Big 12 Basketball: 2021 Conference Tournament preview and predictions

With March in full swing, one of college basketball’s top conferences in Big 12 Basketball will tip off its tournament on Wednesday – and, if the end of the regular season is any indication, then it could be chaotic from top to bottom – with the exception of the clear-cut favorite.

Courtesy of their dominant 21-1 overall record and 13-1 mark in conference play, the Baylor Bears claimed their first outright Big 12 regular-season title – and their first outright conference title since winning the Southwest Conference in 1947-48 under Bill Henderson.  The Bears’ lead has been dominant, to say the least – they claimed the title via a three-game lead over the Kansas Jayhawks.

Past Baylor, the Big 12 has proven to be incredibly deep.  The second-place Jayhawks and seventh-seeded Oklahoma Sooners are separated by just 2.5 games – and all top seven teams rank in the top 25 in the AP Poll.  The bottom of the league is not necessarily as strong, with TCU, Kansas State, and Iowa State sitting with a combined Big 12 record of 9-43.

Much has changed just in closing weeks of the Big 12 regular season, leading up to tip-off in the conference tournament.  Teams have slid dramatically, while others have surged after constant setbacks.  Some look completely different than how they did just a month ago, and one squad in particular – Kansas – will now be forced to operate without, arguably, their best player due to COVID-19 protocol.

The Big 12 Tournament is set to get underway on March 10th at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, with the bottom four seeds battling each other in the opening round – and the tournament will span until the championship game on March 13th.  With a handful of teams capable of claiming the championship, it is time to take a look at who has the best case – and who could knock off the consensus favorite.