Tonight begins one of the most enjoyable weeks/weekends in the world of a sportswriter who covers the Big 12 Conference.
OK, so maybe tonight is not actually the part that makes it so enjoyable. But seeing how the 7-10 match-up between Texas Tech and TCU (8 p.m., ESPNU) and the 8-9 game between K-State and Oklahoma State (6 p.m., ESPNU) does mark the tip-off of this year’s Big 12 championship at Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., it is officially the start of a great weekend.
That’s more true than ever before this year, with the Big 12 being by far the top ranked conference in the country and the fact that it’s very likely that seven Big 12 teams will be using this week’s conference tournament as a tune-up for the Big Dance.
Conference RPI ratings 2016:
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1. Big 12 — .5914
2. Pac-12 — .5814
3. ACC — .5742
4. Big East — .5634
5. Big Ten — .5542
6. SEC — .5522
7. Atlantic 10 — .5381
8. AAC — .5366
9. Colonial — .5238
10. Mid-American — .5194
Tonight’s games might not be all that exciting — Texas Tech should roll and K-State fans should bring some life to the early game — but after that, things get really interesting in a hurry.
Remember how every Monday, Wednesday or Saturday of the past couple of months seemed to feature at least one Big 12 battle that made you go, ‘Wow, those guys are playing each other today?’ Well, that’s what this is, only sandwiched into a three-day period.
The Thursday quarterfinals figure to have four exciting match-ups, a couple of them that sound a little more like semis or title games.
No. 4 Texas faces No. 5 Baylor in the early game Thursday and No. 3 Oklahoma squares off against No. 6 Iowa State in Thursday’s late game.
Sandwiched in between could be the third edition of this year’s Sunflower Showdown (KU plays the winner of KSU-OSU) and a battle between two teams coached by men whom Kansas coach Bill Self said would’ve received his first- and second-place votes for Big 12 coach of the year, Tech’s Tubby Smith and West Virginia’s Bob Huggins.
It’s exciting basketball all day Thursday and will just get better from there.
We, of course, will be over there as long as the Jayhawks are still alive and will have tons of coverage with analysis, notebooks, blogs, videos, audio and photos from this year’s Big 12 tourney.
Before things get started, though, here are my picks for how this year’s event will shake out.
Be sure to share your picks (at least for the final and champion) in the comments below and enjoy the weekend!!!
Round 1 – Wednesday, March 9:
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**• Kansas State 67**, Oklahoma State 59
**• Texas Tech 74**, TCU 57
Quarterfinals – Thursday, March 10:
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**11:30 a.m., 1:30, 6:00 and 8:00 p.m., ESPN2 and ESPNU**
**• Baylor 69**, Texas 62
**• Kansas 77**, K-State 60
**• West Virginia 82**, Texas Tech 74
**• Iowa State 86**, Oklahoma 82, overtime
Semifinals – Friday, March 11:
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**6:00 & 8:00 p.m., ESPN2**
**• Kansas 76**, Baylor 67
**• Iowa State 81**, West Virginia 75
Final – Saturday, March 12
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**5:00 p.m., ESPN**
**• Kansas 80**, Iowa State 74
