Busting Brackets
Fansided

Kansas Basketball: Why Jayhawks won’t win the Big 12 in 2018-19

By Jason Kinander

LAWRENCE, KANSAS - JANUARY 14: Lagerald Vick #24 of the Kansas Jayhawks lays the ball up against Dylan Osetkowski #21 of the Texas Longhorns in the first half at Allen Fieldhouse on January 14, 2019 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
LAWRENCE, KANSAS - JANUARY 14: Lagerald Vick #24 of the Kansas Jayhawks lays the ball up against Dylan Osetkowski #21 of the Texas Longhorns in the first half at Allen Fieldhouse on January 14, 2019 in Lawrence, Kansas. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 4
Next
MIAMI, FL – DECEMBER 01: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shoots a three pointer against the Memphis Tigers during the HoopHall Miami Invitational at American Airlines Arena on December 1, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL – DECEMBER 01: Jarrett Culver #23 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders shoots a three pointer against the Memphis Tigers during the HoopHall Miami Invitational at American Airlines Arena on December 1, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /

No. 3: The threat of the first-place Texas Tech Red Raiders

In the past, Kansas’ top threats in the Big 12 have been Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Texas.

This season, Kansas’ challengers are a lot different.

How about Oklahoma, TCU, and Iowa State as a couple of legitimate challengers.

Oh yeah, and Texas Tech.

The first-place Texas Tech Red Raiders are tied for first in conference play, with the only losses coming to both Iowa State and Duke.

Texas Tech and head coach Chris Beard are clearly the best team in the Big 12 right now. In a really balanced conference, Texas Tech has emerged as the best of the best in the early going, and have shown no signs of slowing down.

Behind Big 12 Player of the Year frontrunner Jarrett Culver, Texas Tech is dangerous. The Red Raiders play defense better than any team in the conference, and have a balanced lineup on offense that gives opposing defenses fits for all 40 minutes.

Pound-for-pound, it is safe to say that Texas Tech is the best team in the Big 12. Kansas won’t face the Red Raiders until February 2nd, but Texas Tech has a fairly easy schedule until then, and could very well storm into February with just one loss, with all the momentum in the world, and a championship mentality.

For the first time in a long time, Kansas is going to need to play catch up. Even if we’re just two weeks into conference play.

Next. Big 12 Power Rankings. dark

Maybe I’m just overreacting. But I don’t feel good about this year’s Kansas Jayhawks team at all. Maybe it’s how shaky they’ve looked early on, but I think that this is the year that Kansas is (finally) dethroned, and their streak of consecutive Big 12 regular season titles comes to an end.

Home/Kansas Jayhawks