Big 12 Basketball: 2020 conference tournament preview and predictions

Big 12 Basketball proved it was once again one of, if not the best conference in the nation. How will the tournament unfold? What seeding implications will this tournament have on the big dance?

Big 12 Basketball was once again at the top of college basketball this season. Kansas ranked 1st, and Baylor ranked 4th on the most recent AP poll, with both in the top 5 in NET rankings, is the only conference that can say they can produce two top 5 teams. And two 1 seeds in the big dance, as Lukas Harkins of Busting Brackets most recent March Madness bracket predictions, has Kansas and Baylor both as number 1 seeds, West Virginia as a 6th seed, Oklahoma as a 9th seed, and Texas Tech as a 12th seed, as they’re apart of the “last four in”.

So we know the big picture stuff, but how did we get here? Kansas started the season ranked 3rd in the nation, behind Michigan State and Kentucky, and went on to climb up to the one spot with a record of 28-3, with their three losses coming to Duke, Villanova, and Baylor. Baylor had a pre-season ranking of 16, and outperformed that projection admirably, as they went 26-4, spending time as the 1st ranked team in the nation, before settling in at No. 4.

Speaking of the No. 4, Baylor’s four losses this season came to Washington, Kansas, TCU, and West Virginia. Texas Tech was probably the biggest disappointment the conference had, as they came into the season fresh off of a national championship appearance, and landed at the 13th spot in the AP preseason poll.

They ended the season going just 18-13 overall, as they had plenty of chances to achieve signature wins against teams such as Iowa, Creighton, Louisville, Baylor, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Kansas. However, they were only able to come away with a victory against West Virginia and Louisville, although they were close in many of those battles.