Big 12 tournament bracket, schedule: Will Houston keep rolling?

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Between Houston, Texas Tech and others, we should be in for a great week in Kansas City.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Big 12 tournament.

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3 storylines to watch

Houston has rolled through a very solid Big 12 this season, and the Cougars look like a legit national title contender. They closed out the regular season with 10 straight wins, including over both Iowa State and Texas Tech, and they’ve lost just once since the end of November. L.J Cryer has dominated offensively, and the Houston defense has been remarkable. The Cougars haven’t let a team score more than 65 points during their 10-game win streak, too.

If Kelvin Sampson is going to make a title run, this is the perfect chance to do it. That starts in Kansas City, where the Cougars will get the double bye.

The Cyclones fell to BYU in their conference tourney opener on Thursday, but they looked incredibly dominant early in the season. They climbed as high as No. 2 in the national rankings, a program best, after opening the year on a 15-1 tear. The team has recently been dealing with both significant injuries and illness, which has caused it to drop three of its last five games to close out the regular season and lose to BYU.

The Red Raiders have climbed their way into the rankings after a very solid run through the Big 12, which included a wild overtime win against the Cougars last month. They have won three straight to end the season and finished second in the Big 12.

The preseason No. 1 team in the nation is entering the Big 12 tournament in perhaps the worst possible way. The Jayhawks finished the regular season with a 20-11 record and lost seven of their last 13 games. They fell out of the national rankings for the first time in years and suffered one of the worst blowout losses in the Bill Self era when they lost to BYU by more than 30.

The team that generally dominates the Big 12 and has a huge advantage with what essentially is a home conference tournament looks far from a team that can make an NCAA tournament run. If there is any hope of that left, it will likely take a run to the Big 12 title game in order for the Jayhawks to get their confidence back.

All times ET

When: Tuesday-Saturday

Where: T-Mobile Center | Kansas City, Missouri

TV: ESPN, ESPN+

Game schedule:

Tuesday, March 11: First round

Game 1 – No. 13 Cincinnati 87, No. 12 Oklahoma State 68

Game 2 – No. 16 Colorado 69, No. 9 TCU 67

Game 3 – No. 10 K-State 71, No. 15 Arizona State 66

Game 4 – No. 14 UCF 87, No. 11 Utah 72

Wednesday, March 12: Second round

Game 5 – No. 5 Iowa State 76, No. 13 Cincinnati 56