Tuesday Takes: The Big 12’s Cinderella, Bubble Watch, and More!

Welcome to Tuesday Takes, where I give you four takes from the Big 12. It was a jam-packed week full of exciting news, but there were several things that caught my attention over the last few days. 

JT For MVP

Even though the Big 12 hasn’t released its All-Big 12 teams and awards just yet, we here at Heartland College Sports did our own version of that, starting with superlatives.

Our own Matthew Postins gave out his awards, and he had Texas Tech’s JT Toppin as the Big 12 player of the year. And guess what? I couldn’t agree more. I know people will scream and shout that it belongs to BYU’s AJ Dybansta, and that is certainly fair.

But to me, JT Toppin was the most dominant player on the floor in the Big 12. He averaged a double-double (one of just two players in the conference to do that), and was named the Big 12 player of the week four times before his season ending injury last month.

Was AJ a better scorer? Yes, but JT was an all-around player, which is why I agree that he should be the Big 12 player of the year despite missing the last five games of the season. You can’t go wrong either way, but I am sticking with JT Toppin for my MVP.

The Big 12 Bubble is in Trouble

A week ago, the Big 12 bubble teams went 4-0 on the final Saturday in February. But as always, things can change quickly when you play with fire. With TCU a lock to get in now, the bubble has shifted to three teams, which include UCF, West Virginia, and Cincinnati.

West Virginia and UCF played last Friday, which resulted in a Mountaineer win. While that was great for West Virginia, they needed it because earlier in the week, they lost to Kansas State, which really hurt them. Now sitting at 9-9, they are going to need some help.

The same can be said for UCF, which has now dropped three straight and is also 9-9 in conference play. Of course, I can’t forget about Cincinnati, which fell short against TCU this past weekend and is, you guessed it, 9-9 in Big 12 action. It’s a shame that none of these teams could reach that coveted tenth win, and now it’s all about what they are going to do in Kansas City.

BYU Will Be Cinderella

It seems like every single year, someone makes a run in the Big 12 tournament that isn’t expected to. And when I look at all the double-digit seeds, BYU sticks out to me more than the rest.

They start off Tuesday by playing Kansas State, which should be a fairly easy win, before facing West Virginia in the second round. I know that the Mountaineers beat BYU a couple of weeks ago, but that is still a winnable game for the Cougars when you have a guy like AJ Dybansta on the floor.

The winner of that game would take on Houston, and that’s where things get a bit dicey, but still, Houston is not the same Houston team from last year. BYU isn’t better than them, but it wouldn’t shock me at all if they knocked them off because Houston isn’t exactly playing their best basketball right now either.

From there, who knows what will happen, but I am calling my shot now. BYU will win at least three games in Kansas City and bump up a bit before the big dance.

Have Fun in Kansas City

While I have been to Kansas City a few times, one of my biggest regrets in life is not going during the Big 12 tournament. Kansas City is a fun place, great food, beer, you name it, so I can only imagine what it’s like during the tournament.

I am sure there are many of you reading this who will make the trip, and to you I say, have fun and enjoy. Make sure you have a cold one for me, and hopefully, I will see you there one of these days. Also, to those saying the tournament needs to move out of Kansas City, I would say at least make the trip there before wanting to move it.