Big 12 Tournament odds, picks, schedule and bracket: Texas and Kansas to meet in Championship game

The Big 12 Tournament field is set, as Kansas continues its defense of its national title and seeks to cement its status as a No. 1 seed for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. The Jayhawks’ journey will start on Thursday, March 9, when they take on the winner of West Virginia (8) and Texas Tech (9).

Texas nabbed the No. 2 seed in the tournament and is hoping to enter the NCAA field as a No. 2 seed, at worst.

Like it did last year, the Big 12 leads all conferences in RPI, making it one of the must-watch conference tournaments given the quality of the teams playing at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

While Kansas and Texas are the betting and on-paper favorites, there are five other teams that our Brian Bennett predicts will make the NCAA Tournament. Baylor (5), Iowa State (4), Kansas State (3), TCU (6) and West Virginia (8) are all in his projected field. All seven teams should be fine regardless of their outcome, with only West Virginia, a projected No. 8 seed, in danger if they have a first-round conference tournament exit.

Oklahoma State can work its way in with a good showing. A win over Oklahoma and an upset of Texas would go a long way for their tournament bid.

While the conference is lighter on top NBA draft prospects compared to past years, Keyonte George (Baylor) is a slam-dunk Lottery pick, and Gradey Dick (Kansas) is a projected first-round pick, too. They’ll be on full display throughout the conference tournament, as they not only look to take home hardware ahead of the Big Dance, but also improve their draft stock, too.

Jalen Wilson (Kansas) and Kevin McCullar Jr. (Kansas) could also improve their draft prospects from being second-round picks to late first-rounders with a good showing throughout the Big 12 Tournament and beyond.

2023 Big 12 Tournament schedule

Wednesday, March 8

Game 1: No. 8 West Virginia 78, No. 9 Texas Tech 62
Game 2: No. 7 Oklahoma State 57, No. 10 Oklahoma 49

Thursday, March 9

Game 3: No. 5 Iowa State 78, No. 4 Baylor 72
Game 4: No. 1 Kansas 78, No. 8 West Virginia 61
Game 5: No. 2 Texas 60, No. 7 Oklahoma State 47
Game 6: No. 6 TCU 80, No. 3 Kansas State 67

Friday, March 10

Game 6: No. 1 Kansas 71, No. 5 Iowa State 58
Game 7: No. 2 Texas 66, No. 6 TCU 60

Saturday, March 11

Championship game: No. 1 Kansas 76, No. 2 Texas 56

Big 12 Tournament odds

All odds from BetMGM and update live.

Big 12 Tournament expert picks

Writer	Pick
John Hollinger
Brian Hamilton
Dana ONeil
Brendan Quinn
Brendan Marks
Eamonn Brennan
Austin Mock
Joseph Rexrode
Tobias Bass
Nicole Auerbach
Scott Dochterman
Jesse Temple

Big 12 Tournament projections

Austin Mock’s college basketball model factors in a plethora of metrics, adjusts them for opponent and home/away, and takes into account injuries. He then uses those metrics and simulates the conference tournaments 100,000 times.

Key: Win% is the percent chance a team has of winning the conference tournament, according to Austin’s model.