Finally, Selection Sunday is here. And with it comes the game that we’ve all been waiting for since February 11th, when the Longhorns held off the Jayhawks in Austin for a huge win and the tiebreaker that afforded them the 1-seed in this conference tournament.

There’s a ton of history between these two teams, despite the short life of the conference they dominate. This marks the third-straight year that Texas and Kansas will meet in the finals of the conference tournament, where Kansas has won two straight. In fact, the Longhorns are an imperfect 0-4 in Big 12 title games heading into this one.

Following Tennessee’s loss to Arkansas in the SEC semifinals, many pundits are claiming this game could decide the fourth 1-seed that will be handed out in the NCAA tournament. Personally, I’m not sure I buy it, as the Vols have an incredibly strong computer profile and a handful of excellent victories. But if Texas were to win today, it would be hard to argue against a team that has the 5th-best RPI and SOS in addition to 12 wins against the RPI Top 50, which would include four wins against the Top 5 alone.

So if that’s not enough at stake for Texas today, they also are all too aware of the fact that they blew a double-digit lead in the conference championship to Kansas last season, just a week after doing the same thing in Allen Fieldhouse. There’s not just pride and seeds on the line, but perhaps a little bit of revenge, too. And if you include the 19,000 Jayhawk fans that will be filling the Sprint Center today in hopes of seeing their own revenge for the February 11th loss, this one should be incredibly intense.

If you’re interested in who the Jayhawk players are, you can check out the game preview from the February 11th contest in Austin. The only player that KU used in last season’s two wins that won’t be on the floor today is Julian Wright, so the ‘Hawks bring plenty of experience into this one. The addition of freshman Cole Aldrich gives them some depth inside, while Darnell Jackson has made huge strides in his senior year and is now an absolute stud in the paint for the Jayhakws.

What to look for

1) Ball control – Texas has led the country in controlling the ball for much of the season, and they’ll need to do that today. Kansas loves to play pressure defense extended well past the perimeter, and will throw a variety of full-court looks at random times just to throw teams off. If the Longhorns can keep the Jayhawks from amassing a nice chunk of points off of turnovers, they should be in good shape today.

2) Smart defense – In the first half of the February 11th game, Kansas used lightning-fast ball movement to attack the Texas defense for good looks inside and open attempts from behind the arc. Fortunately, the Jayhawks scaled back their attacks the inside in the second half, which was a big reason why the Horns were able to win the game. Texas will need to rotate quickly and communicate well on D to ensure that the incredibly talented Jayhawk offense doesn’t slice them up.

3) The role players – Who will step up today for Texas? It can’t simply be D.J. Augustin and Damion James. A second-straight big game from A.J. Abrams could put the Horns over the top, but key contributions could also come from Connor Atchley or even one of the big men on the bench. This looks to be a very close game again today, so even the smallest contribution from an unsung player could spell the difference.