Breaking Down The Bracket - Can The Big 12 Get To The Final Four?

Ever wish that more things worked like college brackets? That you could seed everything that way? Top 64 pre-game foods. Top 64 college players. Well, now you can do just that with your friends, with the Allstate BFF Brackets, which takes your 64 top Facebook friends (an algorithm seeds them based on interaction) and seeds them in four regions, exactly like the real tourney. Once the tourney starts, your friends advance with the corresponding seeds – till one is left standing. Check it out at 

http://apps.facebook.com/bffbrackets/

As expected the Big 12 got five teams into the Big Dance but now the big question is, how far can they advance? The Big 12 has a #1 seed and a #4, #5, #7 and  #11 as well. Logic may tell you that Kansas has the best shot at making an appearance on the floor in Houston at the Final Four but as we all know it doesn't always work that way?

Texas got the worst draw in my opinion. I know I can be classified in the "hater" category when it comes to anything related to the Longhorns but they're the #4 seed in the west which means if they survive Arizona in the second round they'll draw Duke in the Sweet 16. Arizona won the Pac 10 and finished the season with a 27-7 record but more importantly they finished the season by winning 11 of their last 15 games. That's precisely the same record Texas has over their final 15 games and both teams lost in their respective conference tournament championship games. 

Missouri has a chance at knocking off the #6 seeded Cincinnati Bearcats in the first round. The Tigers are dangerous as the 11th seed in the West and I think athletic enough to run with Cincy. Should Missouri advance to the round of 32 I think they're in serious trouble against UConn. 

Texas A&M also faces a tough second round match up. The Aggies are the #7 seed in the southwest and face off against Florida State on Friday. Should they advance past the Seminoles (which they should) the Notre Dame Fighting Irish will be waiting. I think that spells certain doom for Texas A&M.

Kansas State is the Big 12's best shot at a "Cinderella" with their draw as the 5th seed in the Southeast. I'm not sure what your definition of a Cinderella team is but mine is any team that advances well beyond the point people expected them to. The Wildcats may have finished as the hottest team in the Big 12 and I think are more than capable of taking out the 4th seeded Wisconsin Badgers in the second round. That would put them up against Pitt in the Sweet 16 where I'm predicting the Wildcats to knock off the top seed in the region.     

Kansas shouldn't be put to the test until the Sweet 16 when they have a potential matchup against 4th seeded Louisville. What scares me about the Jayhawks is their propensity to sleepwalk through the first couple rounds of the tournament. For that reason the second round game against UNLV/Illinois could get very interesting. However, the Jayhawks also have a propensity of gaining momentum as the tournament moves on and as the top seed of the southwest region the likes of Notre Dame, Purdue and Louisville shouldn't be something that causes Lawrence to tremble. Kansas is the #1 seed in the weakest region of the tournament and by all accounts has the best shot of any of the four top seeds of making it to Houston. 

So, yes, not only can the Big 12 get a team to the Final Four, they should have a team in the Final Four!