NCAA Conference Tournament Betting Preview: Big 12

Mar 07, 2022

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The Big 12 Tournament starts on Wednesday but will have one distinct change from years past: nine of the 10 Big 12 teams are playing.

Oklahoma State will unfortunately not be participating after they received a postseason ban for infractions resulting from former assistant coach Lamont Evans's acceptance of bribes during the 2016-2017 season. The Cowboys were originally given the ban for last postseason, but they appealed and received a one-day delay for the penalty. The NCAA rejected the Cowboys' appeal in early November, meaning Oklahoma State's season ended with their 52-51 comeback home upset over Texas Tech.

Despite the absence of the Cowboys, the Big 12 Tournament opens on Wednesday with a matchup between No. 8 Kansas State and No. 9 West Virginia. All teams are chasing No. 1-seeded Kansas, who tied for the regular-season title with No. 2 Baylor. Thursday will feature four quarterfinal matchups, with the champion crowned after Saturday's Big 12 Tournament finale.

The nine-team tournament is smaller than most conferences, meaning the champion will likely only need to win three games in three days. However, the small size of the field also means there aren't any heavy bye game advantages.

2022 NCAA Tournament Betting Previews

Big 12 Conference Bracket

Big 12 Conference History

The dominant team in Big 12 Tournament history is Kansas. The Jayhawks have made 14 appearances in the title game, winning 11 championships. Iowa State has won the second most tournament titles (five), with Oklahoma third with three titles. Over the past 10 years, both Kansas and Iowa State have won four tournament titles.

Over the past nine years, the No. 1 overall seed has only won this tournament on three occasions—2013, 2016 and 2018 (all Kansas). Last year's matchup between the No. 3 seed Texas Longhorns and No. 5 seed Oklahoma State Cowboys was the first time the championship didn't feature a top two overall seed since 2014.