Big 12 Conference Tournament Preview
Kansas is the top team in the country and by far the most talented team in the Big 12. Everyone will be gunning for the Jayhawks in order to solidify an automatic bid. Kansas checks in at 29-2 overall and 15-1 in conference play. The next best team in the conference is arguably Kansas State and Kansas has already beaten them twice this year including a double digit drubbing a few weeks ago in Lawrence. Kansas State is 11-5 in conference play, tied with Baylor for the second best conference record. Baylor showed the country that they are a solid squad with great guard play by easily handling Texas last weekend. Great guard play is a key to success in post-season play and Baylor may be a team to watch in this tournament.
Texas A&M is another team with a lot of talent that could not only do some damage in their conference tournament but also in the field of 64. They lost to Kansas in a hard fought battle a few weeks ago but certainly showed that they could hang with the best team in the country. A&M too is 11-5 in Big 12 play and boasts an overall record of 22-8. Besides the team previously mentioned, the only other team that has a chance of making some noise in this tournament is Missouri who finished 10-6 in conference play. However, they have lacked consistency throughout the year and will have to play their best basketball to win this tournament and that might not even be enough as Kansas romped all over this Mizzou squad on their home court this past Saturday.
Texas and Oklahoma State both have 20+ wins but neither team can be taken as a serious contender to win the Big 12 Championship. Texas completely fell apart after being ranked number one in the country earlier in the year and finished with just a 9-7 record in Big 12 play. Oklahoma State on the other hand does have a signature win over Kansas so they may have a small chance at taking the automatic bid but they too have not been able to string together enough consistent wins to put them in the upper echelon of teams in the Big 12 Conference.
All things considered, there are a lot of talented teams in this tournament but Kansas is in a league of their own. It will most likely come down to how motivated they are to get the number 1 overall seed. If they bring their A game into this tournament, there’s not a team that can beat them. However, if they let up there are certainly a few teams like Kansas State, Baylor, and Texas A&M that could sneak up on them and steal a win. But for now it’s Kansas’ championship to lose.