Back Kansas To Extract Revenge Against Kansas State

Kansas State vs. Kansas, 9:00 ET

Last night I played a game in the Big 12 that was really intriguing. In that game, we saw Baylor take on Texas. I was expecting a low scoring, tight affair with both teams relying on their defense to lead the way. I was extremely wrong as the teams combined to score 178 points in a game with a total of 144.5. Now we return to the tough Big 12 for another game. As far as Big 12 battles go, this isn't one that is a marquee matchup, but I still think we have a good chance to pick up a unit between Kansas State and Kansas. 

Kansas State was off to a good start to the season and then they had to start facing the Big 12 opponents and everything hit the fan. To start the season, they went 12-3 in their first 15 games. The three losses came against USC to start the season, then they lost to Miami, and finally they fell to Nebraska. After opening the Big 12 games with two wins against UCF and West Virginia, they lost to Texas Tech. At home, they were able to get the best of Baylor and Oklahoma State. Sitting at 14-4 and 4-1 in conference, they entered the toughest stretch of their season and have gone 3-8 over their past 11 games. To their credit, they've at least remained competitive over the past five losses, and that includes four road games. Now they have to travel to face Kansas in a rivalry game. The Wildcats are led by a backcourt that has two guards that are scoring 31.1 points per game. Their front court is balanced, but doesn't offer much support regularly. The three forwards combine to score 29.7 points per game and are grabbing 19.1 rebounds per game. That might not be enough to deal with the tough lineup Kansas throws at them, but there is at least talent on the floor. They did beat Kansas once this season. The game came on their home floor and saw the Wildcats take them down in overtime. 

Bill Self out for Kansas' first game in the NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks play Howard. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)

Kansas hasn't struggled the way that Kansas State has, but they haven't consistently won since the conference began. They were 12-1 before the conference play started. Since they started playing Big 12 games, they've gone just 9-7, never winning or losing more than two in a row. They have lost their past two games, one against BYU and the other against Baylor. Both games were reasonably close, but the Jayhawks couldn't close the door on their opponent. The loss to BYU was the first home loss that Kansas has suffered all season. The results on their home court have been a mixed bag, with some games seeing them win by double digits, and others being a sweat. In my opinion, there is no tougher conference in college basketball than the Big 12. Kansas is a well balanced team with three true scoring options and then a supporting cast of players that do a little bit each to make sure the team is in each game. That's part of the reason that they aren't truly great though. The supporting cast is not consistent enough to help when the big 3 don't have it going. It also doesn't help that their leading scorer Kevin McCullar Jr. was out for a few games. He did come back in the last one and was able to play 32 minutes and put up 20 points. 

I think that this is a bad spot for Kansas State and I expect Kansas to dominate them. I do like the Wildcats balance, but the best players are on Kansas' side. I think they certainly have the two best players in the game, but they might have the three best players. I'm going to back Kansas to cover this big number as I think they have all of the advantages in this one - revenge, home court, better players, etc. 

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