Oklahoma and Baylor tried so hard to add some finality to tonight’s WVU v. Texas Tech game. The Sooners, on their senior night, led by 26 points in the first half. They lost the lead in the second half. In the end, though, Oklahoma beat Baylor, 73-71.

Had the Bears finished that one off, a WVU win tonight would have clinched the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 tournament. As is stands, that Texas loss — is loss a strong enough word? — at home to Kansas Monday moved a lot of pieces in WVU’s favor, and a win tonight guarantees the Mountaineers no worse than the No. 3 seed. As the standings suggest, though, a loss tonight makes the Friday and Saturday games insanely and, perhaps at the end of this season, fittingly interesting.

On Friday, Texas plays at Oklahoma State. A day later, Oklahoma plays at TCU, WVU plays at Baylor and Iowa State plays at Kansas. A five-way tie for second seems unlikely, because of TCU and Kansas, but multi-team ties for seeds are certainly on the table. As long as the Mountaineers win, they avoid the ties, because even a win/loss or loss/wn finish locks up no worse than the No. 3 seed.