Livescore
All three losses have been to teams I have in the top 15 of the Top 25 And 1. Two of the losses came on the road. One of the losses was in overtime. So, broadly speaking, Kansas’ three-game losing streak isn’t too troubling considering the Jayhawks’ spent their first 17 games of the season building a quality resume featuring seven Quadrant 1 wins.
Still, it is a rare three-game losing streak for KU — just the fourth such losing streak in Bill Self’s 20 years as coach of the Jayhawks. So it’s at least notable, if nothing else.
“There is a time to be reactive in a negative way if your team’s not doing well — [but] this is not one of those times,” Self said after his Jayhawks’ lost 75-69 at Baylor late Monday. “We have gotten beat … and … we [just] got beat [by] a team that was projected to win the league … and they went through the same crap we’re going through right now. … Our league is that good. It’s going to be a grind.”
Self’s point is that it’s going to be hard for anybody to avoid a three-game losing streak in this Big 12, which is once again rating far and away as college basketball’s best conference. Baylor has already had a three-game losing streak. Kansas is on one now. Iowa State has lost two of three. TCU went 1-3 in a four-game stretch earlier this month.
How tough is the Big 12?
So tough that KenPom.com currently projects Kansas State, Texas, Kansas and Iowa State to finish tied for first in the conference standings — with 11-7 league records. Crazy as it might seem on a surface level, a school really might hang a Big 12 banner with seven league losses.
Kansas has dropped to No. 9 in Tuesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings while Baylor jumped from No. 16 to No. 13, which caused Xavier, Marquette and Gonzaga to be pushed down one spot each, no fault of their own. Kansas State at No. 3, Texas at No. 5, Iowa State at No. 11 and TCU at No. 12 means there are now six Big 12 schools in the top 13 of the Top 25 And 1. No other league has more than two in the top 16.
Top 25 And 1 rankings
In: San Diego State, Memphis. Out: Duke, New Mexico
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