No. 4 Baylor plays at No. 3 Kansas in the best college basketball game of the week Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on CBS in a Big 12 showdown. The clash between the Bears and Jayhawks is a terrific early-season Big 12 game to whet the appetite for hoops fans across the country. 

This kind of game will have impact atop the polls, atop the Big 12 and will create an early pecking order for No. 1 seeding. These are the wins and losses that can mean the difference between a No. 1 and No. 2, or worse, down the road. 

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Storylines 

Baylor: Baylor is 0-3 all time when playing as a top-five team and vs. a top-five team. For contrast, Kansas has played 37 times in top-five clashes. Baylor is doing it while mostly starless, though Jared Butler (16.3 ppg) is a go-getter for Scott Drew's team. Baylor is winless in its history at Kansas, sporting an 0-17 record. Not just that, but Baylor is 0-24 all time in road games against teams ranked in the top five. There's quite a bit on the line here for a Bears team looking for more respect nationally, while rating top-10 in almost every mainstream metric. 

Kansas: The Jayhawks are regarded among the sport's elite this season, currently slotted there with Duke and Gonzaga. A win over Baylor would firm up that reputation, while a loss would mean Kansas is 2-3 vs. top-30 KenPom teams this season, the wins having come against Dayton and West Virginia. Kansas is the only team in college basketball with two players still in the National Player of the Year race: point guard Devon Dotson and center Udoka Azubuike, who is making 79.3% of his shots, tops in the NCAA.

Game prediction, pick 

Latest odds via SportsLine: Kansas -8 


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Gary Parrish
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Matt Norlander
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Jerry Palm
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Kyle Boone
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Chip Patterson
KANSAS -8
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Baylor
Kansas
S/U
Kansas
Kansas
Kansas
Kansas
Kansas

There was once a time when Scott Drew had more losses at Allen Fieldhouse than Bill Self. Kansas has been consistently great at home and is nearly automatic vs. the Bears. KU's won 13 of the past 14 in this series. But Baylor is still somehow the most undervalued team in college basketball. Almost no one wants to call Baylor great, and maybe it will take a road victory over KU to get them there. I don't think it's going to win, but I do think it's going to play it close. Pick: Baylor +8.

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