Community Picks: Baylor 0% vs Oklahoma State 0%

It's hard to tell which Oklahoma State team Baylor will see Wednesday night: the one that opened Big 12 play 1-4 or the one that blew out Kansas last week. The 17th-ranked Bears might be more worried about themselves as they hope to move past a wasted opportunity when they visit the Cowboys. Baylor (15-4, 5-2) coughed up a chance to remain alone atop the conference Saturday, coming out flat in an 82-72 home loss to top-ranked Oklahoma. Continue to Article

January 26, 2016 4:21:pm EST

Throughout its 11-year reign as Big 12 champions, Kansas has always shown a knack for nabbing a big win whenever its grip on the league appears to be loosening. The Jayhawks will need that trait to reemerge during the next six weeks if they have any hope of extending their remarkable run of dominance. An 85-72 loss at Iowa State on Monday night puts Kansas' Big 12 title streak in serious jeopardy only eight games into the league schedule. The fourth-ranked Jayhawks now trail top-ranked Oklahoma, Baylor and West Virginia by a game in the loss column, and they have a tougher remaining schedule than the Sooners. Oklahoma (16-2, 5-2) has already finished its season series against Iowa State and played both Kansas and Baylor on the road. Kansas still has road games left against the Sooners and Bears as well as tricky home games remaining against Iowa State and West Virginia. What that means is that Kansas likely has very little margin for error if it wants to extend its league title streak to 12 and move within one of UCLA's all-time record of 13. The Jayhawks may need to either win in Norman on Feb. 13 or have Oklahoma slip up unexpectedly a couple times against lesser opponents. Kansas can't expect to win the league playing at the level it did in the second half Monday night. Iowa State outscored the Jayhawks 43-22 over the game's final 15 minutes because the Jayhawks committed far too many turnovers and took far too many ill-advised quick shots, both of which fueled the Cyclones' lethal transition attack.  Iowa State point guard Monte Morris scored 21 points, dished out nine assists and repeatedly made shrewd decisions with the ball in his hands, especially for a game played at breakneck speed. Georges Niang had 19 points and Matt Thomas scored 13 including a pair of critical 3-pointers during the decisive second-half run. While Iowa State's lack of depth and inability to defend dribble penetration are concerns, the Cyclones have shown the ability to defeat anyone on their home floor this season. They've toppled Kansas, Oklahoma and in-state rival Iowa — all of whom are in contention for No. 1 seeds.  It won't be easy for Iowa State to overtake Oklahoma and win the Big 12 since the Cyclones still visit Baylor, Kansas and West Virginia this season. Nonetheless, the Cyclones don't face nearly the pressure that Kansas does to achieve that feat. The Big 12 title has been all but a birthright for Kansas. Now this year's Jayhawks are in danger of letting it slip through their fingers. - - - - - - - Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @JeffEisenberg Continue to Article

January 25, 2016 11:50:pm EST

Five days after ascending to the top of the polls for the first time in 26 years, Oklahoma could be poised to achieve another rare feat. The Sooners have a strong argument to remain at No. 1 despite taking a narrow loss at Iowa State earlier in the week. Oklahoma bolstered its case on Saturday with an impressive 82-72 road victory over a 13th-ranked Baylor team that began the day alone in first place in the Big 12. Only a meaningless 14-0 game-ending run from the Bears disguised how one-sided this one was. Zone defense may be the signature of Baylor coach Scott Drew, but Oklahoma demonstrated that it has far too many lethal shooters and willing passers for that to be effective. The Sooners shot 62 percent from the field on Saturday by beating the Bears down the floor for transition baskets or raining down jump shots from behind the arc. Twenty-nine of their 31 baskets came via assists. Oklahoma's victory improves its record to 16-2 and gives it 10 wins against opponents in the top 75 in the latest KenPom rankings. One of the Sooners' two losses came in triple overtime at then-No. 1 Kansas; The other came by five points on Monday night at fellow Big 12 contender Iowa State. While second-ranked North Carolina (16-2) and fourth-ranked Villanova (16-2) both will undoubtedly receive strong consideration from voters for the No. 1 ranking if they also win this weekend, neither the Tar Heels nor the Wildcats have a better case than the Sooners. North Carolina has fewer quality wins and its two losses against Northern Iowa and Texas aren't nearly the caliber of Oklahoma's. Villanova actually has a comparable resume to that of the Sooners, but it's tough to ignore the fact that Oklahoma clobbered the Wildcats by 23 points when the two met on a neutral floor back in early December. Whether Oklahoma should remain No. 1 will be a spirited but ultimately inconsequential debate for the next 48 hours. What's actually more meaningful is the Sooners have put themselves into position to challenge for the Big 12 title and threaten Kansas' 11-year reign atop the league.  Not only is Oklahoma tied for first place in the Big 12, the Sooners are already done with their road trips to Kansas, Iowa State and Baylor. That gives them a huge advantage schedule-wise over any other fellow league title contenders.  Oklahoma is far from invincible. The Sooners don't have much depth beyond their top six or seven guys, nor do they alter enough shots around the rim or get to the foul line consistently enough.  But in a year when college basketball is loaded with good teams but lacks great ones, Oklahoma so far has been the best of the bunch.  - - - - - - - Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @JeffEisenberg Continue to Article

January 23, 2016 2:33:pm EST

Buddy Hield scored 14 of his 19 points after halftime, including consecutive 3 pointers that put No. 1 Oklahoma ahead to stay in an 82-72 victory at No. 13 Baylor on Saturday. Oklahoma (16-2, 5-2 Big 12) matched its season high with 16 3-pointers, including five by Jordan Woodard when he had all 20 of his points in the first half. The Sooners reached No. 1 for the first time since 1990 this week, then lost 82-77 at No. 19 Iowa State on Monday night. Continue to Article

January 23, 2016 2:27:pm EST

With another loss Saturday, the Sooners' hopes of their first Big 12 regular-season title in more than a decade could be slipping away as well. The nation's top-ranked team has already found out how small the margin of error is in college basketball's most stacked conference, and now it faces the possibility of falling two games behind first-place Baylor should it come up short against the 13th-ranked Bears in Waco. Five of Oklahoma's six Big 12 games have been decided by five points or fewer, which is more of a credit to how tough the conference is than an indictment of a team that's trying to enjoy being No. 1 for the first time since March 1990. Continue to Article

January 22, 2016 5:36:pm EST