If you weren’t in Lawrence, Kan. or Stillwater, Okla. prior to the 2013-14 men’s basketball season, you probably weren’t expecting your Big 12 team of choice to be in the running for a conference title.
Now, with conference play in full force heading into February, a flurry of teams are vying for their chance to claim the coveted piece of hardware in a year full of headlines and surprises.
As of Tuesday, the conference has six of its 10 teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25. The Big 12 itself is being led by the No. 8 Kansas Jayhawks, No. 11 Oklahoma State Cowboys and No. 22 Kansas State Wildcats. Even with a deep league filled with difficult venues to play in, these three look to be the teams that will be a part of the three-horse race that will be decided in early March.
Out of that group, K-State has been the talk of the conference. The Wildcats have overcome a rough start that included a season-opening loss to Northern Colorado at home and two disappointing performances at the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Despite their successful turnaround in conference play, the Wildcats have a tough road ahead and are the likeliest candidate to finish in third place.
Head coach Bruce Weber’s squad has only had two true conference road games thus far, two weeks ago at Kansas and TCU. The Wildcats were blown out 86-60 and defeated the Horned Frogs 65-47. K-State still has many road trips this season including Iowa State, Baylor, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. At least three out of those four match ups will be in venues with hostile environments similar to Allen Field House, and against high-scoring teams similar to the Jayhawks.
It doesn’t get much easier for the Wildcats at home, either. K-State will host both Texas and Kansas in February, before rounding out their home schedule in March against Iowa State and Baylor.
While K-State continues to play well on the defensive side of the ball, the Wildcats may not have enough firepower at 68.1 points per game to top the conference this year. Still, a third-place finish would surpass nearly all expectations for the team. Remember, the Wildcats were picked to finish fifth in the conference, receiving 34 points less than Oklahoma State and Kansas in the preseason voting.
Speaking of Oklahoma State, the Cowboys were projected in the preseason to finish first alongside Kansas for just the third time in conference history. However, it looks like Stillwater will be looking up at the pesky Jayhawks in the standings once more.
Oklahoma State head coach Travis Ford has the team to get the job done. The Cowboys are 11th in the nation in scoring at 84.4 points per game and 25th in field goal percentage at .484. More so, Oklahoma State has shown that they can battle back from a large deficit in a difficult road environment. But, can they do it consistently? In this conference, with their remaining schedule, likely not.
The Cowboys’ remaining schedule is rough, even with five of their upcoming marquee matchups at Gallagher-Iba Arena. To put it in perspective, Oklahoma State will play both Kansas and Kansas State in the first week of March within three days of each other. To sum it up, a Big 12 championship is not in the Cowboys’ future.
The favor lies, then, in the hands of the Jayhawks, for the 10th year in a row. Head coach Bill Self has his squad playing some of their best basketball all year, a correlation to the fact that they’ve already played the likes of Duke, Florida, Villanova and San Diego State.
In fact, in this week’s AP poll, the Jayhawks have faced the No. 4, 6, 7, 11, 16, 18, 22, 24 and 25 ranked teams. There are two words to describe this team: battle tested.
The Jayhawks’ remaining schedule includes just three road games against currently-ranked teams, including K-State on Feb. 10, and six home games with arguably the biggest home court advantage in college basketball.
The Jayhawks rarely lose at Allen Field House, and seldomly lose consecutive conference games. With odds like that to back them up, Kansas has the makings to be the Big 12 conference champion.
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