After a regular season filled with plenty of surprises and exciting basketball, we have now arrived at the Big 12 Tournament. The top and bottom half of the conference look to be about what I would’ve expected at the beginning of the season with a few surprise teams landing where they did. Texas Tech ended the regular season on a high note Saturday with a win against Baylor but had already clinched a double-bye in the conference tournament with the Kansas loss against Houston earlier.

As it stands we have two games kicking off the tournament today as OSU takes on UCF  and following that game we will see Cincinnati and West Virginia. BYU and Kansas await the winners of those respective games tomorrow, and we also have TCU taking on Oklahoma as well as Texas and KSU duking it out. Thursday and Friday will be the quarterfinals and semifinals, with the champion being crowned on Saturday.

After digesting the bracket and looking at how each matchup plays out, a lot of games will be determined by how the injury bug affects each team. We just learned yesterday that both Kevin McCullar and Hunter Dickinson will be out the entirety of the conference tournament for Kansas. Texas Tech is still playing it safe with Warren Washington, and if BYU makes it past their second-round matchup on Wednesday will their size be too much to handle for the Red Raiders without him?

As of right now, it seems like a definite eight teams will get into the NCAA tournament, with that 8-9 matchup between TCU and Oklahoma possibly being an eliminator on the bubble. Kansas State seems like the only team below that tier that could sneak in with a deep run in the tournament, the rest of the teams seeded below likely would have to win the tournament in order to secure a bid.

With the injuries that I mentioned before, Kansas seems like a team that could bow out a lot earlier than expected. They await the winner of Cincy and WVU having played each of them once. WVU upset them and Cincinnati played them close so there could be a big shake in the tournament if one of them upsets the Jayhawks again.

As far as predictions go, I believe that despite the possibility of some turmoil in the early rounds, this feels like the top four seeds will eventually meet in the semifinals. That would shape out to being Texas Tech vs Houston and Baylor vs Iowa State. I am confident in the Red Raiders being able to play Houston close this time around, and if Warren is back, I think they can pull off the upset. Without him, we have a tough time handling their size and defense and we likely end up bowing out in the semifinals. I think Baylor comes out of the other side, and we see a good matchup between Baylor and Houston.

With that being said, I have a few different teams and players I would like to recognize for the regular season:

Player of the Year- Jamal Shead, Houston

Defensive stalwart and a solid leader of the best team in the conference.

Coach of the Year- TJ Otzelberger, Iowa State

Has been amazing since he started at Iowa State and has them in contention for a 2-seed with a possible 1-seed if they win the Big 12 Tournament.

Surprise Team of the Year- Texas Tech

First year head coach and almost completely different roster from last year. Still managed to finish fourth in the conference and has changed the tone around the program in a short time.

Disappointing Team of the Year- West Virginia

Obviously Huggins getting fired right before the season wasn’t ideal, but they still had enough talent on the roster to keep them from finishing last in the conference.

Newcomer of the Year- Darrion Williams, Texas Tech

Has stepped up for the Red Raiders when their other stars went cold. Has been the most consistent presence on the team.