Big 12 Tournament 2012: Kansas vs. Mizzou Is Ideal Conference Championship Game

For all of the talk about bubble teams and bracket busters during Championship Week, when you look at the Big 12 Tournament one thing is abundantly clear: The best possible scenario for a championship game is a rubber match between Kansas and Missouri.

And it is the best possible scenario on a number of levels.

The most obvious is that Kansas and Missouri are the two best teams in the Big 12 and two of the best teams in the nation.

Kansas is ranked third in the nation and boasts a 26-5 record (16-2 conference), Player of the Year candidate Thomas Robinson (18.0 ppg and 11.9 rpg) and is widely expected to earn a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Tigers are no slouches themselves and are ranked fifth in the nation at 27-4 (14-4 conference), have one of the most prolific offenses in the country (they rank eighth in the nation in points scored and third in field goal percentage) and could potentially steal a one-seed from Kansas with a tournament championship.

So yes, these teams are good. And evenly matched at that.

Missouri won the first meeting between the two, 74-71, on February 4th. But Kansas had their revenge on February 25th, winning 87-86 in overtime.

It doesn't get much more evenly matched than that.

But the match-up does get more intriguing. These two teams are traditional rivals. They really, really don't like each other. This is the Big 12's version of Duke vs. North Carolina or Michigan vs. Ohio State.

And if they do get a chance to duke it out for a conference championship, it's the last time they'll play with Big 12 implications on the line.

See, despite 105 years of this rivalry, Missouri is off to the SEC next year. So the least the Tigers could do before they switch alliances is give Big 12 fans one last classic showdown against the Jayhawks.

I say this without hyperbole: A rubber match between Kansas and Missouri has all of the makings to be one of the classic and memorable games in NCAA history, even if it is only for a conference tournament championship.

This game is the perfect storm of intriguing storylines, and basketball fans would surely be privileged to watch these two do battle one last time as conference foes.

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