Big 12 Holds Steady With 7 Teams in ESPN Holiday Bracketology
The Big 12 men received a nice holiday gift as the league continued to received seven berths in the most recent NCAA Tournament Bracketology released on Christmas Eve.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had 10 Big Ten teams and eight Southeastern Conference teams in the draw, the only leagues with more bids than the Big 12.
The Baylor Bears, for the third straight week, remained the No. 1 overall seed. This time, the Bears wouldn’t face a First Four opponent. They would face Liberty in the first round in the South Region.
Unlike last week, the Bears have the region to themselves, as there are no additional Big 12 teams in the region.
Other takeaways:
West Virginia made a huge jump from the previous bracketology, moving into a No. 7 seed. The Mountaineers were a No. 11 seed the previous week.
Kansas remained a steady No. 2 seed in the Midwest and, like Baylor, ended up with a region to itself.
Oklahoma dropped a seed this week, despite winning its game last week.
The East Region is loaded with three Big 12 teams, and the potential for a Sweet 16 matchup between Texas and Texas Tech.
Along with the seven Big 12 teams, three future Big 12 teams are in the field — BYU, Houston and UCF. The fourth, Cincinnati, dropped off the first eight teams out of the tournament.
An eight Big 12 member, TCU, was in the ‘next four out’ for the second straight week.
How the bracket looks for the Big 12 as of now:
South Region (San Antonio)
No. 1 Baylor vs. No. 16 Liberty
Midwest Region (Chicago)
No. 2 Kansas vs. No. 15 Navy
East Region (Philadelphia)
No. 6 Texas vs. No. 11 Northwestern/Creighton winner
No. 7 Texas Tech vs. No. 10 Virginia Tech
No. 9 Oklahoma vs. No. 8 Michigan
West Region (San Francisco)
No. 4 Iowa State vs. No. 13 New Mexico State
No. 7 West Virginia vs. No. 10 Minnesota
Future Big 12 members
West Region (San Francisco)
No. 3 Houston vs. No 14 Oakland
South Region (San Antonio)
No. 8 BYU vs. No. 9 St. Iowa
Midwest Region (Chicago)
No. 12 UCF vs. No. 5 Providence
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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