The games are over, and in a few short hours the speculation will be finished as well. Kansas and Kansas State highlighted the Big 12 Tournament with a highly anticipated championship game after they split the regular season title. Kansas completed the season sweep of the Wildcats and may have earned a #1 seed while doing so. But more on that in a minute. Iowa State and Oklahoma have been on the NCAA Tournament bubble for a few weeks now. The Cyclones likely solidified their spot in the dance with the quarterfinal win over the Sooners in Kansas City on Thursday. As of last night, the Cyclones were a #10 seed at Bracket Matrix, ahead of nine other at-large teams. There really isn’t a reason to worry about Iowa State making the field of 68 this afternoon, but crazier things have happened, I suppose. Oklahoma is in a tougher spot. They ended the regular season with a terrible loss to TCU, and like Iowa State, needed a win in the conference tournament to calm their nerves heading into today. Bracket Matrix still has the Sooners alive, however, as an #11 seed. They are ahead of seven at-large teams, so bracketologists don’t seem to think the Sooners have anything to worry about, either. But what about Kansas and a possible #1 seed?

Kansas Won The Big 12 Tournament Saturday, Strengthening Its Case For A #1 Seed (Nick Krug, KUSports.com).

It seemed impossible a month ago after Kansas lost three consecutive games and dropped to #14 in the AP Poll. But the Jayhawks started winning. And a regular season finale loss to Baylor notwithstanding, they haven’t stopped, going 11-1 since February 9. With two more RPI top 50 wins under their belt after beating Iowa State and Kansas State this weekend, the Jayhawks have put themselves in a good position to grab a #1 seed this afternoon. I said going into the weekend that Kansas and Louisville could jump Gonzaga if both teams won their respective conference tournaments, and I still believe so. But Duke’s loss to Maryland in the ACC quarterfinals Friday gives us more questions to answer. But let’s assume Indiana and Louisville are locks for top seeds. That leaves three teams that have separated themselves from the potential #2 seeds but haven’t quite earned the “lock” title given to the Hoosiers and Cardinals. That would be Kansas, Duke, and Gonzaga. Here is what the resumes look like:

Kansas (29-5):

• SOS: 26
• Record vs RPI top 50: 12-3
• Record vs RPI 51-100: 2-1
• Road/Neutral record: 11-4
• Bad losses: TCU, Baylor

Duke (27-5):

• SOS: 1
• Record vs RPI top 50: 9-2
• Record vs RPI 51-100: 6-3
• Road/Neutral record: 11-5
• Bad losses: Maryland (2x), Virginia

Gonzaga (31-2):

• SOS: 75
• Record vs RPI top 50: 6-2
• Record vs RPI 51-100: 6-0
• Road/Neutral record: 16-1
• Bad Losses: None

Give credit to Gonzaga head coach Mark Few, who went out and scheduled nine major programs this season, winning seven of those games. The Bulldogs aren’t your usual mid-major with an inflated record, and I can easily see myself penciling them into the Final Four or further when the bracket is unveiled today. But seeding is based on your resume, not how well you may do in the tournament. The Zags were able to cruise through their conference season the last two months while Kansas and Duke played legitimate competition. And with resumes as close as the three teams above, I’ll give the edge to the teams that didn’t have the luxury of a two-month warm-up for March. Give me Louisville, Indiana, Duke, and Kansas on the top line.

KoryCarpenter (150 Posts)

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 17th, 2013 at 10:31 am by KoryCarpenter and is filed under big 12, microsites. Tagged: duke, gonzaga, indiana, iowa state, kansas, kansas state, louisville, maryland, oklahoma, tcu, virginia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.