Six Big 12 Teams Make NCAA Baseball Tournament
The 2023 NCAA Tournament bracket is officially set and features six teams from the Big 12 Conference. With the selection show taking place on Monday morning, six teams from the Big 12 were announced as participants in the 2023 NCAA Tournament with the highest seed being 11th-ranked Oklahoma State.
The other teams representing the Big 12 Conference are West Virginia, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and TCU, and while many believed that Kansas State would sneak its way into the tournament and earn the seventh big for the league, K-State found themselves in the first four out.
The Longhorns are headed to Miami to play in a bracket that features the ninth-ranked team in the tournament, the No. 1 seed Miami Hurricanes, as well as Louisiana and Maine. The second-ranked Longhorns have a tough task on their plate as they take on the No. 3 seed, Louisiana who finished the regular season off with a record of 40-22.
The West Virginia Mountaineers were the second team announced from the Big 12 in the selection show as a two-seed headed to Lexington to take on the third-ranked Indiana Hoosiers. The Kentucky Wildcats are listed as the top seed in the bracket and barring any major upsets, the Wildcats will be a tough team to pass.
Texas Tech earned their spot in the 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament graded as a three-seed with a first-round matchup in Gainesville against No. 2 UConn. Tech got a bit of a rough draw as the top team in their bracket happens to be the second-ranked team in the entire tournament, the Florida Gators.
Oklahoma has the toughest first-round matchup out of the Big 12 Conference members as the third-ranked Sooners head to Charlottesville to take on the East Carolina Pirates who finished their season with an impressive record of 45-17. In the event that the Sooners can advance, they will have to deal with top-seed Virginia, who sits as the seventh-ranked team in the tourney.
The Oklahoma State Cowboys were the only Big 12 team to earn hosting honors in the regional round as the top-seeded Cowboys take on fourth-ranked Oral Roberts in Stillwater.
The Big 12 Tournament Champion TCU Horned Frogs were the final team announced in the selection show, earning the two-seed and a trip to Fayetteville to take on the No. 3 seed, Arizona. TCU’s bracket runs through Fayetteville as the Arkansas Razorbacks check in as the top seed in the regional, as well as the third-ranked team overall.
First round matchups for each team listed below.
Texas (38-20) vs Louisiana (40-22), June 2nd.
West Virginia (39-18) vs Indiana (41-18), June 2nd.
Texas Tech (39-21) vs UConn (43-15), June 2nd, 11:00 AM CST on ESPNU.
Oklahoma (31-26) vs East Carolina (45-17), June 2nd, 6:00 PM CST on ESPN2.
Oklahoma State (41-18) vs Oral Roberts (46-11), June 2nd.
TCU (37-22) vs Arizona (33-24), June 2nd, 8:00 CST on ESPNU.
