Over the next few weeks, we’ll break down where each Big 12 bubble team stands in terms of its current NCAA Tournament resume. This time: the Oklahoma Sooners, who are trying to get back to the Dance for the first time since Blake Griffin was around campus. 

Oklahoma has seen the kind of improvement fans probably hoped for when Lon Kruger was hired prior to last season. The Sooners were 15-16 (5-13 Big 12) and finished eighth in the conference. A year later, they are a win away from the school’s first 20-win season since 2008-09 and are in a good spot heading into Selection Sunday. The Sooners are led by senior forward Romero Osby, who leads the team with 15 PPG on an efficient 52.1%. They pass nearly every test for a team to make the Tournament, so they should be fine as long as they avoid any bad losses the next two weeks.

• Current Record: 18-9, 9-6 in the Big 12
• RPI: 27
• Record vs RPI top 50: 2-5
• Record vs RPI top 100: 7-8
• SOS: 9

Lon Kruger Has The Sooners In A Good Spot With Selection Sunday Around The Corner.

Case For An At-Large Bid: They have a top 30 RPI and and a top 10 Strength of Schedule. Their seven wins against the RPI top 100 are more than bubble teams like Iowa State, Baylor, Kentucky, Ole Miss, and North Carolina. They are 3-1 in neutral site games and have beaten both Kansas and Oklahoma State. They were also bailed out after losing to Stephen F. Austin early in the season. The Lumberjacks are #77 in the RPI, keeping Oklahoma’s record against RPI teams 100+ at 11-1 instead of 10-2, which could be a big deal with the selection committee. Bad losses could hurt a team just as much as good wins help, so a thank you card might be in order for the Lumberjacks. But with an impressive strength of schedule and barring a loss to West Virginia or TCU to end the season, the Sooners should have nothing to worry about.

Case Against An At-Large Bid: Their 2-5 record against the top 50 isn’t great, and 11 of their 18 wins came against teams outside the RPI top 100. The loss on Wednesday to Texas (RPI #125) won’t help their cause, either. And if they lose at home on Saturday to fellow bubble team Iowa State, it would drop their top 100 record to 7-9 with no chances to improve it in the regular season.

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1. Coaches are just as much psychologists at times as they are coaches, so it was no surprise that Travis Ford kept reminding his players this week about TCU’s win over Kansas as they prepared to play the Horned Frogs Wednesday night in Fort Worth. “I’m worried about every game, but these games can jump up and bite you,” Ford told John Helsley of NewsOk.com after Oklahoma State won, 64-47. But to be honest, Ford could have shown his team tape of Sesame Street instead of TCU and they would have won by double figures. The talk of another upset reminded me of Kansas fans’ stress last year in the first round of the NCAA Tournament after fellow #2 seeds Duke and Missouri had already lost. Believe in the Law Of Averages, folks. Most of the time, anyway. Three #2 seeds weren’t losing in the first round in the same year and TCU isn’t winning two conference games this season.
2. Growing up without knowing if he’d have food or heat on a given day and with a brother currently in prison, it seems silly to criticize Kansas freshman forward Ben McLemore for hiding from the spotlight late in games this season, as many people — myself included — have done a number of times. He probably has a lot of things on his mind, things more important than proving to people he has a killer instinct. But as Eric Prisbell writes, McLemore’s ability to take over a game could lead him to become the #1 pick in this summer’s NBA Draft, forever ending his family’s financial struggles in the tough streets of North St. Louis. Regardless of what happens the rest of the season, McLemore will still be a top five pick. But a great NCAA Tournament run would likely make him the first selection.
3. Oklahoma blew a 22-point lead in the final eight minutes before eventually losing to Texas in overtime Wednesday night, muddying its NCAA Tournament future as it hovers around the bubble with an 18-9 record. The Sooners were hurt by a Texas press that forced a number of turnovers near the end of the game and Berry Tramel made a good point — a team up 22 points with 7:54 remaining can basically win the game by doing nothing more than committing shot clock violations. 7:54 is 474 seconds, or 13.5 shot clock violations. Texas would have almost needed to hit eight three-pointers on eight possessions to win if Oklahoma could have just held the ball for 35 seconds each trip down the court.
4. West Virginia was ranked in the CBSSports.com Top 25 (And One) preseason ranking, and Gary Parrish explained why on Thursday. “Huggs (head coach Bob Huggins) never has a bad team,” Parrish recalls telling colleague Jeff Goodman back in the fall. Well, ‘Huggs rarely has a bad team’ is now the correct statement, as he is a loss on Saturday away from his first losing season in conference play since 1985. The Big 12 isn’t the reason, though, because the Big 12 isn’t that good. There are deeper issues at play here other than the Mountaineers’ move to a new conference. Huggins will probably get things turned around by next season, though.
5. With Selection Sunday nearly two weeks away, we can’t get enough Bracketology. Here’s the latest from SI.com‘s Andy Glockner. Five Big 12 teams make the cut: Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, and Iowa State. The Jayhawks are a #1 seed in the South Region while the Cyclones sneak into the field with a #10 seed and everyone else falling in between. Baylor is not on the board after its recent skid of three losses in four games. The Bears still have chances to impress the committee, though, starting tomorrow as they host projected #4 seed Kansas State.

1. Not only is the Kansas State senior class working on one of the school’s best seasons in over three decades, but they just became the school’s all-time winningest group of seniors with 97 victories and counting. The trio of Jordan Henriquez, Rodney McGruder and Martavious Irving are three wins away from K-State’s first conference regular season title since 1977, and if that happens, it will break the school’s all-time conference win record of 14. The Wildcats are currently 12-3 in the Big 12 and are tied with Kansas in first place. If they can take care of Baylor and TCU, the season finale against Oklahoma State in Stillwater would be one of the biggest regular season games in Kansas State history.
2. Every team in the country is working for something right now. For schools like Texas Tech and West Virginia, it’s probably getting the players ready for next season. For Baylor or Iowa State, assuring a spot in the NCAA Tournament is the primary goal. But for teams like Oklahoma State, seeding in the Big Dance is the focus as the regular season draws to a close. The Cowboys still have a slender shot at the Big 12 championship, but the most likely scenario is a third place finish. They end the season against Texas, at Iowa State and play host to Kansas State on March 9. The latest Bracket Matrix outlook has them as a #5 seed, but they could probably jump to as high as a #3 seed if they win those three games and win the Big 12 Tournament, which would likely mean three wins against Kansas and Kansas State.
3. The story of Bill Self’s 500th career victory was quickly lost in the shuffle of overtime, questionable officiating and rowdy Iowa State fans Monday night. Self is the ninth fastest Division I coach to reach 500 wins and the third Kansas coach — joined by Phog Allen and Roy Williams — to reach the milestone. Self has said a few times this season that he has no intentions of coaching long enough to break any wins records, but he is certainly on pace to get in the neighborhood of the all-time greats if he decides to stay in the game long enough. He has an 83.7% winning percentage at Kansas and has averaged 29.9 wins per season while there. As pointed out here, he could reach 1,000 wins in 15 years if he averages just three more wins per season through the age of 65.
4. Baylor freshman center Isaiah Austin could easily end up being an All-American during his career in Waco, but he probably won’t be around long enough to see that happen. Austin is saying all the right things right now, like how he’s focused on getting the Bears into the NCAA Tournament and having success there, not the looming decision to stay or leave. The team seemed like a lock to earn an NCAA bid a month ago, but they have now lost six out of nine and are in danger of landing on the wrong side of the bubble on Selection Sunday just a bit over two weeks away. Whether the Bears make the NCAA Tournament or not, don’t expect to see Austin in yellow and green next season unless the Kings finally become the Sonics and select him in this summer’s NBA Draft.
5. Sam Grooms hasn’t had the best sendoff in his final season at Oklahoma, averaging 4.3 PPG as a senior. It’s a small dip from last season as the Sooners guard has struggled with his confidence at times this year. “I would second-guess myself all the time before I shot and it didn’t turn out well,” Grooms recently told John Shinn of the Tahlequah Daily Press. Grooms averaged 17.6 PPG in a recent three-game stretch against Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Baylor, two Sooner wins. Grooms isn’t the best or most important player on the Oklahoma roster, but a productive final month of his college career could assure his team a spot in the NCAA Tournament and perhaps a couple of wins if they get there.

1. It’s a shame that Elijah Johnson’s historic 39-point game against Iowa State was overshadowed by an officiating controversy, but that was all anybody could talk about following Kansas’ overtime win over Iowa State on Monday night. Most of it revolved around the no-call on Johnson’s drive to the bucket late in the second half during the Jayhawks’ comeback. The Big 12 league offices on Tuesday acknowledged the mistakes by referees Tom O’Neill, Mark Whitehead and Bert Smith. It was a pretty clear charge by Johnson, but in a game full of bad calls, it was hardly the worst. Of course, a poor call at the end of the game means everything is magnified. Which leads us to this…
2. An Iowa State fan charged at Bill Self after the game immediately following Self’s postgame television interview. What he intended to do if police hadn’t intervened is still a mystery, but he certainly looked like an angry old man in a fit of rage. Make sure to check out the KUSports.com‘s photos linked in the story, showing the fan as he nears Self. Coupled with these tweets from an ISU fan sent to Elijah Johnson, and it was just a bad day to be a Cyclones fan.
3. Oklahoma State sophomore forward Brian Williams returned from a wrist injury a month ago after it was unclear whether he’d be able to return at all this season. Since his return on January 31, the Cowboys are 7-1 and in contention for the Big 12 regular season title, sitting currently in second place at 10-4. His numbers aren’t flashy, but he’s considered one of the best defenders on the team. His playing time has slowly increased as he’s eased back into the rotation, and just in time for the Pokes. The Cowboys are lingering on the outside of the Big 12 title race but are still within striking distance if Kansas and/or Kansas State drop another game in the final two weeks.
4. Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger brings up an interesting point that many people — including Jay Bilas on a regular basis — have been harping on all year. Offenses have been struggling in recent years because defenses are allowed to bump the cutters and hand-check on the perimeter. As John Shinn of the Norman Transcript points out, there were 100 fouls committed in the Sooners’ last two games. Kruger, like many others, has a simple solution. If referees call the bumping and holding early and often at the beginning of the season, players and coaches will adjust because coaches will teach players to get away with as much as possible. It’s up to the officials to draw the line.
5. The Kansas City Star‘s Blair Kerkhoff gives a nice history lesson as Kansas and Kansas State battle for the regular season championship with two weeks to go. As most know, Kansas has won eight consecutive conference titles. The Wildcats, on the other hand, haven’t won a conference regular season championship since 1977. With wins in their remaining three games — at Baylor, TCU, at Oklahoma State — they would clinch at least a share of their first championship in 36 years. As Kerkhoff notes, the Sunflower rivals used to battle for the conference title on a regular basis before Kansas State began to struggle in the 1980s.

1. The AP and Coach’s Poll were revealed Monday and Kansas had a nice bump up to #5 in the Coaches edition, up from #9 last week after its double-overtime win over Oklahoma State. Kansas State remained at #13 in both polls after easy wins over West Virginia and Texas, while Oklahoma State proved once again that while a single elimination, 64-team tournament isn’t the best way to crown a national champ, we should all be thankful we don’t rely on voters like football. The Cowboys lost by a point in double overtime to a top-10 team and dropped four spots, from #14 to #18 in the coaches poll. Did four teams suddenly become better than Oklahoma State this week because they made one less bucket against Kansas?
2. Baylor is far from a lock to make the NCAA Tournament, as Seth Davis points out in the video here. He has the Bears as one of his first 5 teams out of the dance, and it’s hard to criticize him. Baylor has lost three in a row and sits at just 16-11 overall. Their win over Kentucky earlier in the season looks far from impressive as the Wildcats are on the bubble as well. The Bears don’t have any great wins on their resume, either. Oklahoma State was a good win at home, but that’s the only decent win they have so far. They end the season on the road at West Virginia and Texas and home against Kansas State and Kansas. I think they need to go 3-1 in that stretch -or make a run in the conference tournament- to feel comfortable on Selection Sunday.
3. Blake Griffin was a stud at Oklahoma a few years ago, breaking out during his sophomore season on his way to becoming the #1 overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft and an All-Star as well. As Jeff Goodman points out, Griffin could have easily left Oklahoma after his freshman year and been a lottery pick. But Griffin is glad he stayed, and thinks other kids should, too. While it’s tough to drown out the people wanting to cash in on your talent, Griffin thinks it’s worth it in some cases. “You might drop a few spots,” he told Goodman. “But you might end up with a team that’s a better fit — and end up making more money in the long run.”
4. Can’t believe Baylor is on the bubble? Think Kansas State should be a #3 seed? Figure it all out here, with CBSSports.com’s RPI comparisons. Compare Baylor and Kentucky, for example. Look at their wins against the RPI top 100 or their record away from home to see which team deserves a tournament bid (I lean towards the Bears). How about Kansas and Florida for the top #2 seed? The Jayhawks are 10-3 against the RPI top 50 while the Gators are 5-3. Kansas also has a better Strength of Schedule, #12 to Florida’s #22. You could lose a lot of time on that page, so beware.
5. Speaking of brackets, I think the Jayhawks will lose one more game through the Big 12 tournament and end up with a #2 seed. But Brad Evans over at Yahoo! unveiled his latest mock bracket and has Kansas as the fourth #1 seed as of Monday morning. As he notes, the Bracket Big Board is pretty accurate, so Kansas fans should be happy. The loss to TCU is still a bad mark on their resume but with nearly every top team losing the last few weeks, Kansas has as good a shot as any to potentially steal one of the final top seeds. Indiana and one of Miami and Duke seem to be locks, but the other two spots are up for grabs. Kansas, Florida, Michigan, Gonzaga, and even Georgetown look to be in contention.

We are four days away from March, the Big 12 is close to solidifying its representation in the NCAA Tournament, and there are only two weeks left in the regular season. Obviously all games are important (Just ask Kansas about TCU), but for the top three teams in the standings, there isn’t much room for error in the home stretch, giving us great games like Wednesday’s double-overtime thriller between Kansas and Oklahoma State and tonight’s game in Ames between the Jayhawks and Iowa State. And that doesn’t even mention Kansas State’s trip to Waco on Saturday, where a win could potentially give the Wildcats sole possession of first place in the conference. But we’ll start with Kansas in the Power Rankings this week, who moves back to #1 after beating Oklahoma State on the road.

A Big 12 Championship Could Be On The Line Tonight For Kansas (AP)

1) Kansas (23-4, 11-3)
Previous Ranking: 2

Last Week: W 68-67 (2OT) at Oklahoma State, W 74-48 vs TCU

This Week: Tonight at Iowa State, 8:00 PM, Saturday vs West Virginia, 1:00 PM

• Rundown: Kansas is now 8-3 in the last five seasons when underdogs of four points or fewer after Wednesday’s double-overtime win over Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Tonight’s game in Ames is nearly as important and should be close as well (Kansas is favored by a single point). How about Jeff Withey against the Cowboys — 17 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks in 29 minutes. He saved Kansas’ conference title hopes, and a win tonight could begin the conversation for a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament assuming there are no more TCU-like roadblocks.
• Outlook in March: A #1 seed is possible, but I think they will drop one more game through the Big 12 Tournament and snag a #2 seed. If they don’t end up in Indiana’s bracket, there’s enough talent and coaching ability for another trip to the Final Four. But they showed us in Fort Worth that they could just as easily lose to a Stony Brook or Montana in the first round.

2) Oklahoma State (20-6, 10-4)
Previous Ranking: 1

Last Week: L 68-67 (2OT) vs Kansas, W 73-57 at West Virginia

This Week: Wednesday at TCU, 6:00 PM Saturday vs Texas, 3:00 PM

• Rundown: I know the Cowboys have fewer wins than K-State (in conference and overall) and lost to the Wildcats back on January 5, but I can’t say Oklahoma State isn’t the second-best team in the conference right now. Not with a straight face, anyway. Marcus Smart might be the best freshman in the country and a First-Team All-American choice while Markel Brown is playing even better than Smart lately, averaging 18 PPG, 3.5 APG, and 5.0 RPG last week.
• Outlook in March: Wednesday’s game against Kansas was one of those games where a close loss wouldn’t have killed them in mock brackets and a win would have helped tremendously. They are still a #5 seed in most mock brackets and will probably end up as a #4 seed without any hiccups. They’re a definite Sweet Sixteen-level team that would give its region’s #1 seed a great game in the regional semifinals.

3) Kansas State (22-5, 11-3)
Previous Ranking: 3

Last Week: W 71-61 vs West Virginia, W 81-69 at Texas

This Week: Tonight vs Texas Tech, 6:00 PM, Saturday at Baylor, 6:00 PM

• Rundown: K-State’s three conference losses were very forgivable. They were swept by Kansas and lost by six at Iowa State, one of the toughest places to play in the Big 12. Their other two losses were to Michigan and Gonzaga, a pair of projected #2 seeds. They’re also winners of seven of their last eight games and have a relatively easy next three: Texas Tech, at Baylor, and TCU. The season finale against Oklahoma State in Stillwater will likely determine the Big 12 championship and whether the crown will be shared this season.
• Outlook in March: A conference championship would probably get the Wildcats a #3 seed, a perch above their consensus #4 seed right now. As noted, they don’t have any bad losses and have a pair of good wins over Florida and Oklahoma State.

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1. I bet TCU players and fans would have traded an historic win over Kansas at home for a beatdown in Allen Fieldhouse, which was probably coming regardless. But that couldn’t have made Saturday’s 74-48 loss any better. The Horned Frogs had nine points at halftime, worse than the 13 that they held the Jayhawks to in Fort Worth back on February 6. TCU’s starting five was held scoreless in the first half, and Bill Self told the Lawrence-Journal World‘s Tom Keegan that the first 20 minutes were some of the best basketball the Jayhawks have played all season. They may be hitting their stride again as they enter a final stretch that gives them no breaks if they want that ninth consecutive Big 12 championship.
2. With 68 teams now in the NCAA Tournament, there should be even less sympathy for teams who can’t make the field. But it’s still interesting to look at the bubble, where a few Big 12 teams are firmly planted with March on the horizon. Jeff Borzello over at CBSSports.com had a nice piece on Saturday about most of the bubble teams right now, and Iowa State and Baylor garnered attention. He labeled the Cyclones ‘winners’ after their 20-point win against Texas Tech Saturday — the team’s third in a row — and mentioned what most people have to be thinking: a win tonight over Kansas seals them into the field of 68. Baylor, on the other hand, is less fortunate after dropping  its third game in a row over the weekend, a 90-76 loss at Oklahoma. They have now lost six out of eight contests and still must face Kansas and Kansas State.
3. Speaking of bubble teams, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi has both Iowa State and Baylor in the dance in his latest mock bracket. The Cyclones are a #10 seed in the East Region while the Bears are a #12 seed in one of the four play-in games in Dayton. Six Big 12 teams make the cut in this edition, the others being Kansas (#2), Kansas State (#4), Oklahoma State (#5), and Oklahoma (#9). I know the brackets usually fall apart well before the Elite Eight and the top two seeds don’t meet in the regional finals consistently, but Kansas definitely received the worst draw of the #2 seeds. If the brackets stays true to form (again, a big ‘if’), the Jayhawks would face top-seeded Indiana in Indianapolis. Good luck with that.
4. The three-game losing streak suffered by Kansas is getting further and further into the rear-view while they climb back up the polls, at #5 to be exact in Sunday’s Top 25 (And One) from CBSSports.com. Their four losses suddenly don’t look so bad when you see that six other teams in the top 10 have at least four losses as well. The win over Oklahoma State certainly helped too. Kansas State remained at #12 this week while Oklahoma State (rightfully) stayed at #14 even with the loss to Kansas. An extra bucket and a win wouldn’t have made the Cowboys any better of a team moving forward.
5. Kansas State has been a fouling machine lately, but it hasn’t burned them yet. As Kellis Robinett of the Wichita Eagle points out, the Wildcats were called for 54 fouls in last week’s games, two wins at West Virginia and against Texas. “We have got to be careful on fouls,” Bruce Weber told Robinett. “We have to adjust when they are calling it tight.” Fouls shouldn’t be an issue against Texas Tech tonight, but they could be a problem in the NCAA Tournament if a lower-seeded team in the first round is able to slow the tempo of the game down because of K-State’s foul trouble, limiting possessions and increasing the likelihood of an upset.

It isn’t very often that a team drops 85 points on a Bill Self-coached team or wins in Allen Fieldhouse. Oklahoma State did both earlier this month, ending the Jayhawks‘ 33-game home winning streak while scoring the most points in regulation against Kansas since, well, Oklahoma State nearly three years ago. It was the beginning of the worst eight-day stretch of Kansas basketball since 2005 and it makes tonight’s rematch the most intriguing game in the Big 12 this season for a few reasons. The loser will be a game behind first place with five games left, making an outright conference championship nearly impossible. The Big 12 doesn’t have a tiebreaker for the regular season title and rewards multiple trophies if teams are tied (because of the previously unbalanced schedule with 12 teams), so this wouldn’t be a huge deal. But if Kansas wants to claim its ninth consecutive Big 12 championship with a straight face, avoiding a sweep by the team it tied would help that cause. Bill Self has also never been swept in the regular season while at Kansas. He’s had a few close calls, like Missouri last season, but Self has always avenged a loss when given the chance. Tonight might be the toughest test yet, though.

It’s A Rarity, But Bill Self Is An Underdog Tonight In Stillwater. (AP)

In the first meeting on November 2, Kansas was a 10-point favorite and #2 in the country, winners of 18 in a row. That didn’t effect Marcus Smart or Markel Brown, however. Smart, a leading candidate along with Ben McLemore for Big 12 Freshman of the Year as well as a near-lock for the All-Big 12 First Team, had 25 points, nine rebounds (eight offensive), and five steals in the 85-80 victory. With Smart stealing potentially eight extra possessions, coupled with Brown’s 28 points and effective field goal percentage of 73.5%, the Cowboys had enough ammo to outlast Kansas on its home court, something that doesn’t happen very often. But that pair of ridiculous stat lines is why I like the Jayhawks tonight. Smart and Brown had two of the best games they’ve had in an OSU uniform and their team forced 16 Kansas turnovers, and yet they still only won by five points. That’s what was needed, because everything else about Oklahoma State’s box score — from shooting percentage and assists to free-throw percentage and turnovers — was similar to the rest of the season. Could Brown and/or Smart go off on the Jayhawks again tonight? Maybe. A similar game from Smart is expected because of how bad of a match-up his size creates for the KU guards. But Brown? I doubt it. He only has three other 20-point games since December 1. But that isn’t the only reason I think Kansas wins tonight on its way to another outright Big 12 championship.

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We don’t have many of these rankings left this season, but the Big 12 isn’t getting any easier to decipher as we inch closer to March (less than four weeks until Selection Sunday). The Big 12 still has a good chance to get six teams into the NCAA Tournament, but Baylor and Iowa State don’t have much margin for error the last three weeks of the regular season. The Cyclones are a consensus #10 seed and the Bears are an #11 seed on the latest Bracket Matrix mock bracket. The top of the conference is more of a mess, though. Oklahoma State, Kansas, and Kansas State are 9-3 but it doesn’t mean there isn’t distinctness with each record. For instance, Kansas State is 1-2 against the other first place teams while Kansas is 2-1. Oklahoma State, on the other hand, is 1-1 but plays host to the Kansas schools in the coming weeks. They are also fortunate in that two of their final three road games are against West Virginia and TCU. And that’s why the Cowboys are #1 this week.

Tier I:

Back On Top: Marcus Smart Is Playing As Well As Anyone In The Big 12. (AP)

1) Oklahoma State (19-5, 9-3)
Previous Ranking: 2

Last Week: W 91-67 at Texas Tech, W (OT) 84-79 vs Oklahoma

This Week: Wednesday vs Kansas, 8:00 PM, Saturday at West Virginia, 1:00 PM

• Rundown: After struggling around the turn of the year and dropping three out of four, the Cowboys began playing like their talent suggests and are winners of eight of their last nine games. They have an opportunity on Wednesday to become the first Big 12 team to sweep Bill Self in a season as the Jayhawks come into Gallagher-IBA Arena, where the Cowboys have won two out of three against the Jayhawks dating back to 2007-08.
• Player Stepping Up: Freshman G Marcus Smart: Smart had 25 points, nine rebounds, and five steals in the upset over Kansas on Feb. 2. He had 23 points, seven rebounds and five steals against Texas a week later, and on Saturday against Oklahoma, Smart finished with 28 points, seven rebounds, and four assists in the overtime victory.

2) Kansas (21-4. 9-3)
Previous Ranking: 3

Last Week: W 83-62 vs Kansas State, W 73-47 vs Texas

This Week: Wednesday at Oklahoma State, 8:00 PM, Saturday vs TCU, 3:00 PM

• Rundown: It doesn’t really matter that top-10 teams have been consistently falling the last few weeks, but it can give Kansas fans a small sense of relief knowing that every perceived top team in the country has its flaws as well as the Jayhawks, who rebounded nicely last Monday with a 21-point win over Kansas State when they desperately needed a 21-point win. Wednesday’s game at Oklahoma State could decide the Big 12 championship.
• Player Stepping Up: Freshman G Ben McLemore: McLemore had 30 points against Kansas State on 9-13 shooting, a cool 69.2%. In seven of his last ten games he shot over 50% from the floor. But he can still do more, attempting 10 or less shots in six of those games.  Shoot the ball, Ben.

3) Kansas State (20-5, 9-3)
Previous Ranking: 1

Last Week: L 83-62 at Kansas, W 81-61 vs Baylor

This Week: Tonight vs West Virginia, 8:00 PM, Saturday at Texas, 7:00 PM

• Rundown: Monday’s loss at Kansas hurt, but it wasn’t all that unexpected. If they can take care of Baylor on the road on March 2, there’s still a chance the Wildcats could be 14-3 heading into the final regular season game at Oklahoma State on March 9. The remaining schedule sets up that well for K-State, with their next five games against the bottom five teams in the conference.
• Player Stepping Up: Sophomore G Angel Rodriguez: He has a 2.5:1 Assist to Turnover Ratio on the season and is averaging an efficient 19.6 PPG his last three games. In that stretch, he is 46.3% from the floor and 41.6% from three-point range.

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The story after Kansas defeated Kansas State 83-62 Monday night wasn’t that the Jayhawks ended their three-game skid and regained a shared claim of first place in the Big 12, because as Sam Mellinger points out, nobody was going to beat Kansas that night. And with that in mind, maybe we shouldn’t put too much stock into the stellar game from sophomore point guard Naadir Tharpe. But it was hard to overlook the 8:1 assist-to-turnover ratio from Tharpe on the heels of a depressing 10-day stretch for Kansas basketball in general. The eight assists were the most Tharpe had dished out since a 32-point win over American on December 29. Coincidentally or not, that was the end of a ridiculous stretch of games from Kansas in December. They also beat Colorado by 36, Belmont by 29, Richmond by 28, and took care of Ohio State on the road by eight. Outside of the American game, Tharpe wasn’t great but he wasn’t bad either. He didn’t didn’t turn the ball over at all in four of the five games and averaged 2.7 APG, right on his season average.

Is Naadir Tharpe The Answer For KU’s Offensive Woes? (USA Today)

That production was plenty for Kansas, because senior Elijah Johnson was playing well, shooting 50% from the field in four of those five games while scoring a little above his season average (10.4 PPG). But then came the close contests. The seven-point home win over Temple on January 6, the near-loss at home to Iowa State, saved by a banked three-pointer by Ben McLemore at the end of regulation. A five-point win over Texas and four-point win at Kansas State soon followed while Johnson’s numbers plummeted. He was 2-of-6 against Texas Tech (a 60-46 road win on January 12), 3-of-10 in the road win at Kansas State, and 1-of-11 against Texas on January 19. Johnson was either falling into his usual deep-winter slump, or the transition to point guard was affecting his overall game. The loss two weeks ago to Oklahoma State at home was a long time coming, and Bill Self ripped into his team. “We don’t have a point guard,” he said, a not-so-thinly veiled shot at Johnson, who played off the ball next to Tyshawn Taylor during his first three seasons at Kansas.

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