Big 12 Basketball: 2021 Conference Tournament preview and predictions

Bracketology of Big 12 Basketball

To state the obvious: all seven nationally ranked Big 12 teams are locks for the NCAA Tournament.  TCU, Kansas State, and Iowa State are all out, barring a run at the automatic bid.  The other seven, meanwhile, are all in line to earn seeds ranking seventh or better.

The only guaranteed ranking, currently, is Baylor – even with a loss at any stage in the Big 12 Tournament, the Bears will, almost assuredly, earn a number-one seed.  They are slotted to earn the second number-one seed, behind Baylor – and it seems awry to believe that they would drop from that spot should they lose, even if either Michigan or Illinois win the Big Ten Tournament.

Everything past Baylor is nothing short of a mess, however.  West Virginia, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma are all projected to finish between the three- and six-lines, but wins and losses in the Big 12 Tournament could very much change any of those projections.  Using Bracketmatrix, here is where those six teams are currently projected to be seeded across 133 bracketologists:

• 3-seeds – West Virginia, Kansas
• 4-seeds – Oklahoma State, Texas
• 5-seeds – Texas Tech
• 6-seeds – Oklahoma

Both Texas Tech and Oklahoma are at the bottom of their projected seed-lines, meaning an early loss in the conference tournament would most likely boot those teams down a spot – while a win would probably cement their spots in those specific seeds.  West Virginia, Kansas, Oklahoma State, and Texas, meanwhile, are all among the top or middle of their seed-lines – and could very much fluctuate between the three- and four-seed lines depending on their results in the tournament.