Big 12 Conference Tournament Bracket

Hey everyone. I happened to join a conference tournament bracket pool with my friends at school and decided to document each of my six brackets and show my results as we move into one of the best basketball weeks of the year. I will be going to Florida on Thursday, and I will be able to watch the games from the beach! Here is my Big 12 Bracket:

My winner: Kansas

The number 1 seed in arguably the toughest conference in all of college basketball and one of the complete teams in the country. Although ending the season with a bad loss to Texas, one thing Kansas has done this year is bouncing back. When they were down 17 to Baylor a few weeks ago, the Jayhawks outscored the Bears by 29 in the second half to beat Baylor by 16. Although not the best in their conference according to Kenpom and Haslametrics, they are one behind Texas in both data metrics. One area of a team that is extremely important moving through March has top defensive efficiency, and Kansas is ranked #9 in that category. Kansas's assist-to-turnover ratio is almost 1.5 and by far one of the best in the Big 12. With Kansas's experience in March, I expect Kansas to punch the automatic ticket for the Big 12.

Dark Horse: TCU

TCU is a sixth seed in the tournament because of their cold streak at the end of January and early February. The injury to Mike Miles set TCU back, but they were able to prove again once he returned that TCU can make noise in the conference. Last Wednesday, they beat Texas, and although dropping a loss at Oklahoma on Saturday, this team still has enough talent to bounce back from the loss and beat Kansas State in the tournament's first round. TCU vs. Kansas State will be one of the most electrifying games of the match, but I believe TCU has a slight edge over K-State. With K-State dropping an eight-point loss to WVU, I do not think they are the same team they were a month ago, and they are getting cold at the wrong time. When they played in January, TCU beat K-State by 16. If TCU beats K-State, they will play Texas again, and I believe they can beat Texas and have a dance with Kansas in the championship game.

Watch out for West Virginia and Iowa State to make noise in Kansas City.

Please let me know what you think about my picks, and reach out to me on Instagram @sharpapp_jake to talk about these picks!

Stay tuned for the five other conference tournament brackets and my March Madness brackets coming next week!