Big 12′s final week offers intrigue for OU & OSU

We are down to the final week of Big 12 basketball, and intrigue is alive and well for both the Cowboys and Sooners.

A lot’s been written about OSU’s NCAA Tournament fate, but don’t rule out this last week affecting the Sooners:

* OU might need to win Wednesday at Missouri, or at least beat the Tigers in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals, to secure a spot in Kansas City, Mo., for the NCAA’s first and second rounds. KC is the closest spot for OU, but Kansas and Missouri have made cases to get sent to the Sprint Center, too, and there is room for only two Big 12 teams.

* The real cost of OU’s without-Blake Griffin-loss to Kansas was not the descent of the Sooners in the committee’s eyes, it was the ascent of the Jayhawks. KU is now a legit threat to get a No. 1 seed. Kansas is seventh in the latest RPI. An OU-Kansas final in the Big 12 Tournament could determine a No. 1 seed, and remember, the committee will have to digest it now, since the championship game has been moved to Saturday night instead of Sunday afternoon.

* OSU’s five-game winning streak has the Cowboys right in the thick of the NCAA Tournament talk, and OSU gets another contender, Kansas State, in Stillwater, on Tuesday night. The Cowboys can clearly lift themselves ahead of the Wildcats with a victory.

Both OSU and KSU are 8-6 in the league. K-State still hosts Colorado, so the Wildcats could lose at Stillwater and still tie the Cowboys, who finish the season at OU. But teams that finish 9-7 in the league are not created equally. OSU is currently 31st in the RPI — the Cowboys didn’t rise despite two victories last week, a good lesson in how the RPI doesn’t move much in March — and KSU is 73rd.