For the 11th straight year, Kansas has finished the regular season with a league title, and as the team alone in first place, the Jayhawks are the top seed in the Big 12 Tournament. They'll likely be the favorite entering play in Kansas City this week, but that doesn't mean they can expect an easy road to a conference championship.
Big 12 basketball tournament 2015: Bracket, schedule and scores
One of the nation’s deepest conferences has a familiar name at the top, but it was Iowa State that came away with the Big 12’s automatic bid.
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As the past two months have proven, the 10-team Big 12 is one of the deepest leagues in the nation, with teams like seventh-place Texas still fighting for an NCAA Tournament bid. To do so, the Longhorns would need to win four games in four days after not earning a first-round bye.
No. 8 Kansas State may also be poised for a run. Though the Wildcats have no chance at an at-large bid, they’ve proven to be a tough out in conference play, defeating each of the conference’s top four seeds at least once this season.
But Kansas’ biggest challenge might be No. 2 seed Iowa State. The two teams split their pair of regular season contests and are positioned on opposite sides of the bracket for what could be a thrilling championship game.
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The format
All conference members qualify for the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, with the bottom four teams playing on the opening night. The winner of the first game will face top-seeded Kansas in the quarterfinals, with the winner of the second game playing Iowa State. The whole thing concludes on Saturday night with a 7 p.m. ET title game on ESPN.
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The teams
The bracket
Take a look at the whole field and make your predictions for what’s sure to be a wild week in Kansas City right here.
Schedule and results (All times Eastern)
Wednesday, March 11 (First round)
Game 1: No. 9 TCU 67, No. 8 Kansas State 65 (Game reactions from our TCU blog and Kansas State blog)
Game 2: No. 7 Texas 65, No. 10 Texas Tech 53 (Game reactions from our Texas blog and Texas Tech blog)
Thursday, March 12: (Quarterfinals)
Game 3: No. 4 Baylor 80, No. 5 West Virginia 70 (Game reaction from our Baylor blog and West Virginia blog)
Game 4: No. 1 Kansas 64, No. 9 TCU 59 (Game reaction from our Kansas blog and TCU blog)
Game 5: No. 2 Iowa State 69, No. 7 Texas 67 (Game reaction from our Iowa State blog and Texas blog)
Game 6: No. 3 Oklahoma 64, No. 6 Oklahoma State 49 (Game reaction from our Oklahoma blog and Oklahoma State blog)
Friday, March 13 (Semifinals)
Game 7: No. 1 Kansas 62, No. 4 Baylor 52
Game 8: No. 2 Iowa State 67, No. 3 Oklahoma 65
Saturday, March 14 (Championship)
No. 2 Iowa State 70, No. 1 Kansas 66
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