Six of 10 Big 12 Conference men's basketball teams are within three games of first place entering the final two and a half weeks of the regular season.
"I think it is crazy," Kansas coach Bill Self said of the league race Thursday during his weekly news conference at Allen Fieldhouse.
Self is somewhat of an expert on it what takes to win the league, considering his Jayhawks have claimed an NCAA-record 14 consecutive Big 12 titles.
"K-State is still way in the driver's seat right now. They deserve to be," Self said of the Wildcats, who enter the weekend 10-3 in conference play _ one game ahead of KU and Texas Tech (9-4), teams that happen to be playing on Saturday, in Lubbock, Texas. Iowa State and Baylor are two games back at 8-5 and Texas sits three back at 7-6.
KU figures to know a bit more about its chances of winning another league crown Monday. The Jayhawks will meet K-State on Monday at Allen Fieldhouse, capping a wild three days.
"This is obviously one of the biggest games we've had in the regular season for a while and will probably be the biggest game of our season until Monday," Self said of the game between the No. 12 Jayhawks (20-6, 9-4) and No. 14 Red Raiders (21-5, 9-4). "Obviously that 48 hours will be really important to our program and this particular team."
Self said Baylor's win at Iowa State on Tuesday made things in the conference "even crazier. It was a tremendous win. What it does is put five teams in the mix that basically have a shot."
Self said that even though KU's streak of 14 straight titles may be in jeopardy, he hasn't approached that topic with his players.
"I have not brought that up one time, not one time this year. We have, with more experienced teams, brought it up (in the past)," Self said.
"I think all that would do is add some pressure to them. Injuries are never excuses. They are not. Let's not go into that, but I think our young kids (four freshman starters the past three games) are doing pretty well considering who we are not playing with (Udoka Azubuike and Marcus Garrett because of injury; Lagerald Vick due to a leave of absence; and Silvio De Sousa, because of NCAA ineligibility). There's no reason to add any more pressure to what they're doing."
The Jayhawks last played on Saturday at home (a 78-53 victory over West Virginia), then had a day off Sunday, followed by practice Monday and Tuesday. There was a film session Wednesday, then the resumption of practice Thursday.
"In general, it is going to be a crazy 48 hours," Self said. "We play Saturday at 7 p.m., get home at 2 in the morning or whenever. We get to practice 30 minutes (Sunday) for the first-place team in our league, a team that's already beaten you (74-67, Feb. 5 in Manhattan).
"It's going to be wild, but that's OK. I mean, heck, that's life. I'd rather be in situations like this than not in situations like this. It'll be a tough test. We totally respect what happens on Monday (vs. KSU), but I hadn't thought about that game and won't until after Saturday's game."
