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.
At sixth or seventh, OSU is headed for a first-round game against Texas Tech or Iowa State, then a quarterfinal against Missouri or OU. That’s not a bad draw; the Cowboys would not play anyone until at least the semifinals that is on the NCAA bubble.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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K-State has to win the conference tournament to make the Big Dance. Those RPI and SOS numbers are way too high, even with two wins over Texas.