Big 12 Tournament 2012: Baylor's Difficult Path Will Doom Championship Hopes

Baylor could have had a difficult but reasonable path to a Big 12 Tournament championship. All they had to do was beat Iowa State in the team's final regular season game to earn a No. 3 seed and give themselves a chance.

Instead they lost, 80-72, and now face a gauntlet they seem unlikely to overcome.

What's the price of being the fourth seed in the Big 12 Tournament rather than the third? Oh, just a rubber match against Kansas State in the quarterfinals, a likely clash with top seed Kansas in the semifinals and a probable meeting with Missouri in the championship game.

The path from a three seed would have been far more manageable.

They would have opened with Texas (a team they've beaten twice this year), likely faced a Missouri team they were at least competitive against (they lost to the Tigers twice but kept it close in January, 89-88) and avoided a Kansas team they've struggled mightily against until the championship game (or entirely, if another team—Iowa State, perhaps—beat the Jayhawks).

Baylor's chances of winning the Big 12 Tournament were slim to begin with—they're a paltry 2-6 against Kansas, Missouri, Iowa State and Kansas State.

To put that in perspective, Baylor is 24-0 against everyone else they faced this year. So it's safe to say they've had their issues with the Big 12's elite teams.

Baylor looks like a squad that will fare well in the NCAA tournament, and they would probably be a shoo-in for a second seed in that tournament if they win the Big 12.

But given the draw they now face, it seems unlikely they'll accomplish that feat.

Feel free to blame Iowa State for that, Baylor fans.

Hit me up on Twitter—my tweets are bounty-free.