Although their intent was to stay alive in the Big 12 Conference men’s basketball race themselves, the Texas Tech Red Raiders inadvertently dished a heck of an assist to the Kansas Jayhawks on Wednesday night.
For the second time this season, Texas Tech knocked off Baylor, this time via a 10-point home win in Lubbock, Texas.
Wednesday’s victory by the Red Raiders moved both teams to 9-4 in the conference standings, leaving them two games behind first-place Kansas in the loss column.
The Jayhawks, at 10-2, have six conference games remaining while the Bears and Red Raiders now have five.
Texas sits in fourth place at 8-5, but the Longhorns are likely too far back to still be a factor in the race.
Anything is possible, of course. And the Jayhawks do still have to travel to Waco, Texas, next weekend to play Baylor on its home court.
But Wednesday’s loss by the Bears sure makes the outlook for another league title for KU much easier to picture.
At this point, the Jayhawks would have to lose at least three games in their final six to miss out on at least a share of the conference title.
If KU finishes its final six games in Big 12 play at 6-0 or 5-1, the trophy comes to Lawrence, Kansas. If KU finishes 4-2, the Jayhawks would still win at least a share of the regular season title even if Baylor and/or Texas Tech were to win out.
If either of those programs drops another game, then KU’s margin for error grows and KU could win a share of the Big 12 title by finishing 3-3 down the stretch.
KU will likely be favored in five of its last six games — if not all six — and even though the Jayhawks still have to play at Baylor and home against Texas, the rest of the slate looks pretty favorable, with home games against Kansas State and TCU and road games at West Virginia and TCU still on the schedule.
A quick look at the schedules for the other two programs shows a similar slate to finish the regular season. While Baylor may have the advantage in that it has a direct opportunity to hand KU a loss, the Bears’ schedule, overall, also looks to be a little tougher than what Texas Tech still has left.
Tech’s final five games look like this: at Texas, vs. Oklahoma, at TCU, vs. K-State and at Oklahoma State.
Baylor’s final five games include: vs. TCU, at Oklahoma State, vs. Kansas, at Texas and vs. Iowa State.
None of this matters in the big picture, of course. And KU fans, throughout the years, have grown somewhat weary of celebrating Big 12 regular season crowns, especially now that the consecutive titles streak has ended.
But it might mean a little more this year, after coaches throughout the conference have boasted all season about how tough the Big 12 is from top bottom. Winning the Big 12 regular season crown means you had a good season. And it puts you in position to not only have the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City — March 9-12 — but it also puts you in contention for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament the following week.
That, too, can mean very little if you don’t play well when you get there. But the theory goes that the higher your seed, the easier your path to the Final Four. And getting to New Orleans has been KU’s goal from Minute 1.
The Jayhawks (21-4 overall, 10-2 Big 12) still have flaws and question marks and still need to work out some kinks down the stretch. But as we enter the home stretch, the fact that this team has a two-game league in the Big 12 Conference and is in great position to win yet another regular season crown is no small feat.
The current standings make you realize just how big Ochai Agbaji’s shot in the first overtime versus Texas Tech or Christian Braun’s shot to beat OU in Norman really were.
Next up, KU heads to West Virginia this weekend for a 7 p.m. tipoff from WVU Coliseum on Saturday.
