Big 12 Women’s Tournament Seeding Coming Down to the Wire

With the completion of Wednesday’s games, the Big 12 women’s basketball regular season is down to just three games before all 16 teams head to Kansas City.

The Big 12 women’s tournament starts on March 5. By March 2, we will know the entire tournament field. So, for now, we get to project a little bit.

Below is how the tournament would look based on 15 rounds of league action. If you’ve read my pieces from Tuesday and Wednesday, you know seeds shifted with big wins by West Virginia and Oklahoma State. How did Wednesday’s games shift the landscape?

Iowa State took care of Houston, 64-53. Cincinnati upended Texas Tech, 59-56. TCU took care of Arizona State, 82-66. Arizona defeated BYU, 65-57. Baylor blew out Colorado, 84-62.

As a reminder, we used the Big 12 rules on the web site for tiebreakers.

If the Big 12 women’s tournament started today, here is how the tournament would be seeded.

Seeds Nos. 1-4: Double Byes

No. 1 TCU (13-2)

No. 2 Baylor (13-2)

No. 3 Kansas State (12-3)

No. 4 Oklahoma State (11-4)

TCU remains in the top spot, thanks to its head-to-head win over Baylor. The two teams meet again in March. Kansas State’s loss to West Virginia on Monday cost the Wildcats the No. 1 seed, but they’re still in double-bye territory. Oklahoma State remains No. 4, thanks to their 2-1 record against WVU and Utah.

No one has clinched a double bye yet. TCU and Baylor could this weekend. Teams with double byes don’t play until the quarterfinals.

Seeds Nos. 5-8: Single Byes

No. 5 West Virginia (11-4)

No. 6 Utah (11-4)

No. 7 Iowa State (10-5)

No. 8 Colorado (8-7)

WVU and Utah haven’t played each other yet, so WVU’s win over Kansas State, coupled by Utah’s loss, gives the Mountaineers the No. 5 seed for now. Remember — each team’s winning percentage versus the team occupying the highest position in the final regular season standings breaks the tie. K-State was the first differentiator.

The Cyclones now have a two-game cushion over Colorado for the No. 7 seed.

Teams that receive single byes don’t play until the second round.

First Round (Seeds 9-16)

No. 9 Arizona (7-8)

No. 10 Cincinnati (7-8)

No. 11 Kansas (5-10)

No. 12 BYU (4-11)

No. 13 Texas Tech (3-12)

No. 14 UCF (2-13)

No. 15 Arizona State (2-13)

No. 16 Houston (1-14)

Not much changed here. Arizona gets the top seed in the first round, thanks to a head-to-head win over Cincinnati. Kansas won and BYU lost. The two will play each other next week. UCF moved back up to No. 14, thanks to its head-to-head tiebreaker over Arizona State.

Arizona and Cincinnati could still play into the single byes, but neither can afford a loss down the stretch.