The first round of the Big 12 Tournament is in the books as the lower seeds battled it out on Tuesday to get their shot at making a run to Saturday’s championship game.
Most of the teams in action yesterday aren’t in contention for an NCAA Tournament bid, that is, unless they run the table and steal the Big 12’s autobid.
However, the Cincinnati Bearcats have been floating on the bubble over the last several weeks, and their 87-68 win over Oklahoma State helped them get a little bit closer to sneaking into the field.
In Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update, the Bearcats have moved up to the Next Four Out, putting them just eight teams outside of the tournament field.
Now, that’s still a longshot this late in the game, but Cincinnati could do itself a huge favor by upsetting Iowa State on Tuesday.
A win over a projected three-seed would certainly push the Bearcats much closer to the right side of the bubble, but a loss would all but bury their hopes of getting into the field.
Tip-off is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. CT, with the Cyclones currently favored by 8.5 points.
