NCAA Basketball: Predicting all 32 autobids for 2022 NCAA Tournament
By Bryan Mauro
Big 12
Winner: Texas Tech Red Raiders
Texas Tech has been on fire for the last month. They have beat Baylor twice, Kansas and Texas twice. New head coach Mark Adams has filled in admirably for former head coach Chris Beard and the defense is just as good. The one difference this season though is that Texas Tech has a good offense, and they have a lot of offense inside the paint that is going to sway a game in their direction.
The Red Raiders are a legitimate final four contender and are going to run through the conference tournament. Bryson Williams, a transfer from UTEP, has been playing at an all-conference level. Texas Tech should be everyone’s favorite to win the league and is playing for one of the top seeds in the NCAA tournament. The Red Raiders are once again a matchup nightmare and are never out of a game. Winning the deepest conference in basketball this year is going to reflect highly on the committee.
Sleeper: Iowa State Cyclones
Iowa State won 2 games a season ago and then went out and hired TJ Otzelberger, who was on the staff of Fred Hoiberg when he rebuilt the Iowa State program. The Cyclones then went on to start the season 13-0 before struggling a little bit in conference. Some say that Iowa State has played their way out of the tournament and their being on the bubble makes them a very dangerous team come championship week.
The Big 12 conference tournament is likely going to be one of the best tournaments in all of championship week. Any team in this conference can win the league tournament. Iowa State is going to make a run to secure their bid in the Tournament and are more than capable of winning the league especially if they can find the magic they had in November. Izaiah Brockington leads the Cyclones and averages 18 points per game.