The Big XII tourney kicked off last night with two very uninteresting games. But, just like that, this tournament became incredibly interesting, as the top 6 teams join the fold.
#4 Baylor vs. #5 Kansas St.
Baylor spent much of the season in the top 3 in the nation, and yet didn’t even finish in the top 3 in the Big XII when the smoke cleared. They looked like a national championship team for 3 months and then looked totally lost for the last month. Either way, there is so much talent on this team that they have to be considered a serious threat to make some noise both this week and next week. Frank Martin has put together another fantastic campaign, and he continues to climb the ranks of the best coaches in the country, in my view. This may have been his best job yet, as this team is not incredibly talented, but he’s got them playing very hard. Only 5 people have K-State in the mild upset here (Doogan, Gersh, Gross, Primm, Stri). KA and Lynch both have Baylor reaching the finals; Lynch has them winning it.
#1 Kansas vs. #9 Texas A&M
The reward for Texas A&M extending their season last night with a win over Oklahoma is a date with Kansas today. Another terrific coaching performance by Bill Self, but then again, no one really knew quite the players he had sitting around in Robinson and Withey. Not to mention the seeming transformation of Ty Taylor to a decent point guard. Maybe that’s coaching, maybe that’s player development, maybe that’s fortune. But, either way, this is an elite team this year, who is three wins from earning, without a doubt, a #1-seed. Everyone has KU here.
#2 Missouri vs. #7 Oklahoma St.
The Missouri Tigers are one of the best stories in college hoops and are incredibly fun to watch. They only have 7 scholarship players (and only one over 6’7″), so three games in three days might be a little hairy for this squad, but they can deal with that on Saturday, if they get there. OSU didn’t look great last night against TTech, but they are a very dangerous team in this spot. Dave and J went for the big upset here. A lot of people have Mizzou winning this tournament.
#3 Iowa St. vs. #6 Texas
Two very interesting seasons represented in this game. The Mayor, Freddy Hoiberg, has done a terrific job at ISU this year and is heading for the tournament. Rick Barnes is in jeopardy of missing the tournament for the first time in his reign in Austin. But, to defend Barnes (which I feel like I do every year around this time), it’s hard to imagine that he expected both Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph from going pro after one year in the Big XII. Interestingly, this game is a dead split, as 10 people took a shot at the upset with Texas (Bry, Doogan, Gersh, J, KA, Lynch, Primm, Rikey, RDoc, and Waters.
