Kansas lost Monday night at Texas Tech, their fourth-straight road loss. The Jayhawks are 6-0 at home and 1-5 on the road. They play at OU on Saturday afternoon.
KU is now, percentage-wise, fifth in the conference standings.
the daily #193 | 2/13/2024 | Archives
Houston continues atop the Big 12 standings:
Iowa State is #10 in both polls and plays at Cincinnati tonight at 6 p.m. It will be ISU’s third game on the road in their last four (4 games in 11 days). A win ties the Cyclones with the Cougars at 8-3.
As we wrote yesterday, UH is the best team in the conference at home.
Of the teams with six or more wins in the league – those that can realistically win the Big 12 title – UH might have the easiest road to it. Here are the relevant metrics – current standings, ESPN BPI’s strength of schedule remaining (nationally), number of home games, who they play on the road, and their road opponents’ home winning percentage (ROHWP):
| Team | Record | SOS | Left @ Home | Road Opp | ROHWP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UH | 8-3 | 3 | 4 | BU UCF OU | .688 |
| ISU | 7-3 | 14 | 4 | UC UH UCF KSU | .700 |
| Tech | 7-4 | 20 | 3 | ISU UCF WVU OSU | .650 |
| BU | 6-4 | 4 | 4 | WVU BYU TCU Tech | .682 |
| KU | 7-5 | 2 | 3 | OU BU UH | .813 |
| OU | 6-5 | 1 | 3 | BU OSU ISU UT | .619 |
| TCU | 6-5 | 15 | 3 | KSU Tech BYU WVU | .714 |
UH is 3-3 on the road, Kansas is 1-5, and every other team in that list is 2-3. Teams coming to Houston are 8-13 on the road, and oddly, all three went to WVU and lost.
This is going to be a fantastic end to the season. How much fun is it in a competitive league with so many teams in contention with four Saturdays left?
And how about every team playing every Saturday in league play? Midweeks have differing schedules – teams play on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and everyone gets one midweek off – but everyone plays every Saturday. It puts a nice little bow on the conference every week.
At this point, all roads lead through Houston to the Big 12 title, but if UH loses a home game, that math changes dramatically. If the Cougars hold serve at home, one road win could be enough to take the championship. But if they win two road games and four at home, the Cougars would almost certainly win.
