The Jayhawks, now a pedestrian 21-12, were going to hold that underdog designation a) only if they won Thursday in the Big 12 quarterfinals against Wildcats and b) because they had backed into their current plight to begin with.

The Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball team will play No. 3-seeded Arizona in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday. Kansas defeated UCF in an overtime thriller Wednesday. Meanwhile, Arizona had a bye through the early rounds of the tournament.

Because of the way the bracket was laid out, the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 Tournament ends up being the last of 16 teams to play. Turns out it was worth the wait for Arizona. The Wildcats trailed for only 97 seconds in a nearly wire-to-wire 88-77 win over Kansas in the Big 12 tourney quarterfinals on Thursday night in Kansas City.

Kansas as the No. 6 seed for a second straight year? Cincinnati playing on the opening day as the No. 13 seed? Nobody would have expected that at the start of the season.

The No. 1 seed Houston Cougars won three games in three days in Kansas City, Missouri to claim their first Big 12 Tournament championship in just their second year in the league. The Cougars defeated No.