2023 Big 12 Basketball Tournament: Updated projected seeds, schedule, magic numbers

The Big 12 has been the most competitive league in the country this year, and we seem to be in store for an exciting final week of the regular season as teams fall into their conference tournament seedings.

Based on analytics from PlayoffStatus.com, there could be some drama over the final two stretches of games before we get to the tournament.

Current Big 12 standings

1. Kansas — 24-5 (12-4)
2. Texas — 22-7 (11-5) 
3. Kansas State — 22-7 (10-6) 
4. Baylor — 21-8 (10-6) 
5. Iowa State — 17-11 (8-8)
6. TCU — 19-10 (8-8)
7. Oklahoma State — 16-13 (7-9)
8. Texas Tech — 16-13 (5-11) 
9. West Virginia — 16-13 (5-11)
10. Oklahoma — 14-15 (4-12)

Saturday’s slate of games played a major role in the latest projections, including a Texas loss to Baylor that gave Kansas the outright top spot in the Big 12 standings. After Baylor’s win over the Longhorns, the Jayhawks now have a 73 percent chance of entering the conference tournament as the top overall seed.

Texas, who sits alone in second place, actually has a 20 percent chance of staying in their current spot, while K-State has overtaken them with a 40 percent likelihood that they’ll find themselves on the two-seed line when the Big 12 Tournament begins. That’s due to Texas’ final two games, which includes a road trip to No. 24 TCU before hosting No. 3 Kansas in the regular season finale.

The magic number for Texas is two. Win both of your games and you will at least hold a share of the Big 12 regular season title. Tiebreaker scenarios for the No. 1 conference tournament seed would only be the case if Kansas and Texas win their respective mid-week games and see Texas defeat Kansas on Saturday. Both would finish the regular season 13-5 if this were the case.

Upcoming Big 12 schedule

The next conference matchups are scheduled for Monday, Feb. 27 will feature two Big 12 matchups.

• No. 9 Baylor @ Oklahoma State | 8 p.m. CT on ESPN
• West Virginia @ No. 23 Iowa State | 8 p.m. CT on ESPN2

2023 Big 12 Basketball Tournament schedule 

The 2023 Big 12 tournament is set for March 8-11 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

All times are listed in CT

First Round: Wed., March 8
Game 1: No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed | 6 p.m.
Game 2: No. 7 seed vs. No. 10 seed | 8:30 p.m.
Quarterfinals: Thurs., March 9
Game 3: No. 4 seed vs. No. 5 seed | 11:30 a.m.
Game 4: No. 1 seed vs. Game 1 winner | 2 p.m.
Game 5: No. 2 seed vs. Game 2 winner | 6 p.m.
Game 6: No. 3 seed vs. No. 6 seed | 8:30 p.m.
Semifinals: Fri., March 10
Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner | 6 p.m.
Game 8: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner | 8:30 p.m.
Championship: Sat., March 11
Game 9: Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner | 7 p.m.