Coronavirus top of mind as Big 12 tourney lands at Sprint Center with KU the favorite
The Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball tournaments arrive in Kansas City this week looking like previous incarnations of these events.
Kansas is the top men’s seed, Baylor the women’s. Some men’s teams are safely in the men’s NCAA Tournament field, while others appear to need success at Sprint Center to feel good about their postseason chances.
However, one potential difference looms over the four-day tournaments: the prospect of playing games in empty buildings because of concerns about the COVID-19 coronavirus.
Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby doesn’t believe that will happen. But he doesn’t rule out the possibility.
“We haven’t been told we that shouldn’t play the tournament, and we haven’t been told we shouldn’t play it in front of an assembled crowd,” Bowlsby said. “If we are told those things, obviously we’re going to yield to the best medical advice that we can get.
“We want to keep our players and coaches and staff members and fans as healthy as possible.”
On Wednesday morning, Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas said the city does not plan to cancel upcoming events, including the Big 12 tournaments, but recommends “the following groups consider avoiding large events: (1) immunocompromised persons; (2) persons over 60 w/any health conditions; (3) all persons over 70.”
Following the lead of the NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer, the conference announced Tuesday that it will close its locker rooms to media and conduct all interviews in designated rooms.
The Southeastern Conference also will close locker rooms to media at its own men’s basketball tournament in Nashville, which begins on Wednesday.
“When the professional sports did that, and some other conference have done it ...” Bowlsby said. “We collaborate with other the conferences and I think that’s going to be a fairly consistent policy. We don’t take that step capriciously.
“But when armed with the information that less contact is better than more contact, we probably have to respond.”
The same policy will apply to the Big 12 women’s tournament, which begins its four-day run at Municipal Auditorium Thursday.
The NCAA issued a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying, “The NCAA continues to assess how COVID-19 impacts the conduct of the tournaments and our events. We are consulting with public health officials and our COVID-19 advisory panel, who are leading experts in epidemiology and public health, and will make decisions in coming days.”
Bowlsby said the Big 12 likely will keep its players from the crowds this week, giving them their own seating area in the buildings.
But the games are scheduled to go on, and this week’s men’s tourney features the nation’s unanimously top-ranked team. Kansas received every vote in the Associated Press and coaches’ polls. The Jayhawks also top the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking, which helps the NCAA selection committee measure teams for seeding in the NCAA Tournament.
The Jayhawks have the endorsement of Texas Tech coach Chris Beard. “That’s the best Kansas team I’ve seen,” he said after KU defeated Tech in Lubbock Saturday.
Kansas will open the tournament Thursday at 2 p.m. against the winner of Wednesday’s Oklahoma State-Iowa State game. KU coach Bill Self insists nothing will come easily.
“The games will be difficult, they always are,” Self said. “It’s the best defensive conference in the country.”
The Jayhawks (28-3) enter the tournament as the strong favorite to be the overall No. 1 seed, and that might remain the case even if they don’t win the Big 12 tournament. They’re bidding to win their 12th Big 12 tournament in the event’s 24 years.
Baylor, the Big 12 tourney’s No. 2 men’s seed, has the best conference record — 15-3 — among teams that did not to win a regular-season league championship. Coach Scott Drew’s Bears spent most of the Big 12 season in first place before losing three of their final five games.
Four teams in the Big 12 field finished tied for third at 9-9, and the seeding shook out like this: Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia. The Mountaineers appear safely in the NCAA Tournament mix, and the Sooners should be on the right side of the bubble. The Texas-Texas Tech contest could be framed as an elimination game, with the winner making the Tournament and the loser left out.
The Big 12 men’s tournament opens Wednesday with games featuring the bottom four seeds. Iowa State, winner of four of the previous six championships, including last year’s, is the ninth seed and meets Oklahoma State at 6 p.m.
Kansas State, a co-champion of the league in 2019, enters this year’s league tournament as the 10th seed. The Wildcats meet TCU in the second game Wednesday.
The Wildcats ended a 10-game losing streak in their regular-season finale but have set a school record for losses at 10-21. Still, this tournament gives every team hope. Win four games in Kansas City and an NCAA Tournament bid is yours, coach Bruce Weber reminded his players.
“I just told them, ‘You never know,’” Weber said. “All you can worry about is to get the first one, and then you get a chance to play a second one.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 5:13 PM.