SB Nation Kansas City - Reevaluating The Big 12 Basketball Racehttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48935/kc-fave.png2012-02-13T09:01:10-06:00http://kansascity.sbnation.com/rss/stream/25249282012-02-13T09:01:10-06:002012-02-13T09:01:10-06:00Big 12 Title Race: Missouri and Kansas Left On Top
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<img alt="COLUMBIA, MO - FEBRUARY 04: Thomas Robinson #0 of the Kansas Jayhawks grabs a rebound from Kim English #24 of the Missouri Tigers during the first half at Mizzou Arena on February 4, 2012 in Columbia, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/47TrHmgoTPsQEF-OjBMUisD6hgc=/0x36:940x663/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/5460853/138273805.jpg" />
<figcaption>COLUMBIA, MO - FEBRUARY 04: Thomas Robinson #0 of the Kansas Jayhawks grabs a rebound from Kim English #24 of the Missouri Tigers during the first half at Mizzou Arena on February 4, 2012 in Columbia, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) | Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>The Tigers and Jayhawks have one scheduled regular season game left and it will most likely decide who will be the Big 12 Conference champion. Who has the edge?</p> <p>And then there were two.</p>
<p>In the race for the Big 12 conference championship, an eight-day stretch may have nearly decided it all.</p>
<p>That stretch saw three of the four most important games left on the Big 12 schedule played and two teams rose as the clear cream of the crop in the conference.</p>
<p>Missouri and Kansas were those two teams and they now sit at the top of the Big 12 standings with identical 10-2 records. Their closest competitors are Iowa State and Baylor, tied at third in the conference with an 8-4 record.</p>
<p><b>What we learned about Baylor</b></p>
<p>Some may say that because the Bears went 0-4 against Missouri and Kansas this season, they won't be a threat come tournament time in March, but that's not a wise thought to have.</p>
<p>The Bears are still 21-4. Just think of it like they couldn't beat four top 5 teams. When you are talking about Kansas, an actual top-five team, the same thing is nearly true. The Jayhawks have five losses, including losses to three top ten teams (Duke, Kentucky and Missouri), so Baylor actually almost looks better in that regard, if it weren't for the 0-2 head-to-head record against Kansas.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that Baylor has a bunch of wins, takes care of business when it has to and will most likely be a top 3 or 4 seed when Selection Sunday rolls around. It's a shame that they won't be in the battle for a conference championship this season, but Baylor keeps building their brand in all sports and they will only continue to go up.</p>
<p><b>Missouri vs. Kansas</b></p>
<p>Doesn't it seem fitting that in the last year that these two bitter rivals will be conference mates, they are the ones battling for the conference crown in the latter stages of February? Kansas owns this series in a historic sense, but this year has been a little different, highlighted by the wildly entertaining game at Mizzou Arena in which Missouri ended the game on an 11-0 run to win 74-71.</p>
<p>Both teams have six games remaining, and while there could be some slipups along the way (Kansas @KSU, Missouri @Texas A&M), it seems like there will be one game to decide the crown.</p>
<p>That game that will be played on Feb. 25, and it will undoubtedly favor Kansas winning, but wilder things have happened in this rivalry and Missouri is hitting its stride at the right time.</p>
<p><a class="sbn-auto-link" href="../../../ncaa-basketball/players/99945/thomas-robinson">Thomas Robinson</a>, the favorite for Big 12 player of the year, will need to dominate in both halves of this game rather than waiting 20 minutes to get involved like he did in the game in Columbia.</p>
<p>Kansas fans will bring up the home-cooking refereeing that they believe Missouri got in the first matchup and say that they think the Jayhawks will get the same kind of favoritism at Allen Fieldhouse. That could be true, but the more important factor in this game will be the home crowd in Lawrence and the confidence Kansas gets from playing in its home gym.</p>
<p>Missouri hasn't won in Lawrence in its last 12 tries, so it's clear that they are facing an uphill battle. A close win at home doesn't really instill confidence in Tiger fans that they can go on the road and beat the same team, but it's certainly better than already having one loss against Kansas in the 2012.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://kansascity.sbnation.com/missouri-tigers/2012/1/30/2758991/exciting-conference-title-race-developing-between-missouri-kansas-and">In an earlier post for SB Nation</a>, I predicted that Kansas would win this game and I stand by that prediction. That doesn't mean that these last 6 games are going to be any less thrilling though.</p>
<p>Stay strapped in, because it's gonna be a classic end to a great rivalry.</p>
https://kansascity.sbnation.com/missouri-tigers/2012/2/13/2794599/big-12-title-race-missouri-and-kansas-basketballJ B2012-01-31T08:12:04-06:002012-01-31T08:12:04-06:00Reevaluating The Big 12 Basketball Race
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<p>With Missouri's win over Texas in Austin last night it sets up a big matchup this coming Saturday when Kansas comes to town. Assuming the Jayhawks take care of business at home, the two teams will sit one and two in the conference with just one game separating the teams. That means that Saturday's Border War in Columbia will be provide an opportunity to take an early edge in the league title hunt.</p>
<p>A week ago that didn't seem as though it would be the case. Missouri had lost to Oklahoma State on the road and Kansas had been cruising with a two game cushion. The only problem for the Jayhawks was that they had played the easier portion of their conference schedule. Things really kicked up a notch with a road game in Ames and a series of road contests in Columbia, Waco and Manhattan on the docket in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>Missouri, on the other hand, has probably played a pretty tough portion and done fairly well. Take away the slip up in Stillwater and the Tigers won games on the road in Waco, Ames and Austin. There only other loss came against Kansas State in Manhattan. That means the Tigers have a tough road game in Lawrence still on the schedule, but most of their matchups with the top half of the conference will come at home from here on out. </p>
<p>That makes the opportunity at hand on Saturday all the more important for both sides. If Missouri can win, they pull even and put themselves in a position to watch Kansas fight in some pressure packed road contests in attempt to stay even. If the Tigers can hold serve and Kansas drops a game or two, then Kansas will be chasing their rival down the stretch with only one opportunity to do any damage themselves when Missouri plays Kansas in Lawrence.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if Kansas wins, the Jayhawks give themselves a two game lead over Missouri and sit one game ahead of Baylor. At this point Baylor would be the better team for Kansas to be trading blows with simply because the Bears still have some stiff competition left on the schedule. </p>
<p>It's amazing how quickly a league title race can change. One week Missouri was hot, then Kansas took that spot and now despite trailing in the standings Missouri once again seems to have the momentum. In the final year of the Border War it looks as though the two games between these teams could prove hugely important in the league race and it all kicks off on Saturday in Columbia.</p>
https://kansascity.sbnation.com/2012/1/31/2760896/reevaluating-the-big-12-basketball-raceOwen RCT2012-01-30T15:46:49-06:002012-01-30T15:46:49-06:00Exciting Big 12 Title Race Developing Between Missouri, Kansas and Baylor
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<img alt="LAWRENCE, KS - JANUARY 16: Thomas Robinson #0 of the Kansas Jayhawks and Perry Jones III #1 of the Baylor Bears box out during the game on January 16, 2012 at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/GBfCOsN_cirlIGpLDMXyO0gpszw=/0x33:949x666/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/photo_images/5264564/137242381.jpg" />
<figcaption>LAWRENCE, KS - JANUARY 16: Thomas Robinson #0 of the Kansas Jayhawks and Perry Jones III #1 of the Baylor Bears box out during the game on January 16, 2012 at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) | Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>With a number of upset losses in the Big 12 in recent weeks, the conference title is up for grabs. Who will claim the title and how will they do it?</p> <p>If you thought things in the Big 12 were starting to follow a certain order and the conference was becoming predictable again, the last two weeks of games have probably killed that notion.</p>
<p>Missouri, Baylor and Kansas have traded places as the dominant team in the conference for the all of the first couple months of the season, but especially in the last few week. With all this juggling at the top of the conference, who will come out on top?</p>
<p><b>How they got here</b></p>
<p>Baylor roared out to an impressive 17-0 start and was ranked as high as third in the nation as recently as two weeks ago. They were looking athletic and deep in sprinting out to an early lead in conference play. Then, they lost two straight games to Kansas and Missouri and started looking like a team that was just a tier below the two bitter rivals.</p>
<p>Missouri seized control of the conference because they were able to steal a road win against Baylor a week and a half ago. They were ranked second in last week's national polls and everything seemed to be going the Tigers' way.</p>
<p>Then they went to play Oklahoma State in Stillwater and proved that it is tough to win on the road, no matter the opponent. That loss put the Tigers securely behind the Jayhawks of Kansas and right back in a tie with the Bears of Baylor.</p>
<p>With two games of cushion between them and their nearest competitors, it looked like the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="../../../ncaa-basketball/teams/kansas-jayhawks">Kansas Jayhawks</a> were in good position to coast to another Big 12 crown with little pressure from the other nine teams in the conference.</p>
<p>Then Kansas was beaten by Iowa State on the road two days ago and we are back where we were just a week and a half ago with Kansas holding a one-game lead on both Baylor and Missouri.</p>
<p><b>Where do things go from here?</b></p>
<p>Besides Texas Tech, who is on an 8-game losing streak (0-8 in the conference), no team has a winning or losing streak that is longer than two games. In fact, Baylor is the only team currently with a two-game streak. The remaining eight Big 12 teams are 1-1 in their last two games.</p>
<p>That means that no one team is currently on a hot streak and no one other than Texas Tech will be an easy win in the conference. With 10 games left in everyone's conference schedule, it would be foolish to say that one team has a noted edge against any of the other at the top of the conference.</p>
<p>Still, we can be fairly certain that either Kansas, Baylor or Missouri will be the champions of the Big 12 when the regular season ends because their full bodies of work are far and above anyone else in the conference.</p>
<p>Let's plot out the games between these three that will decide the race.</p>
<p><b>Kansas at Missouri (Feb 4)</b></p>
<p>Columbia will be rocking for the last scheduled matchup between these two bitter rivals. College Gameday will be in town for its weekly show and Missouri fans have had this game circled on their schedule since that announcement was made. Some say that the Tigers have a big disadvantage because they will have to guard Thomas Robinson down low and they clearly have a height deficiency, but that didn't stop them against Baylor.</p>
<p>Also, Kansas has proven that they are not invincible on the road and you have to figure that the crowd at Mizzou Arena will force the turnover-prone Tyshawn Taylor (3.7 turnovers per game) to be careless with the ball.</p>
<p><b>Win: Missouri</b></p>
<p><b>Kansas at Baylor (Feb 8)</b></p>
<p>Baylor has proved to be a good team at home, but with its bad loss to Kansas already this season and their performance against Missouri at home earlier this year, I'm guessing that the Jayhawks will actually be favored in this game. Baylor got a nice home win against a tough Texas team this weekend, but Kansas will probably be able to match up with them much better than the 13-8 Longhorns.</p>
<p><b>Win: Kansas</b></p>
<p><b>Baylor at Missouri (Feb 11)</b></p>
<p>Missouri gets a lucky draw with this game because Baylor will be coming off a game against a physical Kansas team only three days earlier and the Tigers have owned Mizzou Arena in the last four years (only three losses in that time, two of which were to Kansas). The Tigers had their offense rolling against Baylor's zone defense in the last game and were able to feed <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="../../../ncaa-basketball/players/123930/ricardo-ratliffe">Ricardo Ratliffe</a> with relative ease with good cuts through the defense.</p>
<p>What used to be thought of as a bad matchup for the Tigers looks like one of the best matchups in these four key games. If Baylor decides to take away Ratliffe, the zone defense will allow for a lot of threes, which Missouri is pretty good at knocking down.</p>
<p><b>Win: Missouri</b></p>
<p><b>Missouri at Kansas (Feb 25)</b></p>
<p>As you can see, three of these four games are within the next two weekends, so things should be more sorted out by that point (or they could all beat each other up and we would be right where we are now). This one, toward the end of the conference slate, could have huge implications, especially if Missouri wins the two games listed above.</p>
<p>Allen Fieldhouse has been a house of horrors for the Tigers in recent years, no matter how highly they were ranked going into the game. I can't expect that they will buck that trend this year, even with their top 5 ranking. Can't bet against a streak, and the Jayhawks have a long one.</p>
<p><b>Win: Kansas</b></p>
<p>So these results put the race back to just Kansas and Missouri, with the Tigers needing to make up a game in the standings on the Jayhawks in the other seven games left in the conference slate. It should be one of the best conference races in the nation and one of the best in recent Big 12 memory.</p>
<p>Missouri starts the home stretch of the season with a tough road test against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="../../../ncaa-basketball/teams/texas-longhorns">Texas Longhorns</a> tonight at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Kansas gets an improving Oklahoma team at home on Wednesday at 8 p.m., scheduled to be aired on ESPNU.</p>
<p><i>For more on the Tigers, visit our Missouri blog, </i><a target="_blank" href="http://www.rockmnation.com/">Rock M Nation</a><i>. For more on the Jayhawks, visit our Kansas blog, </i><a target="_blank" href="http://www.rockchalktalk.com/">Rock Chalk Talk</a><i>. For more on the Bears, visit our Baylor blog, </i><a target="_blank" href="http://www.ourdailybears.com/">Our Daily Bears</a><i>.</i></p>
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