The men’s Big 12 Championship starts today in Kansas City, Missouri. Here are our staff predictions for this year’s tournament:

Ryan Young

Kansas is playing too good right now to not make it to the championship game, and the bracket sets up for them to make it there fairly easily.

While it’ll be a tough first game, I think that Iowa State will find a way to squeak by Oklahoma in the first round. I’ll give Iowa State the win in the semifinals against West Virginia, too, mainly because they fell twice to the Mountaineers already this season. I don’t think West Virginia will pull off the three-game sweep.

In the championship game, though, I have to give it to Kansas. Sure, the Cyclones played well in Lawrence, Kan., last weekend, but they lost for a very simple reason: Kansas is the better team. They’ll win the Big 12 Championship this season. But a run to the championship game should be the boost the Cyclones need to pull off a run in the NCAA Tournament.

Maddy Arnold

While Iowa State does not look like the typical No. 6 seed, it has probably come time for that Hilton South Magic to runout. Big 12 Conference play was unpredictable this season but the Cyclones have come out on the losing side a few too many times for me to believe they can take on the Sooners yet again.

For the same reason I don’t have confidence in a three-peat for Iowa State, I do think Kansas will restore itself atop the Big 12 tourney — winning. Kansas is playing its best basketball of the season — the last loss coming in January at Hilton and impressive wins against schools like Iowa State, Texas and Oklahoma in February.

Sorry, Cyclone fans, but it seems to be a Rock Chalk kind of year.

Chris Wolff

Remember back in early January when Kansas needed three overtimes and 109 points to put away Oklahoma and the college basketball world was in awe of Big 12 basketball? We immediately looked forward to a second round between the two teams and hoped the basketball gods would bless us with a third.

We get that third matchup in the Big 12 championships, where Oklahoma will finally get over the hump and beat the regular season champion Kansas. Oklahoma survives a thriller against Iowa State in the first round, squeaks out another win in the second round against West Virginia before downing the Jayhawks.

Iowa State has come out on the losing side of close games too often, and that will happen again in the Big 12 tournament. Beating Oklahoma alone is a tall task, let alone winning three games, all likely against three top-10 teams, in three days. 

Losing in the first round of the Big 12 tournament will give Iowa State plenty of rest and prep time for the NCAA tournament, so it’s not all bad for Cyclone Nation. 

Luke Manderfeld

Jan. 18 was a long time ago. 

When Oklahoma traveled to Ames back then, the Cyclones showed the Sooners why they were considered a preseason top-10 team. Since then, Iowa State has faced adversity. 

And, as has been the case all season, the Cyclones don’t have the deepest of benches. And that will be even more paramount in a tournament as intense as the Big 12 Tournament. This isn’t the regular season. 

I think Budddy Hield and company knock off Iowa State. But, hey, the NCAA Tournament is just a week away. 

Like I said, it’s been a long two months.