Big 12 Shines in NCAA Tournament

It was a terrific opening weekend of the NCAA tournament for the Big 12. The league tied a Big 12 record by sending four teams to the Sweet Sixteen. 

Yes, the SEC is sending a record seven teams to the second weekend, but remember, that’s 7/14 teams that made the tournament. When the ACC previously set the record with six Sweet Sixteen teams, they went 6/7. 

There’s a case to be made that the SEC actually proved it is slightly overrated—shocking, I know. You can learn more about that below. 

Let’s dive into The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly from the Big 12’s performance in the first two rounds of the tournament.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

BYU’s Offense Continues to be Lights Out

Before Thursday’s opening-round game against VCU, I considered BYU a Final Four sleeper because of its deep bench and electric offense. 

Both of those assets helped fuel wins over VCU and Wisconsin. 

The Cougars shot 50% from the floor and scored 80 points to take down VCU, one of the most popular upset picks in the bracket. But they put on an even better offensive show on Saturday against Wisconsin. 

BYU dropped 91 on Wisconsin, fueled by another near-50% shooting performance that included twelve three-pointers. They also made 15 of 16 free throws in a game they won by two. Any slip-up at the line would have flipped the result.

The Cougars bench contributed a combined 50 points in the wins over the Rams and Badgers. Nine players playing at least ten minutes per game is a significant advantage in March when most rotations are cut to seven. 

It also makes it easier to survive the Dawson Baker situation. He was ridiculously ejected for trying to step through a double team. Check out the video here. It did lead to this incredible video of his reaction to the win in the locker room. 

BYU has its work cut out for it moving forward. Alabama and likely Duke are looming. If the Cougars keep the pedal to the floor offensively, they’ll have a shot to keep this going.

Houston’s Consistency

It doesn’t seem like this stat should be real, but Houston has now made it to the Sweet Sixteen in six straight NCAA tournaments. 

It didn’t come easy. Like BYU, the Cougars had to hold on for dear life as Gonzaga mounted a furious comeback. 

It makes sense that Houston Head Coach Kelvin Sampson has such high praise for the Bulldogs. Gonzaga had the nation’s longest active Sweet Sixteen streak at nine before the Cougars ended their run.

This is the type of win that should serve Houston well as it moves on in the quest for a national title. Gonzaga was KenPom’s ninth-ranked team in the country by the end of the season. The committee drastically under-seeded them. 

Sampson’s team now has a Sweet Sixteen or Elite Eight caliber win under its belt before traveling to Indianapolis to take on Purdue on Friday. Meanwhile, the Boilermakers only had to take down two double-digit seeds in High Point and McNeese State. 

I’ll take the battle-tested Cougars to win that match-up. 

Arizona’s Poise

After an incredible Saturday for the Big 12, things weren’t feeling great on Sunday when Arizona fell in an early 19-4 hole to Oregon. 

Baylor and Iowa State both got walloped, and it looked like the same thing would happen to the Wildcats. To quote the great Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friend.” 

Arizona star guard Caleb Love helped turn the tide almost immediately after that en route to arguably the best individual performance of the tournament so far. 

Love finished with 29 points, nine rebounds, and four assists on 10 of 18 shooting. He controlled the game by knocking down threes and driving to the rim. It set the tone in a game that Arizona controlled for the final 35 minutes. 

In some ways, the Wildcats’ performance was representative of their season. After starting the season 4-5, they ripped off wins in 13 of their next 14 games to jump right into the thick of the Big 12 title race. 

They’ll need more than just poise in the Sweet Sixteen to take down Duke, who looks like the best team in the country right now. But perhaps Love has another spectacular performance in him. 

I’m sure the former North Carolina Tar Heel has no shortage of motivation to fuel him. 

Texas Tech’s Versatility

Texas Tech has a Final Four-caliber roster, and that showed in its wins over UNC Wilmington and Drake. 

Everybody knows about the prowess of Big 12 Player of the Year J.T. Toppin, but the Red Raiders are deep with a versatile crop of talent. They’re deep enough to turn to Kerwin Walton, a reserve guard averaging six points per game, to get a career-high 27 points to outlast UNC Wilmington when they needed it. 

Walton knocked down eight threes on a night when the Red Raiders took 46(!) shots from beyond the arc as a team. Two nights later, Tech scored 50 points in the paint and made only two threes while controlling Drake wire-to-wire. 

The Drake game was Darrion Williams’ time to shine. He poured in 28 points to out-pace Toppin’s 25. 

Texas Tech fans have to love seeing a ten seed in the Sweet Sixteen. John Calipari and Arkansas took out a two seed (St. John’s) to set up a date with the Red Raiders in San Francisco. 

As long as Tech can keep Williams healthy, they should be in pretty good shape.

The Bad

Iowa State’s Defense Gets Shredded

Frankly, I’m not sure anybody was going to beat Ole Miss on Sunday night. The Rebels shot 58% from the floor and three-point range, rolling up 91 points on the Cyclones. 

But this was an ugly performance for an Iowa State program that prides itself on defense, no matter how hot Ole Miss was. 

The final score doesn’t do justice to the kind of blowout this was. The Rebels had a 26-point lead before a Cyclone rally in the game's final five minutes. Ole Miss fans flooded the arena with “S-E-C” chants for what felt like an eternity. 

ISU Head Coach T.J. Otzelberger has done a phenomenal job and has nothing to hang his head about, but I’m sure he’ll spend time this offseason trying to figure out what changed in late January. 

The Cyclones were once 17-2 and ranked in the top five, but they went 7-6 in league play down the stretch and failed to return to the second weekend. 

Injuries certainly didn’t help–Tamin Lipsey, Milan Momcilovich, and Kehson Gilbert all were sidelined at one point or another–but it feels like there were issues beyond that for a team that looked like a bonafide national championship contender during the first half of the season. 

The Ugly

KU’s Ability to Finish

Kansas’ loss to Arkansas had to feel like Groundhog’s Day for the Jayhawks. 

It was yet another example of execution issues for KU in a tight game down the stretch. The Jayhawks erased an 11-point deficit to take a 65-64 lead in the second half but couldn’t get out of their own way from there. 

This Hunter Dickinson turnover was emblematic of KU’s season. 

It wasn’t even the worst meltdown of the Jayhawks season. Remember this one against Houston in Allen Fieldhouse?

The Jayhawks lost in the first round of the tournament for the first time since 2006. They haven’t made it to the second weekend since their national title run in 2022. 

It’s going to be a fascinating offseason in Lawrence. Can Bill Self evolve to figure out how to make a roster work to his elite standard in the portal era?

Baylor Runs Into a Buzzsaw

Undoubtedly, it was a disappointing season for a Baylor team that started the year in the top ten, but I’m not sure how much you can blame them for their loss to Duke on Sunday. 

The Blue Devils shot a program-record 64% from the floor and made twelve threes. Guard Tyrese Proctor connected on seven of his eight three-point attempts alone. You won’t see a better shooting performance anywhere. 

Sometimes, you just have to tip your cap. Duke looks like the best team in the country and may well win a national title–unless BYU or Arizona have anything to say about it. 

The Bears haven’t been to the second weekend of the tournament since their national title run in 2021. Like Kansas, Baylor fans will start getting antsy if that doesn’t change soon. The Big 12 needs it, too.

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