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Where Kansas falls in the NCAA Tournament seeding and whether or not the Jayhawks make history with a 13th straight Big 12 regular season crown won't be known until March, but it's not a stretch to say that both outcomes hang in the balance during this, the toughest stretch of the Jayhawks' season.

An 18-game winning streak game to a close on Tuesday night in Morgantown, where the Jayhawks have now lost four straight to Bob Huggins and West Virginia. It wasn't an unexpected result, but certainly an impactful one given the tight race at the top of the Big 12 standings. It moved Baylor, the team most likely to keep Kansas from tying UCLA's record of 13 straight conference championships, into a tie for first place heading into next Wednesday's top-10 battle in Lawrence.

The next step in this crucial stretch for Kansas will have no impact on the Big 12, but it carries enormous weight for its shot at No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and the development of this national title hopeful. It's wildly competitive at the top of the bracket right now with as many as 10 teams all with some argument for a No. 1 seed.

If Kansas can take down Kentucky in Rupp Arena on Saturday, it will have a quality win that only UCLA can match. That, paired with edging out Baylor in the Big 12, should be enough to give the Jayhawks an edge on a No. 1 seed.

But right now Jerry Palm has both Baylor and Kansas on that No. 1 line, just recently moving the Jayhawks up after Florida State's loss to Georgia Tech on Wednesday night.

In the last four seasons, Kansas has won the Big 12 with an average of four losses per year -- never more than five and no fewer than three since going 16-2 in 2012 on the way to a loss in the national title game to UK. Considering that, the loss to West Virginia (the first Big 12 loss of the season) isn't too concerning for their conference title chances. But those other years didn't have another contender quite as impressive as Baylor has been through the first 20 games of the season.

A single game will likely separate these two teams at the end of the year in the conference standings. The difference could be one of the two head-to-head battles coming up in the next three weeks or it could be something less expected, like a road game at Kansas State or Oklahoma State.

Here's where we stand with Kansas, heading into this season-defining stretch of games.

The good: Best backcourt in the country

Solid guard play is a time-honored edge in college basketball, particularly in crunch moments, and no one in the country has a better backcourt than Kansas. Frank Mason III and Devonte Graham have three seasons of experience playing together, and you can see it on the floor as they hand the reins of this high-octane Jayhawks offense back and forth. Mason, in particular, has been outstanding here in his senior season. He's on pace to become the first player in Big 12 history to average 20 points and five assists in a season and has a firm spot in the National Player of the Year race next to Villanova's Josh Hart.

Kansas has the best transition offense in basketball, even better than UCLA, and a myriad of ways to attack you in the half-court if you are lucky enough to get back and get set, and it all starts with the Mason-Graham combo.

The bad: Unusually bad defense ratings

Kansas' defense let it down late in the game against West Virginia, and they've had some inconsistencies on that end of the floor throughout the season. It's tough to nitpick with a team that's only lost twice all season but heading into this crucial stretch of games that will determine the Big 12 championship and NCAA Tournament seeding, it's appropriate. Kansas is simply giving up too many easy baskets, particularly in comparison to what we're used to seeing out of the Jayhawks.

Bill Self's Kansas teams have finished in the top 10 of KenPom's defensive efficiency ratings in six of the last seven years, never lower than No. 22 (2014). After all those easy buckets against West Virginia the Jayhawks enter Saturday's highly anticipated meeting with Kentucky all the way down at No. 41.

The good: Josh Jackson is getting it

Bill Self estimated that Kansas played about 30 good minutes of basketball at West Virginia only to sputter down the stretch, but if there is an underlying story to the Jayhawks' loss it was a jaw-dropping 22-point performance from Josh Jackson, who is, quietly, inching closer to college basketball superstardom. Jackson is emerging before our eyes in Big 12 play, fitting in perfectly with Mason and Graham as both a scorer and facilitator. He's a high-energy, versatile talent that should look right at home with the other lottery picks on the floor on Saturday.

Outlook & Predictions

It's a good thing for Kansas that it doesn't have to turn around on Monday for Baylor, and it's even better that this first Baylor game will be in Allen Fieldhouse. Given the infrequent occurrences of home losses under John Calipari, I'm going to guess that Kansas' defensive issues and both teams' love of up-tempo basketball result in a close, high-scoring Wildcats win -- if you're looking for tiebreakers in this matchup, Kansas' 63.2 free throw percentage isn't encouraging. After the loss, look for Kansas to bounce back, beat Baylor and Iowa State and get right before a dangerous trip to Kansas State on a two-day turnaround.

Even though Kansas has averaged four losses in its recent title seasons, it may need a 15-3 record to guarantee an outright title and those "other" games (not against Baylor or West Virginia) are the ones where the real danger lies on this path to history. The Jayhawks might beat Baylor at home at the end of this ridiculous stretch of top-10 opponents, but they still have to finish strong in the Big 12 and make the return trip to Waco. Still, with the best backcourt in the country and Josh Jackson's trajectory only going up it looks like history, and a No. 1 seed, are still very much in reach.