With Kansas winning at Missouri and Texas A&M knocking off Tech at home, the top four seeds in the Big 12 tournament are already decided. The Jayhawks have claimed their seventh-straight conference championship with a 14-2 league record, and for the fourth time during that run, Kansas has earned sole possession of the conference crown. A&M’s victory locked them into the 3-seed, while resurgent Kansas State is now the league’s fourth-place team. The Longhorns, who opened league play with a sparkling 11-0 mark, are now guaranteed to finish in second place thanks to a 1-3 mark in their last four games.

While that means Texas has nothing to play for in terms of conference seeding, the Horns still have the NCAA tournament to worry about. Their recent slide has eliminated any hopes of securing a No. 1 seed in the Big Dance, and another loss tonight could end their tenuous hold on a 2-seed. Baylor, meanwhile, is still one of the “First Four Out” in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracket projection at ESPN. Like Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas State before them, the Bears will be desperate for a résumé-building win over Texas.

The first meeting

After Texas had won their first nine league games by double-digits, the Baylor Bears finally ended that streak in the season’s first meeting between the two teams. The Longhorns sprinted out to an early lead, which grew to 19 at one point in the first half. Baylor’s LaceDarius Dunn made things interesting, though, scoring 22 points in the second half to get the Bears within three points in the final minutes. The Longhorns managed to ice things at the line, and escaped with a 69-60 win.

Tristan Thompson was the headliner for Texas, posting a double-double with 17 points and 13 boards. He even blocked three Baylor shots, and managed to outshine vaunted freshman Perry Jones III in a head-to-head battle. For the Bears, Dunn’s 26-point outburst led the way, with Jones’ 13 point performance the only other double-digit scoring output on the team.

Since then…

Since their impressive comeback fell just short against the Longhorns, the Bears have been something of a bi-polar team. I’d love to work in a timely joke about how Baylor has been bi-winning, but the fact of the matter is that they have had some very questionable losses over the last month.

Although the Bears completed a season sweep of Texas A&M with a win on Saturday night, they lost all three of their other conference games since facing Texas in Austin. Those losses included a head-scratching defeat to Texas Tech in Waco and a meltdown in the second half against Oklahoma State on Wednesday night. Perhaps they just needed more tiger blood.

Meet the Bears

For an in-depth look at the Baylor players and statistics, please read the preview from this season’s first meeting.

Keys to the game

While the offensive numbers have been ugly for Jordan Hamilton over the last two-plus weeks, his defense has been just as bad. In his final 2011 edition of the Power Rankings, SI’s Luke Winn published an excellent set of screenshots from the debacle in Colorado that underscored just how mercurial Hamilton’s defensive effort can be.

Without a doubt, Hamilton must bounce back for the Longhorns to win on the road tonight. He simply must improve the 30.6% shooting mark he has posted in the last five games, especially when you consider how Texas also suffers on the defensive end when his shot isn’t falling. Even if Hamilton is struggling from the floor, he has to remain mentally checked in on D against a loaded Baylor roster.

In addition, Texas needs to remain active on the glass. They did an excellent job in the first game, holding Baylor to a 23.8% mark on the offensive glass. Against the tall, talented frontline from Waco, that dominant of a performance was completely unexpected. While we aren’t holding our breath for a repeat of that performance tonight, if Texas can at least limit Baylor’s second chances, it will keep them in the game even when their own shots aren’t falling.

Finally, the Longhorn offense can’t grind to a halt. The first time these two teams played, Texas had one stretch of more than six minutes without a field goal. In the team’s recent losses to Colorado and Kansas State, they had similar droughts from the field.

Texas cannot allow their offense to devolve into four players standing around while Hamilton or J’Covan Brown make ill-advised drives from the corner that result in ugly, challenged shots. The Longhorns must get back to what worked for them earlier in the season, with motion off the ball and post players who could make the quick pass when defenses collapsed. If they can’t, the Texas offense will once again look like it has in the last two-plus weeks, and the Horns will likely be looking at another Saturday road loss to yet another bubble team.