All season long, the media and coaches’ polls considered the Big 12 Conference as the Big One — Kansas.

And on Sunday, the NCAA Tournament selection committee agreed.

While the conference did have four teams invited to the Big Dance, only Kansas received a favorable seed.

The Jayhawks are the No. 1 seed in the Midwest bracket. Oklahoma State earned a No. 8 seed in the South, Oklahoma claimed a No. 10 seed in the East, and Nebraska is a No. 11 the West.

The league’s coaches said the lack of faith in their teams is unwarranted.

Kansas Coach Roy Williams said the other three Big 12 teams deserved better first-round draws.

“I was shocked when I saw [the seedings],” he said. “We’ve played those teams. They’re very good basketball teams.”

Oklahoma State Coach Eddie Sutton had the same feelings.

“I was a little disappointed as to where we are in the seeding,” he said. “I just thought that maybe our conference wasn’t given the consideration that it should have been.”

Oklahoma Coach Kelvin Sampson said the conference’s coaches had something to do with the selection committee’s decisions.

“We need to do a better job of building our conference up,” he said. “I think there was a perception nationally [that we were down].”

He said that he realized the conference’s quality was down from last season, “but not any more than any other leagues.”

Kansas, who entered last year’s tournament as the undisputed favorite only to lose in the Sweet Sixteen, is more comfortable heading into March Madness this time.

Williams’ main concern is with the health of two of his top Hawks, guard Billy Thomas and forward Raef LaFrentz. Thomas missed the Big 12 Tournament with a strained quadriceps muscle, and LaFrentz has played through the last three games while battling an ailing left shoulder.

“I still think the injury problem is the only negative that we have,” Williams said. “[Otherwise] our kids feel good about themselves.”

He said, “Even though the injury factor is an important one, we can’t let it dominate everything. “

Kansas plays the field’s weakest team, Prairie View (13-16), in the first round, but is not worried about his kids being overconfident.

“We’ve got a pretty veteran team, and [the guys] have been through these kinds of things before,” he said. “We’ve just got to take care of our own business.”

Sampson’s team (22-10) finished second in the Big 12 Tournament after falling to Kansas on Sunday.

“I thought our kids played about as well as we can expect them to,” he said. “Our kids gave us everything they had.”

The Sooners play No. 7 seed Indiana, who is 19-11.

“I think this is a pretty good match-up for us,” Sampson said. “I think we’ll compete well and represent our conference well.”

“Our kids are playing well right now. I don’t know if we can beat Indiana, but our kids do,” he said.

Sutton’s Cowboy squad is 21-6 and plays George Washington (24-8) on Friday. Sutton has never lost a first-round game in the NCAA Tournament as OSU’s head man.

However, he said this team is younger and not of the same caliber of his past teams. “With this ballclub, you just don’t know for sure.”