Joe Lunardi’s Latest Bracketology Includes 7 Big 12 Teams

College basketball’s Selection Sunday is now only 37 days away and counting, and this is the point in the season where the March Madness locks and hopefuls are starting to get an idea of where their efforts thus far might land them.

As expected, the Big 12 is a conference that began the season with the depth and potential to put a heavy handful of teams into the NCAA Tournament, which has held true to this point after ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology, which included seven of the Big 12’s 10 teams, tying the Big Ten for the most teams currently with a spot in Lunardi’s predictions.

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Now it could go without saying that, although we’re headed towards the final stretch of the regular season with each game becoming more meaningful for each team with tournament hopes, there’s plenty of time for the landscape of the current predictions for the field of 64, which will most certainly look differently than what it would today.

But with that said, if there were ever a conference that had a cluster of teams that were nearly guaranteed to find themselves still playing in March, it’s the current seven included in Lunardi’s latest, with Kansas, Iowa State, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Baylor, Oklahoma State and Texas all making an appearance in the field.

Jan 31, 2015; Waco, TX, USA; Baylor Bears forward Royce O’Neale (00) flexes his muscles in front of Texas Longhorns forward Jonathan Holmes (10) and center Cameron Ridley (55) and guard Isaiah Taylor (1) after a basket during the second half at Ferrell Center. Baylor won 83-60. Mandatory Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports /

The seven teams currently projected to come out of the Big 12 is far from a surprise, with the possible exception of a Longhorns team that is seemingly self-imploding after losing four-straight and six of the last eight in conference play.

But nevertheless, the Big 12 is currently loaded with six ranked teams, whom, along with Oklahoma State, all were projected in the better half of the field of 64, with the exception of Texas, who was projected with a No. 9 seed. This goes to show the sheer depth and expectations for the tournament that come from the Big 12.

Although the actual seeding may change a bit and the results on Selection Sunday may not be exactly the same in terms of where each of these seven clubs find themselves sitting during the NCAA Tournament. Lunardi’s current Bracketology is a very accurate and likely depiction of the presence that the deepest conference in college basketball will have when the games start to matter most.

The Jayhawks, Cyclones and Mountaineers have become practical locks for the tournament at this point. Oklahoma and Baylor would have to have a complete collapse at this point to be snubbed, which isn’t very likely based on each of their remaining schedules.

And as for the Cowboys and Longhorns, although they haven’t had the most impressive campaigns to this point, anything outside of winning no more than one game for the rest of the season should be enough to place these last two in from the Big 12 in position to dance in March.

Just as has been the case from the very first day of conference play, each of the Big 12 teams are going to continue to beat up on each other on a nightly basis, which guarantees an exciting finish for college hoops fans. But even more interesting could potentially be the noise a very battle-tested bevy of teams from the Big 12 makes once tournament time rolls around, especially when they aren’t playing top 20 teams one game after another.

If there were a conference to keep your eye on as we inch closer to March, it’s most certainly the Big 12.

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Joe Lunardi’s Latest Bracketology Includes 7 Big 12 Teams

By Cody Daniel | Feb 6, 2015

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