Big 12′s No. 4 seed? You’ll be surprised

Barring big upsets Saturday, the No. 4 men’s seed in the Big 12 Tournament will be a team with very little chance of making the NCAA Tournament: Kansas State.

The Big 12 looks to be headed for a three- or four-way tie for fourth place at 9-7, with Oklahoma State, Texas, Kansas State and, if it can beat Missouri on Saturday, Texas A&M.

Texas likely is in the NCAA Tournament, OSU looks solid for a berth and A&M could join that distinction with two victories this week. But KSU, with a dismal RPI of 73, is a longshot.

Yet in a three- or four-way tie for the No. 4 seed behind Kansas, OU and Missouri, Kansas State comes out the winner. OSU would lose the tiebreakers with Texas (better South Division record) and Texas A&M (the Aggies would have beaten a higher-placing North team), and KSU wins the head-to-head tiebreaker with either UT or A&M.

So OSU is likely to be seeded sixth or seventh in the Big 12 Tournament, sixth if A&M loses this week, seventh if the Aggies win out.

Such a scenario would make for an interesting Big 12 Tournament. If Kansas State beats Texas in a 4-5 quarterfinal matchup, the Longhorns would have the better NCAA Tournament resume’. But K-State would be 2-0 vs. Texas, with wins in Austin and Oklahoma City. That would give the NCAA committee something to think about.