LAWRENCE, Kan. — The Baylor Bears went into halftime with a 13 point lead on the road against the defending champion Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday, with the guard trio of Adam Flagler, Keyonte George, and LJ Cryer accounting for 42 of the team's 45 points.
However, Bill Self's Kansas squad stormed back in dominant fashion, outscoring the Bears 55-26 in the second half to pull away and secure a significant 87-71 victory, pulling them into a tie with Texas for first place in the Big-12 standings.
A come-from-behind win of this magnitude is impressive against any team, but for Kansas to pull this against an excellent Baylor squad proves just how talented, deep, and well-coached this program is - and is a key reason they are now in the driver's seat for a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Bracketologist Lukas Harkins, speaking to Locked on College Basketball host Isaac Schade, believes this team deserves to be on the one line and felt their ranking by the selection committee this weekend was a bit disrespectful.
"They belong on the one line right now, I think that's clear," Harkins said. "And they might even be above that fourth number one now with that win over Baylor...Their sheer number of quality wins is off the charts."
Kansas currently boasts 13 quad 1 wins and is 17-5 in quad one and quad two combined - both figures which lead the country currently.
They came in at No. 3 in the latest AP Poll behind Houston and Alabama, jumping a struggling Purdue squad and giving themselves some wiggle room between now and Selection Sunday.
Of course, Kansas won't have an easy path between now and then, with home games against West Virginia and Texas Tech next week followed by a finisher on the road against No. 8 Texas on March 4.