What a week it was for the Big 12. 

It started with a parade of negative headlines about the LED court. Even TMZ got in on the injury-filled court flop.

But the negativity was quickly overshadowed by Iowa State and Arizona delivering the college basketball game of the year in the semifinals.

I was lucky enough to be there, and I think it was the best college basketball game I’ve ever seen in person.

You’re not going to find better shotmaking late in a high-level game. The two teams scored on 11 straight possessions to close it out, including their final seven three-point attempts.

And the atmosphere was the cherry on top. Conference tournament and NCAA tournament games have a unique energy because of all the different fan bases packed into the same building. 

Iowa State fans packed T-Mobile Center, as always, but the Arizona contingent was impressively loud and rowdy too. With Kansas in the same session, there were also plenty of fans in the building without a dog in the fight.

It’s worth reading how CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander described the experience of watching that game. 

Arizona’s title game win over Houston couldn’t match the drama and theatrics of the semifinal against Iowa State, but it still served as a fitting punctuation mark on a great week of basketball in Kansas City.

Don’t forget the week began Tuesday night with a majestic 40-point performance from potential No. 1 overall NBA draft pick AJ Dybantsa.

There’s a reason that NBA general managers flocked to T-Mobile Center throughout the week. At one point during a press conference, I turned around to almost run into Utah Jazz CEO Danny Ainge. 

But the real confirmation that the Big 12’s basketball product is head-and-shoulders above the rest of the country this year came from the NCAA tournament selection committee. 

The committee released its true seed list from 1 to 68, and the Big 12 had three of the top seven teams in the field: Arizona (2), Houston (5), and Iowa State (7). No other league had more than one.

And that’s what building a powerhouse conference is all about. Yes, the SEC has more teams in the field (10) than the Big 12 (8), but it only has one team in the top 13.

Depth is nice, but championship contenders are what truly make a league elite. The SEC ruled college football for 20 years because it always had multiple championship contenders. Right now, Arizona, Houston, and Iowa State are the Big 12’s Alabama, Georgia, and LSU.

It’s easy to overlook how much Big 12 basketball has grown over the past decade. It wasn’t that long ago that Kansas’ dominance of the league was a major criticism. The Jayhawks won the regular season title 14 years in a row, and no other Big 12 team made a Final Four during that streak. 

Texas Tech and Baylor changed that narrative with their title game appearances, but the addition of Houston and Arizona to the league has completely shifted the landscape. 

Kansas finished four games behind Arizona in the regular season standings and then lost by 22 to Houston in a de facto home game at the Big 12 tournament.

The Jayhawks aren’t going anywhere as a program. I’d put them in too-big-to-fail territory at this point, but it’s hard to see a world where they dominate the league the way they once did.

And that’s a great thing for the Big 12. 

This league is loaded and poised for a national title. It’s time to make it happen. 

I’ll have more thoughts on the specific tournament draws of each Big 12 team later this week.

What You Need to Know

• Here’s the full NCAA tournament bracket. Big 12 teams included: Arizona (1), Iowa State (2), Houston (2), Kansas (4), Texas Tech (5), BYU (6), TCU (9), UCF (10). 

• Don’t forget to check this injury tracker for teams in the NCAA tournament field before you fill out your bracket. Thank me later!

• Here’s how likely it is statistically that the Big 12 wins the national title this year.

• K-State introduced new head coach Casey Alexander with a press conference on Monday. 

• KU star Darryn Peterson finally revealed why he missed so much time earlier this season. 

• Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson says the Big 12 should never move the Big 12 tournament from Kansas City. 

• The Big 12 is going to turn this year of incredible basketball publicity into millions of dollars. Here’s how.

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