Raise Your Glasses To …

Texas (21-7, 11-3)

Here’s a little known fact — the Longhorns could be Big 12 Conference champions. All the talk has been about Kansas and Texas A&M — and rightfully so, they are first and second, respectively — but Texas will win the championship if it defeats those two teams this week. Texas is in this position because it has won five games in a row. The last two have been especially respectable. The Longhorns whipped Texas Tech by 29 points eight days ago, and won a tough game at Oklahoma by 10. That was better than Kansas did Monday night. The reason for this surge? Players not named Kevin Durant are starting to step up. In the Red Raider-walloping, each Longhorn starter scored in double figures.

Send a Congratulations Facebook Message To …

Any Senior

It was a slow week for spectacular performances, so why not recognize the Big 12’s seniors? They will all be playing their last home games this week and really do deserve all the honors. Some people might get sick of watching the standing ovations on TV or seeing walk-ons start, but these players have worked hard for four years.

Start a Conversation With These Topics

The KU+SWAC Conference

This just in. The Big 12 North has been renamed. It is now called the KU+SWAC because every team in the North, besides Kansas, is of similar quality to the teams that make up the Southwestern Athletic Conference (home to powerhouses such as Arkansas Pine-Bluff and Prairie View A&M). Nebraska, Colorado, Missouri and Iowa State are embarrassments. Not one of those teams should even play in the NIT. Kansas State gets a little bit of leeway, but the only reason the Wildcats are in the hunt for the NCAA Tournament is because they’ve played each one of those disgraces twice. This conference has been bad before, but this is by far the worst the North has ever been.

Can’t we just have one No. 1?

It’s absolute nonsense that college basketball analysts aren’t giving Kansas and Texas A&M any love for a No. 1 seed. Somehow Florida still makes a better case even though it just lost to LSU, the worst team in its conference. Ditto for Wisconsin, even though the Badgers have lost two in a row. Worse still is North Carolina. The Tar Heels have lost three of their last seven games, including one to a pitiful North Carolina State team. If Texas A&M or Kansas wins out, it should be a lock for a No. 1 seed.

The Dora Watch

For those who have missed this section, “Fastbreak” predicted that Texas Tech’s Darryl Dora wouldn’t score in double-digits the rest of the season after scoring 18 in an upset against Kansas. Dora came painfully short of scoring 10 points in both of his games this week, but he did make some progress. Dora actually started a game. Sure, it was Senior Day, but that’s as close as Dora is going to get to achieving something for the rest of this year.

Keep a close watch on the race for irrelevance

It really is hard to pick a team for this spot. Obviously Colorado is a shoe-in every week, but the entire Big 12 has underperformed so much, especially the North, that almost any team could be chosen. That said, the Fastbreak will stick to the Buffaloes. Here’s a little reminder for those who may have missed it. Earlier this season, Colorado only beat, gulp, Northern Colorado by two points at home. Northern Colorado has only been a Division 1 basketball team for three and a half years. Colorado-Colorado Springs did a better job against Northern Colorado than Colorado did and that was at Northern Colorado.

You Probably said ‘Oh My Gosh’ about …

Mike Anderson’s rant

Anderson has always been depicted as a great guy and basketball coach. That’s why it was surprising when he went “Gary Pinkel” after his team’s overtime loss to Nebraska last Saturday. He pointed to the officiating as the reason for his team’s loss, a move that Pinkel, Missouri’s football coach, has perfected. Anderson doesn’t need to resort to that. He’s done a good job this year with a team lacking in talent. Hopefully he’ll know better in the future.

Kansan sportswriter Mark Dent can be contacted at mdent@kansan.com.

— Edited by Ryan Schneider