It’s the battle for first place in the Big 12. The Kansas Jayhawks lost for the first time in Big 12 play last week, allowing tonight’s visiting Baylor Bears to climb into a tie for the lead in the conference. Can the home team get back control of the conference race with a win tonight? Make sure to let us know in the comments below, but first take a look at what our writing staff thinks will happen.
Fizzle406: Kansas has this one. Coming off a big win on Saturday and playing in AFH against a top team, yeah, it’s going to be good. Hopefully the Vick/Bragg debacles won’t be much of a distraction. Kansas 76, Baylor 67
Mike: I’m with fizzle on this one. Baylor comes in ranked higher than Kansas (in the AP Poll), and that alone should be enough #Motivation for this one to end favorably for the good guys. I honestly thought the Bears would be #1 coming into this game; I didn’t think the AP voters would give Gonzaga the top line due to schedule. The other big motivator is the guys have to know that Baylor is currently the biggest threat to KU’s title streak. They don’t want that to end on their watch, and they won’t want to play catch-up the rest of the conference season, either. Kansas 86, Baylor 76.
dnoll5: No idea who will be on the court at any given time (as of this writing) but Coleby did nicely in Bragg’s place and the Kentucky game seemed to be a nice primer for this one. I hope that they dare us to shoot. If so, it’s game over. Kansas 88, Baylor 77.
KU Grad 08: Baylor honestly hasn’t played that well over the past several weeks, escaping some close calls with inferior teams. KU isn’t good enough to run away with this one, but it's about time Baylor paid for not being able to score. Kansas 72, Baylor 67.
Jakebogen95: Get out of here Baylor. The Big 12 runs through Lawrence. With that being said, Kansas just knocked off Kentucky when they were thin depth wise and were in a hostile environment. (Oh! And I also was the only one on RCT to pick them to win...Yay me!) I don’t have the slightest clue who ends up playing, but Kansas is winning this ball game and when they do they should be considered the team to beat in college basketball. Not as dominant as years past, but they have a closer in Frank Mason and a player who is only getting started and it’s the freshman Josh Jackson. JJ11 is the key to another Rock Chalk Championship. Kansas 85, Baylor 77
Andy: Kansas showed that they are definitely a force to be reckoned with, even down low. I was a bit shocked to see Kansas keep pace with a deeper and probably more athletic Kentucky team, and I don’t know that I can honestly say that Baylor is better. Add in the fact that Kansas is going to be at home here, and I have a hard time picking against the Jayhawks. Obviously foul trouble could swing the game very quickly, but Landen Lucas has done a phenomenal job of staying out of it with pretty much no depth surrounding him. Kansas starts to pull away late, but the free throw shooting woes keep them from ending with a big lead. Kansas 79, Baylor 75.