The Big 12 Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament continued on Thursday with the quarterfinal round games at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.
The quarterfinal results included:
Game 9: No. 4 BYU 96, No. 5 Iowa State 92
Game 10: No. 1 Houston 77, No. 16 Colorado 68
Game 11: No. 2 Texas Tech 76, No. 7 Baylor 74
Game 12: No. 3 Arizona 88, No. 6 Kansas 77
Friday’s Semifinal Schedule:
Game 13: No. 4 BYU vs. No. 1 Houston, 6 p.m. CT
Game 14: No. 2 Texas Tech vs. No. 3 Arizona, 8:30 p.m. CT
Here are three takeaways from the latest day of men’s basketball action.
THE ‘NEW’ BIG 12
Not only did the quarterfinals go chalk the quarterfinal winners guaranteed that the Big 12 Tournament champion will be a first timer.
While it might be unreasonable to call this a “changing of the guard,” at minimum it represents a shift in the structure of the conference.
The 2025 Big 12 Tournament will be one of four teams:
Texas Tech, which is the only long-time member of the Big 12 that made the final four and has only been to one Big 12 Tournament twice, the most recent being in 2022.
Arizona, which joined the conference in July and is considered one of the premier programs in the country.
Houston, which is in its second year in the league and reached the Big 12 title game last season before falling to Iowa State. The Cougars are No. 2 in the country.
BYU, which is also in its second year in the league and was a No. 5 seed last year and lost in the quarterfinals to Texas Tech.
Big 12 fans might need to get used to this. These four programs don’t look like they’re going anywhere anytime soon.
THAT FLOOR
When I started watching the Big 12 women’s tournament last week, I did some radio with Condon and Miller on KXNO in Des Moines and I was asked about that new Big 12 playing surface.
At the time, I said it was a lot to take on television, but I would reserve full judgment until I saw it in person this week.
Well, Thursday was my first full day at the tournament. My assessment?
The floor is definitely a lot to take in on television. But in person? The floor is almost, shall I say, benign? I mean, spending four games in the hockey press box looking down on that floor and it was actually easy on the eyes. After a while I didn’t even notice it.
Now, I think whoever designed definitely channeled Richard Dreyfuss from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” when he’s building the Devil’s Tower out of mashed potatoes. I mean who comes up with that?
But, as a basketball floor in person, it’s actually OK.
THE DARK SIDE OF MARCH
In the last 24 hours we’ve seen two really good examples of the dark side of the new landscape of college athletics. But we’ll focus on Kansas State’s Coleman Hawkins, who talked about the external hate he had to deal with this season with the Wildcats.
There’s a lot to unpack here, not the least of which is how we treat each other as people.
I wrote a piece a couple of weeks ago after Kansas guard Zeke Mayo briefly tweeted out the harassment he received after a Kansas loss. Much of it was racist. He took it down, but plenty of people saw it.
So, here’s Hawkins, baring his soul about a lost season during which he made a reported $2 million in NIL money and deal with a barrage of harassment, especially online.
What I wrote then was that your ticket, your investment in your school, your TV subscription to watch games — whatever — none of that gives you the right to treat someone like they’re not a human being. The same goes for the money someone like Hawkins makes. His NIL deal doesn’t give you the right to treat him like a dartboard. He’s a person.
I know some will say, “Well he’s basically a pro now. It comes with the territory.” Well maybe so. But your sports dollar doesn’t give you the right to treat someone like Steph Curry like that, either.
I’ll put it another way. If you can’t say those things to the face of someone that you love, then you shouldn’t say it to someone you don’t know. And if you can say those things to someone you love and not think twice, they maybe do us all a favor and just stop talking or rage-posting.
If there are any athletes reading this, I’ll say this. I know keeping the DMs open is the cool thing to do and I know putting the phone away is hard (I have six nieces and nephews, believe me I get it). But it wouldn’t be the worst idea for you to put the phone away or, at minimum, lock the DMs up during the season. If someone has an NIL opportunity for you, they’ll find you.
Meanwhile, know that the real Kansas State fans have your back, Coleman. That’s just how they are.
2025 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship Schedule
(all times central)
First Round Results
Game 1: No. 13 Cincinnati 87, No. 12 Oklahoma State 66
Game 2: No. 16 Colorado 69, No. 9 TCU 67
Game 3: No. 10 Kansas State 71, No. 15 Arizona State 66
Game 4: No. 14 UCF 82, No. 11 Utah 70
Wednesday’s Second Round Schedule
Game 5: No. 5 Iowa State 76, No. 13 Cincinnati 56
Game 6: No. 16 Colorado 67, No. 8 West Virginia 60
Game 7: No. 7 Baylor 70, No. 10 Kansas State 56
Game 8: No. 6 Kansas 98, No. 14 UCF 94 (OT)
Thursday’s Quarterfinal Schedule
Game 9: No. 4 BYU 96, No. 5 Iowa State 92
Game 10: No. 1 Houston 77, No. 16 Colorado 68
Game 11: No. 2 Texas Tech 76, No. 7 Baylor 74
Game 12: No. 3 Arizona 88, No. 6 Kansas 77
Friday’s Semifinal Schedule
Game 13: No. 4 BYU vs. No. 1 Houston, 6 p.m. CT
Game 14: No. 2 Texas Tech vs. No. 3 Arizona, 8:30 p.m. CT
Saturday’s Championship Game
Game 15: Winner of Game 13 vs. Winner of Game 14, 5 p.m. CT
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
