can keep the home finale about the seniors and spread out the celebrations.

Then again, knowing how Landen Lucas and Frank Mason III think and have operated throughout their KU careers, they’d probably prefer to have the title-clinching celebration on Senior Night because, for them, the good of the team has always come before any of their own personal interests.

[1]: http://www2.kusports.com/news/2017/feb/20/jayhawks-maintain-no-3-spot-latest-ap-poll/

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.