Predicting the Big 12 2024 Tournament: Can anyone beat the Houston Cougars?

During their first season in the Big 12, Houston has dominated the conference with a 12-3 record in league play. They will claim a full share of the regular season title if they win their final three contests.

As ridiculous as it sounds, we are only two weeks away from the beginning of the conference tournament with March looming. The first and second rounds will be played on Mar. 12 and 13, with the quarterfinals, semifinals, and championship coming in the days afterward.

If the season were to end today, Kansas basketball would receive two byes because they sit at No. 3 in the conference. However, they can still drop seeding-wise with remaining road games against Baylor and Houston.

It is still possible they drop to No. 5 in the conference, which means the Jayhawks would need three consecutive wins just to get to the final round. The dynamics are completely different this year with the flurry of new teams that joined the conference.

Unlike past years, Kansas is not the favorite to win the conference tournament, nor are they even top two in the conference. The Jayhawks just lost their first home game of the season to BYU and continue to miss star guard Kevin McCullar as he recovers from a knee injury.

Houston and Iowa State are the clear favorites to win the conference tournament. However, Kansas has played relatively well on neutral sites this year, so fans will have to wait and see if Bill Self can pull something out of his extensive bag of tricks.