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Oklahoma State @ #13 Kansas
Saturday, February 9th 11:00 AM CT, ESPN
#13 Kansas (17-6, 6-4) is in a perilous position. They just lost to instate rival Kansas State, who is now in control of first place in the conference. The Jayhawks are in 4th place, behind the Wildcats, as well as Baylor and Iowa State. Kansas has been awful on the road this year, but luckily for them they get Oklahoma State (9-13, 2-7) at home. Oklahoma State is just not all that good this year. Jayhawks roll.
74-60 Kansas
TCU @ #17 Iowa State
Saturday, February 9th 1:00 PM CT, ESPNU
#17 Iowa State (18-5, 7-3) is now tied for second in the conference with Baylor. The Cyclones will be rooting for a Baylor win over Kansas State to create a 3 way tie in conference. But, before that, they have to take care of business at home against TCU (16-6, 4-5). TCU barely beat Oklahoma State at home on Saturday, putting together a two point win. That isn’t much of a bounce back from the absolute beating they took when they faced Baylor. Iowa State has had a couple of shaky games, but both were ultimately wins against Texas and Oklahoma. I like Iowa State at home.
78-70 Iowa State
#18 Texas Tech @ Oklahoma
Saturday, February 9th 3:00 PM CT, ESPNU
Oklahoma (15-8, 3-7) is sliding further and further down the conference pecking order. They’ve lost three conference games in a row to Iowa State, West Virginia, and Baylor. #18 Texas Tech (18-5, 6-4) recovered from their loss in Lawrence by destroying West Virginia. Oklahoma will put up some fight, but Texas Tech gets a close road win.
71-68 Texas Tech
Kansas State @ Baylor
Saturday, February 9th 5:00 PM CT, ESPN2
Baylor (15-7, 6-3) has to bounce back QUICKLY from their loss at Texas, because a game with massive implications for the Big 12 conference race is happening in Waco this weekend. Baylor is now tied for second in the conference with Iowa State, while Kansas State (17-5, 7-2) is now in sole possession of first place. If Baylor wants to regain a share of first place, they need to beat the Wildcats. Kansas State is red hot with 7 straight conference wins (granted, there is a loss to Texas A&M out of the SEC buried in there). Dean Wade and Barry Brown Jr. have been great and the Kansas State senior class just scored its first win over Kansas. The biggest thing Baylor needs to figure out is how to run their offense if teams are going to aggressively defend Makai Mason. Texas had someone in Makai’s face the entire game and it completely shut him down. Other teams are going to try that, so Baylor needs a better game plan for that situation. Now that my streak of wrong picks has ended, I can return to trying to actually pick who I think will win. This Baylor team has had a lot of resiliency this year and Kansas State is about due to drop a conference game, especially after the emotional high of their win over Kansas. Baylor gets it done.
73-70 Baylor
Texas @ West Virginia
Saturday, February 9th 7:00 PM CT, ESPN2
Texas (13-10, 5-5) got themselves a much needed win over Baylor during the week. They have a good chance to build off of that when they travel to West Virginia (10-13, 2-8). The Mountaineers are still struggling mightily, getting blown out by Texas Tech the game after a much needed win over Oklahoma. If Texas plays anything near like they did against Baylor, they win this one easily.
74-62 Texas