While the Big 12 is undoubtedly the nation’s premier college basketball conference, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi views things a little bit differently in his latest bracketology update.
Lunardi listed two leagues ahead of the Big 12 in total bids, with the SEC and the Big Ten outpacing the Big 12.
Lunardi currently projects eight teams from the Big 12 to make postseason play, including Iowa State, Kansas, Houston, West Virginia, Texas Tech, Cincinnati, BYU, and Baylor.
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While eight teams are impressive, Lunardi has two leagues ahead of the Big 12 with the SEC (11) and the Big Ten (11). SEC teams in the field include Tennessee, Mississippi State, Auburn, Alabama, Kentucky, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas. Big Ten teams in the field include Michigan State, Michigan, Penn State, Nebraska, UCLA, Illinois, Purdue, Oregon, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Ohio State.
Lunardi left Big 12 teams, including Arizona, Arizona State, UCF, TCU, Kansas State, Colorado, Utah, and Oklahoma State off the board. Arizona, 8-5 overall, 2-0 in league play, entered the season as a preseason top-10 team before falling out of the rankings. Arizona State has surged recently with a blowout win over Colorado and a blowout loss to BYU.
While things can change fast in Lunardi’s rankings, the Big 12 Conference has not caught his eyes through the first week of league play. Still, with Quad 1 opportunities on any given night, league members should have a shot to stake their claim as tournament-bound in the near future.
