Big 12 Championship: Kansas Sews Up No. 1 Seed In NCAA By Beating KSU, 72-64

No. 1 seed Kansas and No. 2 seed Kansas State will meet in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday at 6:00 PM ET. Visit our Kansas and Kansas State blogs for complete coverage.

Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) – Jacob Pullen scored 26 points, and ninth- ranked Kansas State gained a spot in the Big 12 championship game with an 82-75 victory over No. 21 Baylor.

For more, check out our Kansas blog, Rock Chalk Talk, and our A&M blog, I Am The 12th Man.

Kansas City, MO (Sports Network) - Sherron Collins scored 26 points and dished out six assists, and top-ranked Kansas used a big run late in the second half to post a 79-66 victory over No. 23 Texas A&M in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament.

Friday’s slate of Big 12 Tournament games shakes out thusly:

Kansas vs. Texas A&M, 7 p.m. ET on Big 12 Network

— For analysis, opinion, previews, snark from SB Nation’s team blogs, head to Rock Chalk Talk and/or I Am the 12th Man.

Rock M Nation is in Kansas City covering the Big 12 Tournament:

KANSAS CITY – Last season, the Big 12 Tournament was host to a wild second day. Three of the top four feeds fell in the quarterfinals in Oklahoma City in 2009, with No. 3 Missouri being the only top seed to survive Day Two. You’ll have to forgive the Big 12 its lack of intrigue on day two in 2010. The top four seeds in Kansas City all advanced on Thursday, capped by the third-seeded Baylor Bears downing the No. 6 Texas Longhorns, 86-67.

Rock M Nation is in Kansas City covering the Big 12 Tournament:

KANSAS CITY – Explode or implode? Where Oklahoma State and Kansas State are concerned, both are possible on any given night. Therein lies the burden of streakiness.

Rock M Nation is in Kansas City covering the Big 12 Championship.

KANSAS CITY – No one expected much from the Nebraska Cornhuskers this week.

Rock M Nation is in Kansas City covering the Big 12 Championship:

Sherron Collins and Xavier Henry hit clutch three-pointers down the stretch as the top-seeded Kansas Jayhawks pulled out an absolute dogfight against the No. 9 Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Big 12 quarterfinals, 80-68. The victory is win number 2,000 for the Kansas program.

Rock M Nation is in Kansas City covering the Big 12 Championship:

Damion James had one of two double-doubles for Texas, leading the Horns with 25 points, 16 rebounds, three steals and two blocks. Gary Johnson had the other, contributing 15 points and 10 rebounds.

At the least, Missouri fans now have to keep a close eye on the rest of the conference tournaments and hope a rash of upsets don’t thin the number of at-large spots available on the margins. Today’s loss to Nebraska might make for a nervous Selection Sunday in Columbia.

SB Nation’s Chris Dobbertean is tracking teams on the NCAA Tournament bubble here.

Rock M Nation is in Kansas City covering the Big 12 Championship:

Trying to overcome a double-digit second half deficit, Missouri head coach Mike Anderson tried to rally the Tigers with a four-guard lineup in the last 10 minutes of the game, but to no avail. Missouri cut the Nebraska lead to 10 with less than four minutes to play, but with the pro-Missouri crowd roaring, Nebraska guard Brandon Richardson drilled a 3-pointer while being fouled by Zaire Taylor, effectively sealing the victory for the Huskers.

Rock M Nation is in Kansas City covering the Big 12 Championship:

Enter junior guard John Roberson.

For a while now, the Big XII has been the most underrated conference in college basketball, and this year is no exception. While the Big East was truly exceptional a year ago, that conference has become to college basketball what the SEC is to college football, so I fully expect the talking heads to over-hype the Big East’s bid for 10 bids while under-discussing the strength of the Big XII -- which was both the nation’s best conference in non-con play and closes the season with the strongest top-six in the nation. A quick glance at the Basketball Rankings Bible (Ken Pomeroy’s ratings) reveals that among the Top 25 rated teams in the country, no conference can match the Big XII at the top.

This marks the first time in the conference’s 13-year history that 7 teams will receive bids to the NCAA Tournament, as Oklahoma State -- on the bubble heading into late February -- secured their bid to the dance with an 85-77 win over then-No. 1 Kansas. As such, the 7 Big XII locks for the tournament are jockeying for seeding position: