Big 12 Tournament 2012 Schedule and Bracket: Complete Guide and Preview

The Big 12 is set for a seismic shift next season, but for now, college basketball fans should savor the flavor of one of the nation's toughest conferences sorting out its postseason champion. Kansas and Missouri will arrive in Kansas City as the top two seeds in the tournament—and (surprise, surprise) the favorites to play on Saturday for the league's automatic berth into the NCAA tournament—but the road there will be anything but smooth.

That is, if the rest of the conference, particularly Baylor and Iowa State, has anything to say about it. The Jayhawks have won the last two Big 12 tourney titles and five of the last six, with the Tigers serving as the lone check to KU's dominance in that span.

Stars will shine, rivalries will be renewed and, at the end of it all, one lucky team will walk away with guaranteed trip to the Big Dance.

Where: Sprint Center, Kansas City, Missouri

When: March 7-10

Watch: Big 12 Network, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU

Live Stream: WatchESPN

Bracket and Schedule Info

Note: All times EST

Round 1 (Wed, 3/7)	Quarterfinals (Thurs, 3/8)	Semifinals (Fri, 3/9)	Final (Sat, 3/10)
	No. 4 Baylor
	Game 3, 11:30 a.m., ESPN2
No. 8 Oklahoma	No. 5 Kansas State	Game 3 Winner
Game 1, 6:00 p.m. Big 12 Network		Game 7, 6:30 p.m., Big 12 Network/ESPNU
No. 9 Texas A&M	No. 1 Kansas	Game 4 Winner
	Game 4, 2 p.m., ESPN2
	Game 1 Winner		Game 7 Winner
			Game 9, 5:00 p.m., ESPN
	No. 2 Missouri		Game 8 Winner
	Game 5, 6:00 p.m., Big 12 Network
No. 7 Oklahoma State	Game 2 Winner	Game 5 Winner
Game 2, 8:30 p.m. Big 12 Network		Game 8, 9:00 p.m., Big 12 Network/ESPNU
No. 10 Texas Tech	No. 3 Iowa State	Game 6 Winner
	Game 6, 8:30 p.m., Big 12 Network
	No. 6 Texas

Surprise Team to Win: Kansas State 

Kansas State seemed to save its best basketball for its toughest opponents this season, a strategy that worked exactly as you'd imagine.

As in, the Wildcats tallied wins over Baylor and Missouri (twice) and close decisions against Kansas and Iowa State (twice), but also lost to Texas and Oklahoma (twice).

The fate of Frank Martin's squad will likely lie with Rodney McGruder, who leads K-State in scoring (15.4 ppg) and is second on the team in rebounding (5.4). If McGruder gets hot, he may well carry the 'Cats all the way to the title. 

First Favorite to Fall: Baylor

The Baylor Bears are living proof that talent, while important to on-court success, is hardly a guarantor of championship triumph. The Bears went just 2-6 against the other top teams in the Big 12 this season, 0-4 against KU and Mizzou, despite having NBA-caliber studs like Perry Jones III, Quincy Acy and Quincy Miller in the mix.

Scott Drew's zone defense hasn't helped Baylor's cause much, nor has the perceived "softness" of the team's frontcourt.

The Bears will be put to the test from the get-go by the aforementioned Wildcats, with whom they played to near-draws in their first two meetings. Should Baylor survive, it'll likely have to match up in the semifinals with Kansas, to whom the Bears by an average of 16 points per game this season.  

Prediction: Kansas

KU wasn't expected to win the Big 12 coming into the 2011-12 campaign, but now that the Jayhawks have claimed the regular season title for the eighth year in a row, who's to stop them from capturing the league double?

Okay, so maybe Mizzou should be 2-0 against Kansas. Still, with Tyshawn Taylor and Player of the Year contender Thomas Robinson constituting one of the nation's best inside-out combinations, Bill Self's squad should secure the Big 12's automatic berth and the No. 1 seed that likely comes with it.

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