It was a bit of a new look Big XII this year, as they have lost Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, and Texas A&M in just the past two seasons.  They replaced them with West Virginia (nice) and TCU (not nice).  But, the more things change, the more they stay the same, as Kansas wins the regular season…again.  Bill Self now has more Big XII titles at KU than he does home losses…wow.  Bruce Weber proved his doubters at Illinois wrong by going to K-State and putting himself in the discussion for National Coach of the Year (a la Frank Haith at Mizzou last year).  And, then there is Marcus Smart.  The Oklahoma St. point guard is worth the price of cable, and he carried the Cowboys back from the depths of the past couple of years and probably single-handedly saved Travis Ford’s job.  Another reclamation project was done cross state at Oklahoma, where the great Lon Kruger was destined to bring the Sooners back to relevance, but who knew it would happen so quickly?  “The Mayor” Freddy Hoiberg has Iowa St. going to the tournament again (I don’t care what anyone says – that is a tournament team).  But, it wasn’t all rosy in the Big XII this year.  They may be the home of – quite possibly – the three biggest flops of the 2012-13 season.  Baylor, with NBA talent on the bench, is a bubble team…huh? West Virginia finished 6-12 in its inaugural season in the Big XII – and this was the first time that a Bobby Huggins-coached team was below .500 in conference play (amazing stat…).  And, of course, my old buddy, Rick Barnes, who once again proves Doogan right and me wrong about his gameday coaching abilities (or lack thereof), as he finished 15-16 with a load of talent at Texas.

CHAMPIONSHIP (March 16th – 60 points)

#1 Kansas vs #2 Kansas St.
These in-state rivals are only really rivals the way a hammer and a nail are rivals.  Kansas owns K-State.  But, K-State can write a really nice chapter in this story here if they can steal the Big XII Tournament title after owning a share of the regular season title with the Jayhawks.

Dave, Lazarow, Teddy, and Waters have K-State winning here, while 13 people (Alex, Bry, Caleb, Doogan, Gersh, GrossSr, J, LohseJr, Mac, PapaCim, Primm, Scoot, and Stumpf) have rock chalk Jayhawk.  If Kansas wins here, LohseJr will win the 2013 Big XII title.  If K-State wins, Lazarow will steal it.

SEMIFINALS (March 15th – 40 points each)

#1 Kansas vs #5 Iowa St.
The Cyclones picked up a HUGE win for their bubble chances on Thursday night, coming from behind to beat Oklahoma.  Now, they can essentially cement their bid if they can knock off the top-seeded Jayhawks in the semis.  Kansas cruised by Texas Tech on Thursday, barely breaking a sweat.

Dave (who could have a gigantic night, as he’s be on the contrarian side of most big games), GrossJr, Lohse, Lynch, and Teddy all have the big upset pick of ISU here.  Cheryl has already lost with her Oklahoma pick.  The other 18 all have KU, with 13 of them picking the Jayhawks to win the tournament.  Lohse and Lynch have Iowa St. cutting down the nets in this one, so this is a huge game for their 2013 CTCs.

#2 Kansas St. vs #3 Oklahoma St.
Oklahoma St. survived a ferocious comeback by Baylor on Thursday night, while K-State rolled past Texas, setting up a really interesting Big XII semifinal nightcap.

Gersh, J, Scoot, and Stumpf have Baylor here, so they’ve already lost, but the rest of the field is split exactly in half on this one, with ten people for K-State and ten for OSU (Alex, Alexi, Caleb, Cheryl, GrossJr, GrossSr, Lohse, Lynch, Rikey, and RDoc) in a mild upset.  Dave, Lazarow, Teddy, and Waters have K-State winning this tournament, while Alexi, Cheryl, Grossjr, Rikey, and RDoc have OSU winning it.  This is a pretty huge CTC game, to say the least.

QUARTERFINALS (March 14th – 20 points each)

#4 Oklahoma vs #5 Iowa St.
Oklahoma is probably safely in the tournament (which is amazing considering how far new coach Lon Kruger had to go in such a short time), but, apparently, Iowa St. is not.  To me, this is a tournament team.  They have a ton of great wins and were completed robbed of another one against Kansas.  Two JUCO guys, Will Clyburn (via JUCO and Utah) and Tyrus McGee have been leading Freddy Hoiberg’s team straight back to relevance after losing a lot to graduation.  As for OU, they have a ton of talent, so it’s more of an indictment on the former Sooner coaching staff that had could never take advantage of the full talents of a Romero Osby.  Maybe it’s the freshman backcourt that Coach Kruger has brought in that has made the difference.  Or, maybe it’s just Coach Kruger himself.

To say ISU is a popular upset pick here is an understatement, as only Cheryl, Mac, and Waters have the Sooners in this one.  Cheryl has OU going to the finals.  Dave, GrossJr, Lohse, Lynch, and Teddy all have the Cyclones reaching the finals, and Lohse has them winning it.

#1 Kansas vs #9 Texas Tech
There are very few guarantees in sports, but Kansas winning the Big XII is becoming as close to a guarantee as you will find.  It is getting ridiculous.  This is a fantastic league with big-time programs – how can none of them EVER win this league?  Why is Kansas never rebuilding?  Maybe it’s because they never lose at home.  Maybe because Bill Self is just that good.  I don’t know, but it’s really, really impressive.  It is entering the Roger Federer semifinals streak territory now.  They even lost three in a row this year, including an embarrassing loss to lowly TCU.  This team is really, really good.  Ben McLemore is terrific offensively and Jeff Withey is a monster on the defensive end.  They don’t have a lot more (I like Perry Ellis, but he’s still raw), but if Elijah Johnson can play like he did in February and not like he did in the first three months, they are a legit national title contender.  As for Texas Tech, it was cute and all that they upset West Virginia on Wednesday, but it probably stops here.

No one has TT here, but Cheryl does have West Virginia, so she’ll be rooting for a Red Raider upset to zero out this game.  More than half of the field (13) have KU winning this tournament.

#2 Kansas St. vs #7 Texas
What a year for K-State.  The Wildcats took Frank Martin’s toughness and combined that with Bruce Weber’s offensive acumen and won a share of the Big XII with their rivals, KU.  And, there is a ton of talent here, led mostly by the overlooked superstar, Rodney McGruder.  They also have toughness at point in Angel Rodriguez and in the pivot with Jordan Henriquez.  Now, they will take on a Texas team that struggled, but beat a bad TCU team on Wednesday night.

GrossSr and RDoc are the only two with Texas here in the big upset pick – neither of them have the ‘Horns in the final.  Dave, Lazarow, Teddy, and Waters all have K-State winning this whole tournament.

#3 Oklahoma St. vs #6 Baylor
Are we sure that  Scott Drew can coach?  He struggled last year with one of the most talented teams I’ve ever seen.  Then, this year, they have totally retooled with – again – some of the most impressive physical specimens you will ever see on a basketball court and – again – they have struggled.  They might not even make the tournament this year.  (By the way…would Kentucky-Baylor be an incredible First Four matchup or is it just me?)  As for OSU, it starts and ends with Marcus Smart – he’s unbelievable.  But, the guy whose talent just tantilizes me is LaBryan Nash.  He could be so good, and he just never really seems to care.  If someone can light a fire under Nash, watch out, because he and Smart could be an unstoppable 1-2 punch.

This has serious CTC implications here.  Eleven people (Bry, Dave, Doogan, Gersh, J, Lazarow, PapaCim, Primm, Scoot, Stumpf, and Waters) have Baylor in the upset here, with Gersh, J, Scoot, and Stumpf picking the Bears to reach the finals.  The biggest Cowboy supporters are Alexi, Cheryl, GrossJr, RDoc, and Rikey, who all have OSU winning this tournament.

OPENING ROUND (March 13th – 10 points each)

#9 Texas Tech vs #8 West Virginia
The opening round is littered here with a pair of disappoinments and a pair of really bad major-conference teams.  The opener pits the 18-loss Mountaineers (major disappoinment) against the 19-loss Red Raiders (really bad major-conference team).  Silly me, though, I still think West Virginia is dangerous, and I’m not sure why.  The winner here will get #1 Kansas in the quarters on Thursday.

Caleb, Dave, LohseJr, and Primm went for the upset pick of Texas Tech.  Cheryl is the only one that has anything other than this game at stake, as she has the Mountaineers beating Kansas in the quarters.

#10 TCU vs #7 Texas
And then the nightcap in the themed opening round pits Texas (major disappoinment) against TCU (really bad major-conference team).  The Horned Frogs – complete with stunning wins over Kansas and Oklahoma on their otherwise-disgusting resume – are not fun to watch.  But, for the viewers of this game, it is fun to watch how wrong I was (and how right Doogan was – I know, everyone’s shocked…) about Rick Barnes and his ability to coach.  These guys are studs and look like they’re playing pickup.  There, Doogan, you win, you happy?

GrossJr and Waters are the only two to take a shot at TCU here.  GrossSr and RDoc are the only two that have Texas going any further than this game, as they have the ‘Horns in the semis.

CTC UPDATE

Championship Picks

• #1 Kansas (13)
• #2 Kansas St. (4)
• #3 Oklahoma St. (5)
• #4 Oklahoma (-)
• #5 Iowa St. (2)

Biggest Upsets

• R1 – #10 TCU (GrossJr & Waters)
• QF – #8 West Virginia (Cheryl)
• SF – #6 Baylor (Gersh, J, Scoot & Stumpf)
• Champ – #5 Iowa St. (Lohse & Lynch)

Previous CTC Champions

• 2008 – Doogan
• 2009 – Alexi
• 2010 – J & Stri
• 2011 – Bry
• 2012 – KA

2013 Scores

1).