Major Missed Opportunity

Now that the dust has settled on the first two weekends of the NCAA tournament, it’s fair to say that the Big 12 put together a good league-wide performance. 

Houston is carrying the Big 12 banner into the final four, two teams made the Elite Eight, and the Big 12 won more games (3) against the mighty SEC than they did in 16 non-conference opportunities (2). 

I’m all for looking at the positive, but it’s hard not to lament how close the Big 12 was to a complete grand slam performance in the tournament. 

They were only a Texas Tech free throw or two away. 

The Red Raiders had Florida dead to rights in the Elite Eight. Tech had controlled the majority of the game and led by nine with under three minutes to play. 

As the Gators started scorching the nets with four straight three-pointers to steal the lead, Darrion Williams and J.T. Toppin missed the front end of one-and-ones that left four points on the table. 

By the time Walter Clayton Jr. hit his second three in as many minutes, Florida had the lead for good with 59 seconds left. 

It’s especially cruel that Williams, an 84% free-throw shooter, was responsible for one of the misses after he led his team to a wild comeback win against Arkansas and played an outstanding game against Florida. 

The NCAA tournament giveth. The NCAA tournament taketh away. 

If Tech had hung on to the lead, the Big 12 would have had half of the Final Four field and twice as many teams in the Final Four as the SEC. The league would have notched two wins over the SEC in regional finals, with one of those being Houston walloping Florida by 19. 

Today's narrative would have been about the SEC choking when it mattered most. It would have generated real momentum toward getting the Big 12 back in the best college basketball conference conversation. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, and we have to settle for a mere good tournament performance by the league. 

Glass Half Full

I want to put plenty of spotlight on the positive things that happened. 

Houston ran through the most challenging road possible to reach the Final Four. 

It was even more difficult than that tweet makes it sound. 

The Cougars had to play KenPom’s #9 team in the country in the round of 32 (8 seed Gonzaga) and played a Sweet Sixteen road game in Indianapolis against Purdue. 

Houston closed its Final Four run with a historic defensive performance against one of the best teams in the SEC. 

Head Coach Kelvin Sampson has done no worse than the Sweet Sixteen in each of his last six tournament appearances, with two Final Fours and an Elite Eight to go along with three Sweet Sixteens. 

Texas Tech outplayed its seed by making it to the Elite Eight, the Red Raiders' third appearance in a Regional Final since 2018. 

Give Head Coach Grant McCasland’s squad a ton of credit for finding a way to come back from 16 down to beat Arkansas in the Sweet Sixteen. It was arguably the best game in the entire tournament. 

The future is very bright in Lubbock. 

The same can be said about what’s happening in Provo, Utah. 

BYU is ahead of schedule after first-year head coach Kevin Young took the Cougars to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in nearly a decade and a half. 

The Cougs did run into an Alabama buzzsaw, with the Crimson Tide hitting a tournament record 25 three-pointers in their double-digit win on Thursday. 

But BYU finished six spots ahead of where it was picked in the Big 12 preseason poll and squashed some recent tournament demons before number one prospect AJ Dybansta even gets to campus. 

Young has plenty of financial backing, a stockpile of talent returning, and the best high school player in America on his way. 

Life is good in the Marriott Center. 

Don’t forget about Arizona’s performance, either. 

The Wildcats’ program prides itself on advancing well beyond the Sweet Sixteen, but Arizona deserves a lot of credit for its fight against Duke. 

The Cats' seven-point loss to the Blue Devils is easily the closest anybody has come to knocking off Duke in the tournament—the Blue Devils won their other three tourney games by an average of 27 points per game. 

If there was any worry about the Big 12 slipping after a somewhat pedestrian regular season, the league acquitted itself very well with the tournament performance. 

And that will jump to another level if Houston beats Duke on Saturday. 

More on that later this week.

What You Need to Know

• Coach Prime has a new deal at Colorado. The Buffaloes signed him to a five-year, $54 million contract that immediately makes him one of the highest-paid coaches in the sport. His $10 million salary next year, up from $5.7 million in 2024, makes him the highest-paid coach in the Big 12. Is he worth that much money? Colorado says yes, and you can read why here. 

• Kansas forward Flory Bidunga is in the portal but isn’t ruling out staying with the Jayhawks. His guardian told the Kansas City Star they are “open to a return” and will evaluate their options. Bidunga was expected to be a key piece to Head Coach Bill Self’s roster next season. 

• Fellow Jayhawks Zach Clemence, Rakease Passmore, David Coit, and Rylan Griffen also entered the portal since Friday. With all of the attrition that has occurred so far, Self will be in for a roster reset this offseason. 

• Arizona State Head Coach Kenny Dillingham has an innovative approach to spring football. He says all practices will be open to the media to encourage his players not to take days off. He wants the potential of a bad rep going on social media to motivate his team. How can you not love this guy?

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