Big 12 Basketball Tournament Predictions 2008
June 6, 2008
Just like most conference tournaments, the Big 12 Tournament features their twelve teams with the top 4 seeds from the regular season earning byes in the opening round. Texas earned the #1 seed this year despite losing Kevin Durant to the NBA Draft last season. D.J. Augustine led his team to the Big 12 regular season title after beating Kansas in their only meeting of the season in Austin, TX for the crown. The Jayhawks played more consistent basketball than the Longhorns this season, but will have to settle for the #2 seed. This is the sole reason Kansas is actually a heavy favorite to win the Big 12 conference tournament in 2008.
Location: Sprint Center
Dates: March 13th - March 16th
Television: ESPN seems to be in love with this conference considering every single game from the opening round through the championship game will be televised on ESPN’s family of network. You can watch your favorite teams in the Big 12 on ESPN, ESPN 2, ESPNU and ESPN PLUS this season. The Championship game will be held on March 16th at 3:00 EST on ESPN.
2008 Big 12 Tournament Preview:
As we already stated, Texas took down the Big 12 regular season title to earn the No. 1 seed. Kansas is the more talented squad overall and have to settle for the No. 2 seed after losing to Texas in their only meeting of the season. Kansas State and Oklahoma have each earned first-round byes as the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds respectively. Baylor and Oklahoma each had better non-conference wins than Kansas State. This likely gets the Sooners and the Bears into the NCAA Tournament no matter what happens in the Big 12 tournament. Michael Beasley and the Wildcats will likely need to beat Texas A&M in the quarterfinals round after the Aggies beat Iowa State in the opening round. The Aggies are another bubble team and the winner of the K-State/Texas A&M game in the quarterfinals round will have a much better shot at making the Big Dance. This conference has been very strong in 2008 with the No. 1 through No. 10 seeds able to pull off an upset in any given game. These teams are Nebraska, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Missouri. There is almost no doubt that one of these above squads will make some noise in the 2008 Big 12 Tournament.
2007 Big 12 Tournament Winner:
The 2007 Big 12 Tournament was won by the Kansas Jayhawks. The Jaywawks and Longhorns dueled in one of the best Big 12 championship games of all time. Texas got off to a 20-point lead in the first half before Kansas closed the gap to 5 points by halftime. The Jayhawks went on to take a late lead in the second half before Texas came back and sent the game into overtime. Kansas then took the lead from the opening tip in OT and never looked back. The Jayhawks won an 88-84 thriller despite 37 points from Player of the Year in Kevin Durant. Texas had Kansas down by 16 points in a game a week earlier before blowing another big lead. That loss to the Jayhawks cost the Longhorns the regular season title, while this loss in the championship game cost Texas the Big 12 tournament championship as well. Salt was definitely being poured on their open wound here and the Longhorns could never recover in the NCAA Tournament. Texas went on to lose to USC in the second round while Kansas made it to the Elite-8 before falling to UCLA. Looks like the Pac-10 was the more superior conference last season.
Larry’s 2008 Big 12 Tournament Predictions:
The 2008 Big 12 Tournament will be won by the Kansas Jayhawks in a runaway. We don’t expect Kansas to have any trouble winning 3 games and don’t be surprised if the Jayhawks win each contest by double-digits. Kansas is a complete team from top to bottom with great inside play as well as veteran guard play. Texas could possibly lose their first game in the quarterfinals to either Texas Tech or Oklahoma State, two very worthy opponents. We are predicting that Kansas will face either No. 5 Baylor, No. 8 Texas Tech or No. 9 Oklahoma State in the Big12 championship game. Oky State has made some big noise over the years in winning the conference tournament in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Kansas won the next 2 seasons and will make it a 3rd straight year in dominant fashion this time around under head coach Bill Self. Bet Kansas at 2/3 odds. Oklahoma State would be a solid underdog pick at 20/1 odds after an earlier win this season over the Jayhawks if you are feeling greedy.
2008 Big 12 Tournament Odds:
Baylor
15/1
Colorado 80/1
Iowa State 60/1
Kansas 2/3
Kansas State 5/1
Missouri 40/1
Nebraska 22/1
Oklahoma 13/2
Oklahoma State 20/1
Texas 5/2
Texas A&M 13/1
Texas Tech 25/1