Big 12 Tourney Preview

At Ford Center (Oklahoma City)
FIRST ROUND
Wednesday, March 11
Game 1: No. 8 Nebraska vs. No. 9 Baylor, 12:30 p.m.
Game 2: No. 5 Texas vs. No. 12 Colorado, 3 p.m.
Game 3: No. 7 Oklahoma State vs. No. 10 Iowa State, 7 p.m.
Game 4: No. 6 Texas A&M vs. No. 11 Texas Tech, 9:30 p.m.

QUARTERFINALS
Thursday, March 12
Game 5: No. 1 Kansas vs. Game 1 winner, ESPN2, 12:30 p.m.
Game 6: No. 4 Kansas State vs. Game 2 winner, 3 p.m.
Game 7: No. 2 Oklahoma vs. Game 3 winner, 7 p.m.
Game 8: No. 3 Missouri vs. Game 4 winner, ESPN2, 9:30 p.m.

SEMIFINALS
Friday, March 13
Game 9: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 7 p.m.
Game 10: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner, 9:30 p.m.

CHAMPIONSHIP
Saturday, March 14
Game 9 winner vs. Game 10 winner, ESPN, 6 p.m.


Team to watch: Kansas. For a team that won a national championship the year before, the Jayhawks didn't get much love coming into the season. They lost all their players, they couldn't possibly do it again...oh wait...they could. Kansas shook off a couple of early losses out of conference and went on a strong run to end the season finishing with a 14-2 record in the Big 12.

Player to watch: You should know all of the big names, but how about Denis Clemente. If the name sounds familiar, that's because it is. Clemente is a second cousin of the late Roberto Clemente, the Hall of Famer from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Clemente helped Kansas State to a 9-7 record in the conference and had a 44 point performance against Texas.

Upset watch: Texas A&M. The Aggies are the hottest team in the conference, winning six games in a row. They are a borderline lock for the NCAA tournament, but with a couple more victories they could improve their seed and become a dangerous team to face.

Tourney watch: Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, Texas, Texas A&M & Oklahoma State should all be in for sure. The team that needs to do the most is Kansas State. If they pull off a sem-final upset over Kansas, they will be dancing. However, with an easy road to the finals, I think Kansas will wrap up as conference champions and tourney champions and have outside chance at a number one seed in the NCAA tournament.