The Big 12 is set to send quite a few teams to the NCAA tournament, but just one of them will enter March Madness as the champions of their conference.
The Big 12 men’s basketball conference tournament is underway, with all 16 teams in the conference invited to battle for the title and the automatic bid to the March Madness field that comes with it. The tournament begins with the bottom half of the conference playing in a first round to winnow the field, while the top four teams in the conference get a bye to the quarterfinals. Atop the conference, both Arizona and Houston will use the tournament to make their case to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament field.
The entirety of the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament will be available to watch through the ESPN family of networks, with the latter rounds bouncing across ESPN and ESPN2. The championship game is set for Saturday on ESPN.
Below we examine the Big 12 standings, tournament bracket, schedule and everything else you need to know about the tournament.
Big 12 men’s basketball final regular-season standings
| Rank | Team | Conference record | Overall record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | (2) Arizona | 16–2 | 29–2 |
| 2. | (5) Houston | 14–4 | 26–5 |
| 3. | (14) Kansas | 12–6 | 22–9 |
| 4. | (16) Texas Tech | 12–6 | 22–9 |
| 5. | (7) Iowa State | 12–6 | 25–6 |
| 6. | TCU | 11–7 | 21–10 |
| 7. | West Virginia | 9–9 | 18–13 |
| 8. | UCF | 9–9 | 21–10 |
| 9. | Cincinnati | 9–9 | 17–14 |
| 10. | BYU | 9–9 | 21–10 |
| 11. | Colorado | 7–11 | 17–14 |
| 12. | Arizona State | 7–11 | 16–15 |
| 13. | Baylor | 6–12 | 16–15 |
| 14. | Oklahoma State | 6–12 | 18–13 |
| 15. | Kansas State | 3–15 | 12–19 |
| 16. | Utah | 2–16 | 10–21 |
Big 12 men’s basketball conference tournament bracket
Big 12 men’s basketball conference tournament full schedule
March 10: First round
Game 1: No. 12 Arizona State 83, No. 13 Baylor 79
Game 2: No. 9 Cincinnati 73, No. 16 Utah 66
Game 3: No. 10 BYU 105, No. 15 Kansas State 91
Game 4: No. 14 Oklahoma State 92, No. 11 Colorado 83
March 11: Second round
Game 5: No. 5 Iowa State 91, No. 12 Arizona State 42
Game 6: No. 8 UCF 66, No. 9 Cincinnati 65
Game 7: No. 10 BYU 68, No. 7 West Virginia 48
Game 8: No. 6 TCU 95, No. 14 Oklahoma State 88
March 12: Quarterfinals
Game 9: No. 5 Iowa State 75, No. 4 Texas Tech 53
Game 10: No. 1 Arizona 81, No. 8 UCF 59
Game 11: No. 2 Houston 73, No. 10 BYU 66
Game 12: No. 3 Kansas 78, No. 6 TCU 73
March 13: Semifinals
Game 13: No. 5 Iowa State vs. No. 1 Arizona, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN/ESPN2)
Game 14: No. 2 Houston vs. No. 3 Kansas, 9:30 p.m. ET (ESPN/ESPN2)
March 14: Championship game
Game 15: Winner Game 13 vs. Winner Game 14, 6 p.m. ET (ESPN)
Who is favored to win the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament?
The Big 12 conference tournament is one of the most fascinating in all of college basketball. Leading the odds before the tournament tips off is Arizona (+100), though Houston (+200), Iowa State (+700) and Kansas (+800) all could compete. Deeper down the board, you could find some value in Texas Tech (+1700), as the Red Raiders already have wins over Arizona, Iowa State and Houston on the season. While they are still without star JT Toppin, the rest of the roster has stepped up in his absence to keep Texas Tech contending.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Big 12 Men’s Basketball Conference Semifinals: Full Schedule, Bracket and How to Watch.
