The Big 12 Championship begins on Thursday in Oklahoma City. For only the fourth time in 11 years, the tournament will not take place in Kansas City. Which is bullshit. The tournament should always stay in Kansas City. After this trip to OKC, the tournament will move back to KC to be played in the new Sprint Center. Hopefully, the conference will respect the new arena, plus the history of the Big 12 and Big Eight by staying there, forever.
The conference only sports three NCAA locks as of right now, each capable to sealing a protected seed in the tournament this weekend (Kansas, Texas A&M, Texas). The league also has two bubble teams who can use a lot of help. Being a student of a bubble team, let's hope they both fail.
All times central, first and quarterfinal rounds on ESPNU, sems on ESPN2, Champonship on ESPN.
Game 1: #8 Iowa St v #9 Oklahoma 12:30--Winner plays #1 Kansas
To be honest, I had forgotten Iowa St even had a basketball team. They pretty much died to me when Jamaal Tinsley and the #2 Cyclones lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Hampton a few years back. Either way, I think OU get's a big home fan boost and wins.
Game 2: #5 Texas Tech v #12 Colorado 3:00--Winner plays #4 Kansas St
Some people would tell you Tech is already in the NCAA tournament, and why wouldn't they be? They went 3-0 over Kansas (possible #1 seed) and Texas A&M (possible #2) the committee doesn't really like to ignore that kind of information. Plus 20 wins with an SOS of 19? Damn. Pretty good Tech. I was originally going to root for Colorado, but I'm going to need you to knock out K-State in the second round to prevent them from getting a bid. Eh, wait. I still don't think Tech is really all that good. This is still the team who lost to Baylor, Mizzou, OU, and Nebraska. Still, in Lubbock, they did destroy Colorado. Fine, Tech wins.
Game 3: #7 Oklahoma St v #10 Nebraska 7:00--Winner plays #2 Texas A&M
OSU has played themself out of the NCAA tournament and probably off the bubble. With their loss yesturday at Nebraska, they officially will end the season without a true road win. No lie. I am not shitting you about this. I don't really know what's going on with this team, yes, they can win on neutral territory. So yes, they can make a run for the automatic bid, but I can't have that. Real guess: OSU wins. I'm going to root for a Nebraska win, although I don't see OSU getting past A&M in the next round anyway, and I don't think a neutral win over Nebraska get's them in.
Game 4: #6 Missouri v #11 Baylor 9:20--Winner plays #3 Texas
Neither of these teams has a shot at the tournament. Go BEARS!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I like the Bears, mostly because they picked up Guy Morriss from Kentucky. I think he's a classy guy.
Post a Comment