Big 12 insider: League can prove its top-tier status during March Madness
The Big 12 believes it’s the best basketball conference in the country. Year in and year out, it consistently has teams contending for the national championship and players near the top of NBA draft boards.
The same holds true this season with the league placing 70% of its teams in March Madness and boasting the likely No. 1 NBA pick in Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham.
Not everybody will agree, though, that the Big 12 is at the top. The Big Ten, they’ll say, is better. The Big Ten has two 1-seeds (Michigan and Illinois) and two 2-seeds (Iowa and Ohio State) and a better overall conference. For instance, the lowest NET-ranked team in the Big Ten is Nebraska at No. 126 compared to the Big 12’s Iowa State at No. 232.
But, as TCU coach Jamie Dixon said earlier this week, consistency matters. Or at least should.
The Big 12 is always in the conversation as the country’s best league whereas the Big Ten is making a one-year appearance. Much like the SEC did two years ago and the ACC did three years ago.
“You’re talking about one year,” Dixon said. “The Big Ten was good this year, there’s no question about that. But if you look at the last five years, it’s not even close. We seem to be compared to a new league each year when that league is up.
“We ran into this when I was in the Big East and we were always the best league back then. But the Big 12 is consistently in that conversation since I’ve been in it.”
With that being said, the Big 12 can prove it’s the best with a strong showing in March Madness. The league has legitimate Final Four contenders in Baylor, Texas, Oklahoma State, Kansas and West Virginia. All five of those programs are top-15 teams right now, although KU faces a tough road in Gonzaga’s region and with a potential second-round matchup against USC.
Texas Tech could get hot, too, and make a run. In all due respect to Oklahoma, it’s hard to see the Sooners getting past Gonzaga should they reach the Round of 32.
At the end of the day, it’s not far-fetched for the league to land two in the Final Four and, who knows, a possible national champion. If it does that, the “best conference” label will fit once again. No questions asked.
Women’s bracket
On the women’s side, the Big 12 is sending five teams to the Big Dance. The league has sent at least five teams in 20 of the last 24 tournaments.
The biggest threat to reach the Final Four is Baylor, a 2-seed in the Riverwalk Region. West Virginia is a 4-seed, while Texas is a 6-seed.
The Lady Bears are the defending champions as they won the title in 2019. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coale retiring
Sticking with women’s basketball, longtime Oklahoma coach Sherri Coale is retiring after 25 years at the helm. She’s the school’s all-time winningest coach in women’s basketball and a member of the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame.
Coale walks away with a career record of 512-293. The Sooners made 19 consecutive NCAA Tournament trips from 2000-18 under Coale, reaching the Final Four three times (2002, 2009-10).
Bragan Award winner
Texas Tech shortstop Cal Conley was named the Bragan Award player of the week.
Conley had a standout week, batting .625 with three doubles and six RBIs over five games. The Red Raiders went 5-0 in two games against Gonzaga and three games against UConn.
