Four Big 12 Tournament Seeds On the Line On Sunday
The final day of the Big 12 basketball regular season features two games and four Big 12 Tournament seeds that still need to be determined.
With Baylor already entrenched as the No. 1 seed, the Bears will take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders (9-7 in Big 12) at 3 p.m. central.
Entering Sunday, the Red Raiders are the No. 6 seed in the Big 12 tournament. If the Red Raiders lose to Baylor (12-1), then Texas Tech would remain No. 6. Why? While Texas Tech would fall to 9-8 in Big 12 action and be tied with Oklahoma (9-8), the Red Raiders own the head-to-head tiebreaker. In fact, Oklahoma is already locked in as the No. 7 seed.
The Red Raiders could move up as high as No. 5. But the Red Raiders have to win, and then it all depends on Texas (10-6), which plays TCU (5-10) at 6 p.m. central.
READ MORE: Are the Jayhawks the ‘Overlooked’ Big 12 Team in March?
READ MORE: It’s Time for Oklahoma State to Pay Mike Boynton
Entering Sunday, Texas is the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. That’s because West Virginia (11-6) lost to Oklahoma State (11-7) on Saturday and fell out of the No. 2 perch. Kansas (12-6) is now the No. 2 seed and the Jayhawks are locked in. So the result of the Texas-TCU game has the potential to impact the third, fourth, fifth and sixth seeds.
So let’s break it down like this, since Texas and Tech Tech are the relevant players on Sunday:
Texas wins and Texas Tech loses: The Longhorns are No. 3, the Mountaineers are No. 4, the Cowboys are No. 5 and the Red Raiders are No. 6.
Texas wins and Texas Tech wins: The Longhorns are No. 3, the Mountaineers are No. 4, the Cowboys are No. 5 and the Red Raiders are No. 6 (Oklahoma State would have the same number of losses as Tech Tech, but would claim the No. 5 seed due to a better winning percentage in conference play).
Texas loses and Texas Tech wins: The Mountaineers are No. 3, the Cowboys are No. 4, the Red Raiders are No. 5 (again, due to Oklahoma State’s winning percentage) and the Longhorns are No. 6 (the Red Raiders have the head-to-head tiebreaker on the Longhorns, since both would have the same conference record).
Texas loses and Texas Tech loses: The Mountaineers are No. 3, the Cowboys are No. 4 (better winning percentage than Texas, despite the same number of losses), the Longhorns are No. 5 and the Red Raiders are No. 6.
The Big 12 Tournament begins on Wednesday with Oklahoma facing Iowa State and TCU facing Kansas State.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard. Send him a tweet with your question to be included in this week’s Big 12 Basketball Mailbag, which appears each Friday during the conference season.
**Want to win a $20 gift card? Go sign up here and join our conversation! The best poster each week wins a gift card to your favorite establishment!**
