As we head towards the final week of the NCAA college basketball season, the Big 12 Conference is poised to have four teams fighting on the bubble of the NCAA Tournament: TCU, Cincinnati, Baylor and West Virginia are all in the mix to make the Big Dance, according to Joe Lunardi‘s latest Bracketology.
Lunardi dropped a new Bracketology on Thursday afternoon, with all the Big 12 games from the week in the books.
The TCU Horned Frogs are the safest on the bubble, as they’re current one of the “Last Four In”, per Lunardi. Then, it’s the Cincinnati Bearcats, who are in the “Next Four Out”, while the West Virginia Mountaineers and Baylor Bears are in the “Next Next Four Out”.
What the Schedules Look Like
Baylor’s schedule remains tough, with games left against UCF, who is in the Tournament, per Lunardi, No. 5 Houston and Utah. The Bears did give Arizona a run for its money earlier this week. Cincinnati still has to play Oklahoma State this weekend, followed by BYU and TCU. Meantime, TCU takes on K-State, Texas Tech and Cincinnati. And the Mountaineers have to play BYU, K-State and UCF.
The must-watch games left for these teams that could bounce the bubble either way include Baylor vs. UCF this weekend, WVU vs. BYU on Saturday as well, and then next Saturday’s game between TCU and Cincinnati could be huge. Of course, if any of these teams pull off a ranked upset, that would be enormous for their resumes.
Eight Teams in the Big Dance from the Big 12
Lunardi has the Big 12 Conference with eight teams in the NCAA Tournament right now. This trails the SEC (11) and Big Ten (9), while the ACC is tied with eight teams. The Big 12 would have four teams with Top 3 seeds per Lunardi: Arizona (1), Iowa State (2), Kansas (3) and Houston (3).
Here’s a look at his full bracketology.
