B12 conference play commanding a lot of respect I guess with us staying inside the Top 20 after 3 close losses in a row.

TT moves up to #15 after beating OU on the road and moving to 5-1 in conference play.

https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll

Big 12 has:
8 teams in the top 25
10 teams in the NET top 50

Man I really hope we capitalize this week, b12 gets respect but we gotta back it up.

I don't see this happening with how things feel right now....but if we beat UCF on the road and beat #12 ISU at Foster on Saturday things suddenly look much better at 5-3 in conference play.

Is this the Big12 too good for its own good? Teams come in solid and come out beat up and tired

Every game is entertaining but damn ain't no one safe

boognish_bear said:

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I don't see this happening with how things feel right now....but if we beat UCF on the road and beat #12 ISU at Foster on Saturday things suddenly look much better at 5-3 in conference play.

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We'd better beat UCF because Iowa State is going to be really hard to beat ... even in Waco. If we lose Wednesday, we run the risk of this skid hitting very concerning levels with our schedule.

I think UCF should be a good matchup for us. They're really bad offensively, so they'll struggle to exploit our biggest weaknesses. But I thought the same thing about Oklahoma State and they gave us more trouble than they've given any of the other good teams in the Big 12.

ISU is a horrible matchup for us. Not saying we can't win. But they're going to be extremely physical and play damm good defense. That's a game where we had better bring our big boy shorts or they'll handle us easily imo

UCF is no pushover, they are extremely physical and athletic despite their shooting woes. We will have to bring our A game to come away with a win.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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UCF is no pushover, they are extremely physical and athletic despite their shooting woes. We will have to bring our A game to come away with a win.

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UCF is excellent defensively. But I like our chances better against a team like them than I do one that can score efficiently. We couldn't make a stop against Texas or TCU when we needed to, which negated two pretty good offensive performances. I like our chances of scoring against tough defense better than I do our ability to stop good offense.

Crawfoso1973 said:

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UCF is no pushover, they are extremely physical and athletic despite their shooting woes. We will have to bring our A game to come away with a win.

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I know this has been said repeatedly....but there really is no let up in this schedule. There are just varying degrees of difficulty. We are working our way through the nine circles of Dante's Inferno. That makes letting Saturday's winnable game slip through the cracks all the more frustrating.

It's tough on everyone out there. Can't remember the last time KU lost 3 of their first 7 conference games.

TT's 5-1 conference play start has been really impressive.

boognish_bear said:

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Crawfoso1973 said:

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UCF is no pushover, they are extremely physical and athletic despite their shooting woes. We will have to bring our A game to come away with a win.

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I know this has been said repeatedly....but there really is no let up in this schedule. There are just varying degrees of difficulty. We are working our way through the nine circles of Dante's Inferno. That makes letting Saturday's winnable game slip through the cracks all the more frustrating.

It's tough on everyone out there. Can't remember the last time KU lost 3 of their first 7 conference games.

TT's 5-1 conference play start has been really impressive.

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We've let three straight slip through the cracks. You can't do that with the schedule we have coming up. You run the risk of a 3-7 stretch that sinks you to the bottom half of the league standings.

For the first time since two weeks ago, the Big 12 Conference has eight ranked teams in the @AP_Top25 pic.twitter.com/diXo5X3kzX

— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) January 29, 2024

The @Big12Conference still blowing everyone away with 8 teams in the top 25 💨 pic.twitter.com/IckdYMlLJp

— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) January 29, 2024

boognish_bear said:

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The @Big12Conference still blowing everyone away with 8 teams in the top 25 💨 pic.twitter.com/IckdYMlLJp

— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) January 29, 2024

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Big 12: 8 out of 14 are ranked
Big 10/ACC/Pac 10: 6 out of 41 are ranked, one of whom is headed to the Big12

boognish_bear said:

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Crawfoso1973 said:

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UCF is no pushover, they are extremely physical and athletic despite their shooting woes. We will have to bring our A game to come away with a win.

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I know this has been said repeatedly....but there really is no let up in this schedule. There are just varying degrees of difficulty. We are working our way through the nine circles of Dante's Inferno. That makes letting Saturday's winnable game slip through the cracks all the more frustrating.

It's tough on everyone out there. Can't remember the last time KU lost 3 of their first 7 conference games.

TT's 5-1 conference play start has been really impressive.

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Last year, Kansas lost 3 in a row at the beginning of the season, the third in Waco. I think that was the first time under Self.

As far as polls go, Big 12 basketball is basically SEC football. Ranked team loses to an unranked team, ranked team falls a little but stays ranked, while the unranked team becomes ranked. Hardly ever lose one out of the top 25, but when you do that team is simply replaced by another Big 12 team. I don't enjoy watching it in football with the SEC but I sure enjoy it in basketball, even though the polls don't really matter.

DanaDane said:

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As far as polls go, Big 12 basketball is basically SEC football. Ranked team loses to an unranked team, ranked team falls a little but stays ranked, while the unranked team becomes ranked. Hardly ever lose one out of the top 25, but when you do that team is simply replaced by another Big 12 team. I don't enjoy watching it in football with the SEC but I sure enjoy it in basketball, even though the polls don't really matter.

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I think the nature of our losses are taken into account too. They've all been close. If it had been two or three games of double digit losses we might have been penalized more.

On no, boog. I should have been more clear since my comment is coming after our loss. I didn't mean the comment directly about us. I'm just saying it in the context that is referring to that's what the Big 12 has been like. For instance, Texas lost and eventually fell out but was replaced by Texas Tech. Earlier I believe it was TCU fell out, which then brought Kansas St into the Top 25. I'm not saying there's something wrong with it. I'm just saying that, like SEC football where it's pretty darn good top to bottom (with a few exceptions), Big 12 basket ball is similar. A loss is usually to another really good team, so you're never gonna fall too far in the rankings, and by the time someone is ready to fall out of the rankings, another Big 12 team has usually been on a winning streak and is ready to enter.

DanaDane said:

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As far as polls go, Big 12 basketball is basically SEC football. Ranked team loses to an unranked team, ranked team falls a little but stays ranked, while the unranked team becomes ranked. Hardly ever lose one out of the top 25, but when you do that team is simply replaced by another Big 12 team. I don't enjoy watching it in football with the SEC but I sure enjoy it in basketball, even though the polls don't really matter.

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The AP voters are pretty much clueless. The KenPom rankings are far more useful.

It's frankly absurd that we're ahead of TCU in the poll right now, much less seven spots ahead. They have three times as many top-25 wins, a better overall record, a better conference record and a head-to-head win over us in our home gym.

But these are the same people that had Auburn in the high 20s and Iowa State and Texas Tech out of the polls two weeks ago. These folks don't watch games or do any research for the most part. No one should put too much stock in the AP polls. There are too many better metrics out there now.

But your point obviously stands. The Big 12 is absolutely loaded. I'm just not sure we're a team the league should be hanging its hat on this year.

boognish_bear said:

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B12 conference play commanding a lot of respect I guess with us staying inside the Top 20 after 3 close losses in a row.

TT moves up to #15 after beating OU on the road and moving to 5-1 in conference play.

https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll

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Baylor is arguably the Notre Dome of basketball rankings these days. Past reputation is causing constant over ranking at present. There are a lot of teams outside the Top 25 that deserve Top 25 status far more than Baylor. The pollsters are not paying attention to reality. Baylor is a top 40 team, not a top 25 team.

boognish_bear said:

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I don't see this happening with how things feel right now....but if we beat UCF on the road and beat #12 ISU at Foster on Saturday things suddenly look much better at 5-3 in conference play

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Very big IF. Unless we start doing some smoke and mirrors defensively (mixing in zone, throwing boogers at the point guard), it's gonna be a long week.