Top Big 12 Basketball Takeaways From Selection Sunday
With Selection Sunday officially in the books, the Big 12 Conference has officially eight teams in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, sharing the most bids in the tournament with the SEC.
The top-seeded team from the Big 12 Conference was the regular season champion Houston Cougars, who were awarded the No. 1 seed in the South Region. That will bring the Cougars through Dallas, as the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight are at the American Airlines Center, assuming the Cougars win their first two games. Seven other teams, Iowa State, Baylor, BYU, Kansas, Texas Tech, Texas, and TCU are also dancing this year.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from the Big 12’s NCAA Tournament draw.
Iowa State Got Hosed
There was a strong case to make for Iowa State to be the final No. 1 seed after they won the Big 12 Tournament, including a blowout win over Houston in the finals. But not only did the Cyclones not get the final No. 1 seed, they got the No. 2 seed in the East Region, where the defending national champs, UConn, reside, and also have the Big Ten Tournament champions in Illinois, plus the SEC Tournament Champions in Auburn. It’s the toughest bracket, by far, and it signals that the committee seems to be putting less of an emphasis on winning one’s conference tournament. At least for the Power conferences.
And not only did Iowa State remain a No. 2 seed in the toughest Regional, they also were the last of the No. 2 seeds. That makes no sense.
Oklahoma’s Unfairly Left Out
I know many Big 12 fans will say they no longer care about Oklahoma, but the reality is that OU, as the first team left out of the NCAA Tournament, got screwed.
Sure, they could’ve won a few more games, and there was some belief that the loser of the TCU-Oklahoma Big 12 Tournament game was a potential play-in game, but look at Oklahoma’s resume compared to UVA.
One of those teams got it. One did not. Are you surprised? I am.
That being said, I wish all teams who are invited to the NIT ended up playing in it. OU chose to pass. And the idea that OU is “too good” for the NIT is laughable. Tom Crean had some thoughts about this, by the way. Villanova has won two National Championships in the last decade. They’re playing.
OU and St. John’s are passing? That’s a joke.
Kansas’ Favorable Path
The Jayhawks are banged up. But they still got a No. 4 seed in the Midwest Region, and a pretty darn good path.
They play Samford in the first round, who concerns me more for KU than either Gonzaga or McNeese in the second round. Samford is the 7th-best three-point shooting team in the country, while KU ranks outside the Top 150 in three-point defense.
But for KU to not have to face a power conference team to get to the Sweet 16 is a very favorable draw. Much of their success will hinge on the health of Hunter Dickinson and Kevin McCullar, who missed the Big 12 Tournament due to injury. But if they’re healthy, KU will be a sneaky team to watch. And KU being called “sneaky” is not something we are used to talking about in the NCAA Tournament.
BYU’s Religious Persecution?
BYU basketball was the highest-rated 5-seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, yet they ended up with a 6-seed.
What happened? Well, we know that BYU does not play any athletics events on Sundays.
And as KSL Sports writes, The Cougars “No Sunday” policy dropped BYU down to a 6-seed. BYU was rated the 17th overall team in the NCAA’s seed lines, but they landed a 6-seed.
The Cougars have always been among the trickiest teams to slide into the NCAA Tournament.
Typically, the NCAA Committee looks to avoid potential conference rematches in the Round of 32.
There’s a history of BYU basketball getting peculiar arrangements in the NCAA Tournament. In 2003, the Committee placed BYU in a region funneling into a Friday/Sunday regional. Had BYU been able to get by UConn and advance to the Sweet 16 that year, they would have switched regionals.
In 2008 and 2009, BYU played a repeat opponent in Texas A&M. Then, in 2014, they lined up against an Oregon team they faced in the regular season.
It happens, but this time around, it may have cost BYU and resulted in them being a lower seed in the toughest Regional in the Bracket.
