Big 12 Basketball: Buy Or Sell Texas, Baylor, Oklahoma, and TCU

Baylor Bears – Buy

Out of these four teams Baylor was probably the one that wasn’t expected to make the NCAA Tournament. The emergence of Makai Mason among others has led this team to a 7-4 Big 12 record which is incredible considering they lost their season opener against Texas Southern while also losing a December 18th home game against Stephen F. Austin.

At the moment they are slotted in as a nine seed and assuming they continue to win they will certainly be in the field. They have been the biggest surprise in the Big 12 as they continue to play at a high level despite dealing with multiple injuries.

Their weak non-conference schedule is the reason they’re still right on the bubble. I wouldn’t necessarily say they purposely scheduled weak but the top few teams they played that looked like they could be good wins at the time have all had disappointing seasons. They have quality wins at home against Oregon and on the road against Arizona. Their top win outside of Big 12 play came at home against Alabama in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

This team has dealt with a variety of injuries this season most notably losing their star big man Tristan Clark to a season-ending knee injury. Mark Vital is the only player who has been healthy and started in all 24 games this season. Mason and King McClure have missed games recently while Mason returned Monday in a win over Oklahoma McClure should return soon as well.

This team has been led by the newcomers with Makai Mason leading the way by averaging 15.6 points and 3.3 assists per game. A couple of years ago he led Yale to an upset over Baylor in the NCAA Tournament now he’s trying to lead the Bears back to the NCAA Tournament as a graduate transfer.

Some of the other newcomers have been big as well with guards Jared Butler and Devonte Bandoo making a big impact. They both have started some games but Butler has made the slightly bigger impact as he has averaged 8.7 points and 2.6 assists per game. Bandoo has made an impact though himself as he is scoring 7.7 points per game.

While they are still 7-4 in conference I wouldn’t say they have much of a chance to remain in the Big 12 title race. They still have four remaining away games against the four Big 12 teams currently ranked. They have beaten who they needed to thus far but if they want to make the NCAA Tournament they need to win out at home. If they do win at least one of those road games then it may be enough for them to get in.

They did beat both Texas Tech and Iowa State when they played at home so they should be confident in their ability to beat at least one of those two teams on the road. It will be tough but these are their next two games and would be big for them to get at least one win because if not that would mean they are losers of four out of their last five games.

Makai Mason is a special enough player that we should be confident in their chances to make the NCAA Tournament. Mason put up 40 points in a road win over Oklahoma which was still during the time when we were taking the Sooners seriously. The Baylor Bears still have some work to do but with Scott Drew leading the way we should be confident in them getting the job done. Expect Baylor to be playing in the NCAA Tournament come March.