Big 12 turns March sadness into madness

DALLAS -- The Big 12 has never had a problem getting teams into the NCAA tournament. It's sticking around that's been tough.

Finally this March, the 6-year-old league has broken through, with four teams among the remaining 16, the most for any conference. Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri all will try giving the Big 12 its first Final Four team -- or two.

"We've had all the ingredients in place for teams to achieve at a very high level," commissioner Kevin Weiberg said Monday. "We believed it was a matter of time more than anything. Each year our basketball has been getting better."

Before this season, the Big 12 had 26 teams make the tournament. Only seven made it to the second weekend and just two advanced to the regional finals -- Iowa State and Oklahoma State, both in 2000.

Conference teams often have found their path to success clogged by eventual champions. Duke beat Missouri in the second round last year, Michigan State beat Iowa State in the regional finals in 2000 and Arizona knocked off top-seeded Kansas in the regional semis in 1997.

Another common complaint was that conference play was so grueling, teams wore each other out in January and February.

Yet excuses only go so far. The bottom line in college basketball is results in the NCAA tournament, and everyone involved in the Big 12 is painfully aware of the league's record of March sadness.

"I think that to get validation as a league, you have to get to the Final Four and win a national championship," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "I think there are Big 12 teams in the tournament this year that have the ability to do that."

The Big 12 was considered a football conference the moment it was formed from the merger of four Southwest Conference schools and the Big Eight. Outside of perennial power Kansas, basketball was a nice complementary piece -- until Weiberg became commissioner three years ago.

Big 12 teams peaked at first (Kansas), second (Missouri), third (Oklahoma) and fifth (Oklahoma State) in The Associated Press poll this season. Six teams spent at least one week in the rankings, and all six made the NCAA field.

That kind of depth helps mute the cries about too many at-large berths going to teams from big-money conferences. So does the fact Missouri, which finished sixth in the conference and got a 12th seed, is still playing after pulling off two lopsided upsets.

The Pac-10, Big East and Southeastern conferences also had six entries each. The Pac-10 has three left, while the Big East has two and the SEC just one.

Since the NCAA field expanded to 64 teams in 1985, there have been 16 instances of one conference putting four teams into the final 16. Six times those leagues ended up producing the national champion, too.