The regular season is over and it’s time to get down to the real deal. The real business. And no, I’m not just talking about spring break.

This weekend, starting today for our beloved Cyclone men’s basketball team, we have the Big 12 Tournament. The winner receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Big Dance.

How will we do? Let’s take a look.

Since our first opponent, the winner of yesterday’s Kansas State-Texas Tech game, won’t be determined until my deadline for today’s column would’ve passed, I’ll be a little hindered to give my prediction. But, we’ll assume one or the other. If Texas Tech wins like they’re supposed to (K-State is the No. 12 seed). Then we’ll deal with them first. Tony Battie, their big man, scoring 19.0 points per game and 12.0 rebounds per game, will have to be contained. It can definitely be done, since the last time we played them, Battie and the Red Raiders were shut down as we blasted them at Hilton.

If the Wildcats manage to pull off the upset, then our main problems in dealing with the worst team in the Big 12 from the regular season will be Mark Young and Aaron Swartzendruber, both solid players. Though I shouldn’t say we would slaughter them since we barely squeaked out a victory when we played them in Manhattan, I do believe it wouldn’t be close. Cyclones in a landslide here.

That would then bring us to the semifinal game tomorrow. Barring a miracle, our next opponent would be Kansas. They’ve beaten us twice and have held the No. 1 ranking in the nation for most of the season, as well as this time having all of their big guns back, such as Raef LaFrentz and Scot Pollard.

I’ll go out on a limb with this one: The third time will be the charm once again as the Cyclones defeat the mighty Jayhawks as Dedric Willoughby lights them up again with more than 30 points and the rest of the team joins the effort to send us soaring into the championship game.

There, we’ll most likely face Colorado. In my humble opinion, they will not be as tough to deal with as Kansas (Obviously!). With Chauncey Billups to deal with again, it will be tough. But then again, we just finished kicking the holy terror out of them last week, so I believe that we can pull it off again. Of course, this time, we’ll get the big enchilada: our second straight conference tournament championship and the first Big 12 Championship in history. Of course, it’s then on to the Big Dance.

To finish out this week’s column, I would to take the opportunity to complement the women’s basketball team for a fine season that may not be over yet. The Cyclones finished 17-11 overall, and garnered a No. 6 seed to the Big 12 Tournament, where they defeated Texas A&M Tuesday before they fell to powerhouse Colorado 56-39 Wednesday. Led by guard Tara Gunderson and forward Janell Grimm, the Cyclones surprised many this season, which included an upset 74-56 win over No. 9 Texas a couple of weeks ago. Congratulations. I hope to see you in the NCAA Tournament.

Rob Daniel is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Zion, Ill.