Big 12 Men's Championship Tournament Preview

The Big 12 Men's Tournament in Kansas City, MO starts Wednesday night. Let's dive into which matchups could be interesting and impactful in Kansas City

Contents

1. Overview 
2. Teams to Watch
3. Games to Watch

Overview 

This year's Big 12 Tournament, for a conference of ten teams, will include nine teams. Makes sense, right? Oklahoma State was hit with a postseason ban before the season started, so teams are only seeded 1-9, and instead of the usual two Wednesday night games, we'll only see one: West Virginia vs Kansas State (the 8 and 9 seeds). 

Thursday will have the usual four game schedule. Kansas faces the winner of the Wednesday night game, and the winner of that faces the winner of 5 seed TCU vs 4 seed Texas. On the other side of the bracket, 2 seed Baylor will play 7 seed Oklahoma, while 3 seed Texas Tech plays 6 seed Iowa State (who usually brings a boatload of fans with them to KC). The semifinals then take place Friday evening with the final on Saturday. 

Teams to Watch

No one in the Big 12 appears to be on the bubble. Teams like Oklahoma, Iowa State, and TCU played well enough down the stretch that they appear to be locks, mostly protected along the 8 and 9 lines. But a good run by any of those teams could elevate them, and avoid a potential second round clash with a 1 seed. 

Baylor is likely locked in as a 1 seed, but Texas Tech losing a couple of surprise games down the stretch could have them down to the 4 line. I mentioned that ISU travels well, so a quarterfinal win is no guarantee for the Red Raiders. If they want to stay on the 3 line or higher, they'll at least need to win that one. A semifinal win over Baylor would almost ensure it. 

Does Kansas have anything to play for? If a 1 seed is important to them, then the answer is quite possibly yes. It seems Baylor, Gonzaga, and Arizona are fixed on the 1 line, but Auburn's case is a little more shaky. Kentucky is also very close to Kansas according to most predictions, while having a head to head win over them. Unless Auburn and Kentucky both suffer embarrassing early losses in the SEC, it's very unlikely that KU can find a spot on the top seeding line without doing the dirty work themselves. Wins over the 8/9 seed and either Texas or TCU probably won't do it either. But if Kansas wins the whole thing, depending on how things go in the SEC, a 1 seed is not out of the question. 

Games to Watch

As a Kansas fan, obviously TCU and Texas will be one to keep an eye on, but the other side of the bracket is important too. This is one situation where you would not want a cakewalk to the trophy, because beating a surprise team like Iowa State or Oklahoma is unlikely to sway the seeding committee too much. The Jayhawks would likely need to take on (and beat) Baylor or Tech if they want a last minute boost to their resume. 

Purely as a spectator, Iowa State and Tech could be a fun one. Again, the Cyclones travel to this event like it's the Super Bowl, and ISU did split the season series. With Tech slipping just a bit recently, there's upset potential here. 

Baylor should make it past Oklahoma based on talent alone, but it may be worthwhile to watch any game the Bears are involved in. They're almost unanimously a 1 seed, and while the overall 1 seed is very much in play, that may not serve as enough motivation for Baylor to put on their best show in front of an arena that's unlikely to have a lot of green and gold in it. Again, a Baylor loss could be a mixed blessing for Kansas. On one hand, a win over them on Saturday may be KU's best shot at landing on the 1 line, but a Baylor loss improves the Jayhawks' odds of claiming another piece of hardware this weekend.