Big 12 Basketball: Tournament recap and analysis
By Doug Winkey
The Big 12 basketball tournament ended Saturday night after the top two seeds squared off.
A wild Big 12 tournament has come to end after what was one of the most competitive conference races in all of college hoops. We witnessed Kansas and West Virginia battle for the conference’s automatic bid as the top two teams from the regular season. The end result saw the same one that we’ve seen much of the season with a Kansas victory.
Three KU starters combined to score 80% of the Jayhawks’ points and held off white-hot Devin Williams to claim the crown. The game saw both teams battle back and forth with WVU taking an early lead only to see Kansas fight back to take a slim lead part way through the first.
The Mountaineers overcame their struggles to take a one point lead into halftime.
The second half featured the Jayhawks taking care of business with Devonte’ Graham leading the way. The sophmore guard hit 6-of-10 shots, including 5-of-6 from three point range, to lead KU in scoring with 27 points. He also chipped in five boards, three assists, and four steals in what was a superb all around effort.
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Most of his teammates, especially the bench, didn’t contribute much, but they combined to hold West Virginia to a horrific 2-of-15 (13%) from three point range.
It’s that kind of team perimeter defense that has the Jayhawks in line for the number one overall seed and one of the favorites to win it all this month.
Best Player: Had Buddy Hield nailed his buzzer beater against West Virginia, he’d be in this place. However, the tournament MVP should go to Perry Ellis.
The steady senior paced KU in nearly every game during the title run. The 6’8″ forward averaged 19 and five in the team’s three wins.
Ellis has been every bit one of the stars of this conference for years and the championship reinforces that just a little bit more. Now, can this guy graduate already?
Most surprising: Can it be anything but Texas Tech’s stinker against TCU? The Red Raiders came into the game with the Big 12’s last place team set on winning at least once to solidify their position as a seven or eight seed on Selection Sunday. They proceeded to shoot below 40% from the field, got in foul trouble, and allowed the Horned Frogs to shoot 48% from three when TCU entered shooting just 33% for the year.
TTU is still in the Big Dance, assuming the committee doesn’t punish them overly harshly, but I won’t be surprised if they fall to the wrong side of a 8-9 or 7-10 matchup when bracket is announced.
Final Take: Except for the previously mentioned upset, the entire tournament went chalk towards higher seeds. But, to say it was unexciting would be completely wrong. We saw two players blow up in the same game, a near heart-stopper of a half-court shot, and a scrappy final between the league’s leaders.
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A ton of star power between Ellis, Hield, and Georges Niang is lost next year, but there is no reason to doubt the 10-team Big 12 being ultra-competitive with new stars waiting to shine.