10 Big 12 Teams Make Big Dance in Latest ESPN Bracketology
Can you imagine a world where every region in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament has two teams from the same conference, and two regions have three teams from that league?
That’s the world that ESPN’s Joe Lunardi is living in right now, as the Big 12 continues to show why it’s the most challenging and exciting basketball conference in the country.
In Lunardi’s latest projections, a whopping 10 teams are in the tournament. No, not in the first four or next four out, but 10 Big 12 teams in the tournament.
Prior to this latest update, the league had eight teams making the field, with the duo of Cincinnati (first four out) and Kansas State (next four out) narrowly missing the field. Now, the Bearcats and Wildcats are projected to make the play-in games as members of the last four in.
In this Bracketology, here’s how each of the Big 12 teams’ matchups would look.
(1) Kansas vs. (16) Jackson State/C. Connecticut
(1) Houston vs. (16) Western Illinois
(3) Baylor vs. (14) High Point
(5) Oklahoma vs. (12) McNeese State
(5) BYU vs. (12) Drake
(7) Iowa State vs. (10) Oregon
(8) Ole Miss vs. (9) TCU
(7) Seton Hall vs. (10) Texas Tech
(11) Cincinnati vs. (11) South Carolina
(11) Kansas State vs. (11) Wake Forest
The 10 Big 12 teams projected to make the tournament this week have a combined record of 138-32, with 16 of those losses coming from teams within their own conference.
The Big 12 leads all conferences for tournament teams in this latest update, with the SEC’s eight being second-most, followed by six from both the Big Ten and Big East.
The Big 12 is also the only team to have multiple one-seeds in the latest Bracketology, with both Kansas and Houston holding the top spots in their respective regions.
