Kansas is going to win the Big 12 regular-season title one of these days, and that’ll be 13 in a row and that’ll match UCLA’s NCAA record from 1967-79. The sport was very different back then. Nine of these will be outright titles. Four are shared, and the Jayhawks tidied things up by winning the conference tournament title in three of those years and a national championship once. It’s a truly amazing run, and this, for some reason, is perceived by many to be bad for the league … and they might be wholly dismissed if not for Bill Self’s five first-weekend exits in those 13 seasons. But then again, the RPI has had the Big 12 No. 1 the last three years. (It’s No. 2 and gaining ground this year.)

However you look at it, the Big 12 title race is over. It either ended when Kansas finished win an 8-0 run to win by two at Baylor Saturday or, more likely, when Baylor lost at home to Texas Tech and Kansas outscored WVU 34-16 in the final 7 minutes, 58 seconds a week ago today.

But this is not to say the fun is over in the Big 12.

The conference tournament is going to be really good. I even think the opening-day games will be be good. I hate it — hate it — when people say, “If the season ended today …” because it establishes a false premise you’re supposed to follow. But if the season ended today …

… WVU, now ranked No. 12, would be the No. 2 seed despite the 9-5 record it shares with Baylor and Iowa State. The order above is created by overall winning percentage and then alphabetical order after that. Being the No. 2 seed is important.

The bracket is a little wonky, but while Nos. 2 and 3 both avoid No. 1, which is Kansas, until the championship game, No. 2 also plays its first game against whoever won the No. 7 v. No. 10 game the day before. If you press like WVU does, or did, it’s beneficial to see a team that played 24 hours earlier. That, of course, compounds as the tournament progresses, and that’s why it’s so important Bob Huggins trusts his bench more and not less and that Dax Miles and Brandon Watkins and Beetle Bolden and Lamont West and even Magic Bender are where they need to be.

Anyhow, No. 3 opens with No. 6. Today, that’s Kansas State, and the Mountaineers have had trouble with the Wildcats for two years running. It’s possible Texas Tech gets to No. 6. The 7 and 10? TCU and Oklahoma. There’s a difference. Again, it’s early, but this is the game WVU is left to play.

In the present/fake tie with Baylor and Iowa State, WVU comes out on top because it has the best record of those three teams against one another. That’s the key tiebreaker — and just go ahead and bookmark this now. But those three all play again, meaning half of the final four games for each team is really important. (Kudos to the Big 12 for keeping Kansas away from the rest of the top four in the final two weeks…) The Mountaineers are at Baylor a week from today and play host to Iowa State four days later — and that’s a Friday, meaning travel-tried, travel-tired WVU gets an extra day off before the tournament. Baylor plays at Iowa State two days before playing host to WVU.

To break a three-way tie, you first use the record against one another. As it stands, WVU is 2-0, Baylor is 1-1 and Iowa State is 0-2. Obviously, they can’t all finish with the same head-to-head-to-head record. If a three-way tie is whittled to two teams, you go to the record against the highest-ranked teams in the standings, beginning with Kansas and then going down until there’s a difference. WVU and Iowa State are 1-1 against Kansas. Baylor is 0-2. You’d probably need Oklahoma State to break the tie, and let’s use the Cowboys to shift into the fun part here.

Brad Underwood could win Big 12 coach of the year. His team is 7-1 in the Big 12, and 8-1 overall, after a 0-6 start in conference play. The Cowboys have a grind to finish, though: at K-State, v. Texas Tech, at Iowa State, v. Kansas. It’s not likely, but it’s not impossible — because they’ve won at home against Kansas the past three years, and who knows what motives Kansas will have on the final day of the regular season? — the Cowboys force their way into a tie for second. Realistically, they need to go 4-0, and the odds are long from there. Two losses to Baylor most likely keep Oklahoma State from winning a four-team tie — or any tie — involving Baylor as well as a three-team tie with WVU and Iowa State because of that top-down second tiebreaker.

And if the season ended today, Kansas, Baylor, WVU, Iowa State, Oklahoma State and K-freaking-State, which I keep writing off, would be in the tournament. The Wildcats have a cozy path, too: home against Oklahoma State, at Oklahoma, at TCU and home against Texas Tech.

Speaking of the Red Raiders, nobody has more to play for. They’re on the outside looking in, but they’re staring at a four-game season as they try to make a case for inclusion: a massive home game tonight against Iowa State, a similarly massive game at Oklahoma State, home against Texas and a massive game at K-State. If they go 3-1 — and one of the three has to be Texas — they could probably get to the No. 6 seed. A 4-0 finish should put them there. But No. 7 isn’t bad, because that means a game against Oklahoma or Texas and a chance to add a win to the total.

Your schedule the rest of the way:

Monday, Feb. 20
Iowa State at Texas Tech
Texas at West Virginia

Tuesday, Feb. 21
Oklahoma at Baylor

Wednesday, Feb. 22
TCU at Kansas
Oklahoma State at Kansas State

Saturday, Feb. 25
West Virginia at TCU
Texas Tech at Oklahoma State
Baylor at Iowa State
Kansas State at Oklahoma
Kansas at Texas

Monday, Feb. 27
West Virginia at Baylor
Oklahoma at Kansas

Tuesday, Feb. 28
Oklahoma State at Iowa State

Wednesday, March 01
Texas at Texas Tech
Kansas State at TCU

Friday, March 3
Iowa State at West Virginia

Saturday, March 4
Texas Tech at Kansas State
TCU at Oklahoma
Baylor at Texas
Kansas at Oklahoma State