I was primarily talking about getting a 1 seed, and that is the first thing you mention. Our win at Tech is very much on par with the win at KU as long as you don't get swallowed up by the myth about KU and "The Phog", and those other wins you mention are better than anything Houston has. Not only should we clearly be seeded ahead of Houston now, but they have ground to make up.
Winning the conference matters to some extent, but the deck is stacked against us with our only meeting at their place, so I'm not worried as much about that. If we can keep it within one loss of them I still think we will have a much better resume than Houston at the end of the day. I think we need to win one of those tough remaining road games to get the one seed, but I'm fine with that. If we want to be a one seed we should win one of those.
If we look at this as objectively as we can with the data we have...
Houston advantages
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more losses (so far) and a "not great" loss against #40 San Diego St.
probably going to look better in the efficiency metrics
probably going to win the Big 12 regular season
probably going to win a head-to-head game
already won in Lawrence
Iowa St. advantages
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fewer losses (so far) and no bad losses
still has to play in Tucson tonight and Lawrence
probably going to be handed a loss in Houston
has home field in KC but that's no guarantee and the committee devalues CT games
Houston still has road trips to Arizona, Tech, and Baylor
already won in Lubbock
It's gonna be close. Iowa St. might have a better CV but will likely have a head-to-head loss. Houston is likely going to look better in the computers. The committee could throw it either way.
Could be the difference between #4 or #5 on their snake... so a #1 seed or not.