Let’s rewind to last Thursday morning. If I had told you that the Big 12 would send just two of its seven NCAA Tournament teams to the Sweet Sixteen, you’d probably feel let down. Conference members have struggled to make many deep runs over the last 10 years, and while it didn’t appear that there was a national title contender among the group this season, there were plenty of teams that were good enough to survive the first weekend. A flawed Kansas team had scrapped and defended its way to an 11th straight conference crown. Iowa State had shown great resilience in erasing one double-figure lead after another on its way to a Big 12 Tournament title. Scott Drew’s Baylor team was arguably better than the one that went to the Sweet Sixteen last season.
As we all now know, none of those three promising teams are still standing, and the also-rans of the bunch — Oklahoma State and Texas — fizzled out as well. That leaves us with Oklahoma and West Virginia as the Big 12’s two survivors. While the Sooners and Mountaineers are very good teams led by two of the most experienced and successful coaches in the game, their presence in the Sweet Sixteen still feels like a bit of a surprise. Oklahoma’s ability to play great defense while utilizing an uptempo attack is impressive, but there were plenty of reasons to be suspicious of the Sooners. They played poorly in two losses to downtrodden Kansas State, struggled to find consistency against competitive teams away from Norman, and their composure fell under increased scrutiny after they coughed up a pair of big leads to the Cyclones. While similar criticisms can be made of other teams still playing (see: UCLA), you would have a good case if you wanted to remain skeptical on Lon Kruger‘s team.
Meanwhile, Bob Huggins injected a new style of play into his program and the Mountaineers responded by pressing and rebounding their way to an 18-3 start that, admittedly, was a little light of a full load. Sure enough, they started to drop off when the calendar turned to February and they went 5-5 to end the regular season. They also went on to lose their only game of the Big 12 Tournament, although in fairness, Huggins opted to rest injured players Juwan Staten and Gary Browne rather than risk them further harm. While Staten and Browne returned last weekend, bringing West Virginia back to full strength, it was also reasonable to expect the check for the team’s poor shooting and inefficient half-court defense to come due.
So how are the Mountaineers and Sooners still alive? As the adage goes, the NCAA Tournament often comes down to matchups, and both teams drew opponents that played to their strengths. An undersized Buffalo team was no match for West Virginia’s rebounding prowess, and its swarming pressure defense coerced a career-high seven turnovers from point guard Lamonte Bearden. In the Round of 32, a Maryland team similarly prone to rebounding and ball-handling miscues couldn’t hang with the Mountaineers’ frantic style, and after point guard Melo Trimble exited the game with a head injury, West Virginia wouldn’t be seriously threatened. The Sooners showed off a more versatile attack in their weekend matchups. They powered past Albany with interior effectiveness on both ends, shooting 54.5 percent inside the arc and blocking six shots. On Sunday, hot three-point shooting and dominance on the defensive glass got the job done against a Dayton team that was playing its third game in five days.
Credit is due to both Big 12 teams for doing what Iowa State and Baylor couldn’t against significantly overmatched opponents in their openers, as well as going on to win a second game. But the road only gets tougher from here. Despite Huggins’ outstanding 8-2 record against John Calipari, the talent disparity between their teams has never been as stark as it will be in Cleveland tomorrow night.
The Sooners have a more favorable matchup from the talent perspective in lining up against a Michigan State team that’s susceptible to foul trouble and turnovers, but betting against Tom Izzo in a Sweet Sixteen game isn’t exactly the safest of moves.
A lack of focus and execution by some of the Big 12’s top teams may have deprived the league of its best chance to return to the Final Four, but a deep run for at least one team is still within reach.