Big 12 has unique plan for crowning men’s basketball champ if Baylor misses more games
Only two things have prevented the Baylor men’s basketball team from winning games this season, and neither of them have involved getting outscored on the hardwood.
The coronavirus pandemic and arctic weather have forced the undefeated No. 2 Bears to postpone eight conference games, putting them well behind their peers when it comes to Big 12 games played.
Baylor (nine) has played the fewest Big 12 games of any team in the league, while Kansas (14), Kansas State (13) and Oklahoma State (13) are closing in on a full slate of 18 conference games.
That could put the Bears at a competitive advantage when it comes time for the Big 12 to crown a regular season champion, as it seems unlikely they will be able to reschedule every postponement. On top of that, the majority of their postponed games have come against ranked opponents, while they have played struggling teams like Iowa State and K-State as originally scheduled.
A national debate raged in December when pundits had to compare college football teams with drastically unbalanced schedules. Could a similar, albeit much less heated, discussion take place if Baylor, which hasn’t played since Feb. 2, only plays a dozen or so conference games and another team finishes league play 14-4?
Turns out, the Big 12 has a plan for settling such a debate. Here it is, according to the conference rule book: “In the event any team plays four or more games less than the average number of games played by all conference teams, said team will add losses to its record to create an adjusted winning percentage. The team with the highest adjusted win percentage will be crowned regular season champion.”
Interestingly, the Big 12 will seed its tournament based on actual win percentage, regardless of who claims the regular season championship or how many games each team plays.
As of now, there is no need for the Big 12 to start handing out forfeits for the purpose of calculating adjusted winning percentage, because Baylor (17-0, 9-0 Big 12) is within three games of the conference average of 12. If the season ended today, normal winning percentage would be used to crown a regular season champion.
But a team like Oklahoma (13-5, 8-4) or Texas (13-5, 7-4) or West Virginia (14-6, 7-4) could end up challenging the Bears if they win the remainder of their games and Baylor misses out on a third of its conference schedule.
Let’s say a contending team finishes with a 14-4 Big 12 record, including a victory or two over Baylor along the way. That team would finish the season with a winning percentage of 77.7%. And that could be enough to win a regular season championship if the Bears finish 10-2, depending on the overall number of Big 12 games that get played.
If that number is 165 or higher (enough to round up to an average of 17 games), then the conference would assign Baylor an additional loss to bring it within four games of the league average when calculating its adjusted winning percentage. A 10-3 mark would result in an adjusted winning percentage of 76.9%, which would fall below a 14-4 team that played all of its conference games.
In other words, the Bears need to play a few more games and win them to celebrate their first regular season Big 12 championship.
That won’t be an issue if Baylor continues to play the way it has all season when it is expected to resume action against Iowa State on Tuesday. As long as the Bears remain undefeated, or only lose once while playing 12 or so conference games, there is virtually no way any other team can pass them ... even in terms of adjusted win percentage.
Still, the possibilities are enough to make at least one Big 12 coach wonder if the conference should have voted for a minimum games requirement this season.
“Teams all over the country have dealt with different situations,” K-State coach Bruce Weber said. “If they could get to 14 or 15 games in the league, they should be able to win the championship. I’m sure there would be some sort of asterisk there, but if they have the opportunity and still win it, that’s what we all voted on early and that’s what you gotta stick with.”
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 12:57 PM.