« Game 53: Texas at Kansas (Big 12 Tournament) | Main | Big 12 Tournament - Day 3 summary »
Thursday - May 21, 2009
Big 12 Tournament - Day 2 summary
Texas beat Kansas rather handily this afternoon 9-3. See my post about the game for details. Kansas State helped us out by beating Baylor in the nightcap 9-4. With the way the games played out, Texas now has complete control of their own destiny. If they win Saturday, they play the winner of Pool 2 on Sunday. If Texas loses, Kansas State moves on. No matter what Baylor and Kansas do, they're both out of the running.
Time go to all Craig Way on you and explain how this worked out:
- Scenario 1 (bad for Texas): Baylor beats Kansas State and Texas beats Kansas today. In that case, come Saturday, Baylor would either be 3-0 (in which case, they automatically move on 'cause they've got no losses) or 2-1. Texas would be 1-2 (and out automatically) with a loss to KSU or 2-1 with a win over KSU. In the case where Texas and Baylor are both 2-1, each of the Kansas teams have two losses. So, the head-to-head tie-breaker means Baylor moves on (due to their victory over Texas on Day 1). In the case where KSU and Baylor are both 2-1, again, Baylor wins the head-to-head tie-breaker. No matter what, Baylor gets into the Championship game with a win over KSU. Fascinating.
- Scenario 2 (good for Texas): Baylor loses to Kansas State and Texas beats Kansas today. In that case, come Saturday, Baylor is either 2-1 (with a win over Kansas) or 1-2 (and automatically out). As in Scenario 1, Texas would be 1-2 (and out automatically) with a loss to KSU or 2-1 with a win over KSU. If Texas beats KSU on Saturday and Baylor beats Kansas, that would mean Texas, Baylor, and KSU all end up with 2-1 records. And, Kansas is out with 3 losses. So, in head-to-head games, Texas would have beaten KSU who beat Baylor who beat Texas who beat KSU who beat Baylor. Round and round we go. Next tie-breaker? High seed. Texas moves on. If Texas loses to KSU, the Wildcats move on 'cause they're 3-0. Either way, Baylor is out.
Isn't that interesting? The upshot is that, once Texas beat Kansas in the early game, Baylor had to win today's game to move on. And, if they had won, they would've secured a spot in Sunday's game...no matter what the other teams did on Saturday. If Texas had lost, that would've stirred up a whole other can of worms and calculations and I didn't bother to go there 'cause that would've automatically meant Texas was out of the running. And, why should I bother with that? Heh.
So, now it's up to Texas to win and move on. No matter what else happens, they're in control. By the way, KSU used A.J. Morris in today's game. He went deep into the 7th and threw 121 pitches. So, we won't be seeing him on Saturday. That's certainly not a bad thing, eh? Go, Horns!
Posted by Joanna at 11:35 PM