Big 12 Tournament 2023: Preview, Predictions and Men's Players to Watch

Kansas and Texas are the two most recent champions of the Big 12 men's basketball tournament, as the Jayhawks won the event in 2022 and the Longhorns in 2021. Now, those programs are the top two seeds for the 2023 edition of the tourney.

The Big 12 regular season is now complete, and there's a good chance that either Kansas or Texas will soon win the conference tournament title. The Jayhawks were the regular-season champions and enter as the No. 1 seed. But the Longhorns, who are the No. 2 seed, defeated Kansas in Saturday's regular-season finale.

The tourney gets underway Wednesday and concludes with the championship game on Saturday. This year, the event is taking place at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.

Here's everything else you need to know about the 2023 Big 12 men's basketball tournament.

Wednesday, March 8

Game 1: No. 8 West Virginia vs. No. 9 Texas Tech, 7 p.m. ET, ESPNU

Game 2: No. 7 Oklahoma State vs. No. 10 Oklahoma, 9:30 p.m. ET, ESPNU

Thursday, March 9

Game 3: No. 4 Baylor vs. No. 5 Iowa State, 12:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2

Game 4: No. 1 Kansas vs. Game 1 winner, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN2

Game 5: No. 2 Texas vs. Game 2 winner, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2

Game 6: No. 3 Kansas State vs. No. 6 TCU, 9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2

Friday, March 10

Game 7: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2

Game 8: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner, 9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN2

Saturday, March 11

Championship game, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN

Jalen Wilson, F, Kansas

Wilson was a solid player for the Jayhawks the previous two seasons, but he performed even better during his redshirt junior campaign. The 6-foot-8 forward led the Big 12 in both points (19.7) and rebounds (8.4) per game, playing a key role in Kansas' success.

The Jayhawks had four players average double-digit points while going 25-6. However, Wilson is the centerpiece of their lineup and has the potential to take over a game, as he showed by scoring 20 or more points 17 times.

Marcus Carr, G, Texas

Carr spent a lot of time on the court for the Longhorns during the regular season, averaging 33.2 minutes per game. The senior was an anchor for their backcourt while scoring 16.2 points per contest, which ranked fourth in the Big 12.

After spending one season at Pittsburgh and two at Minnesota, Carr has played for Texas the past two seasons. He's been a solid player throughout his collegiate career, but he was more efficient in the 2022-23 campaign, shooting a career-best 43.7 percent from the field.

Markquis Nowell, G, Kansas State

Nowell played three seasons at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock before transferring to Kansas State prior to the 2021-22 campaign. Since then, he's proved that he's more than capable of excelling against tougher competition.

This season, Nowell ranked third in the Big 12 in points per game (17.0) and first in assists per contest (7.7). He's a great floor general for the Wildcats, who ranked second in the conference in assists behind only Kansas.

No one team has dominated the Big 12 tournament in recent years, as the three most recent editions of the event have each had a different champion: Kansas (2022), Texas (2021) and Iowa State (2019). The 2020 tourney was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

There also hasn't been a team to win back-to-back tournament titles since Iowa State in 2014 and 2015. Kansas will be looking to change that in its effort to repeat as champion.

The Jayhawks are the early favorites to win this year's Big 12 tourney after they went 13-5 in conference play during the regular season. They didn't run away with the No. 1 seed, though, as Texas (12-6), Kansas State (11-7) and Baylor (11-7) were all close behind. Those four teams are also ranked in the top 11 in the AP Top 25 poll.

There are also a handful of Big 12 teams that have proven they can take down Kansas, as Texas, Kansas State, Baylor, TCU and Iowa State all own victories over the Jayhawks this season. But four of those losses came in a six-game stretch in late January/early February for Kansas.

Sometimes, momentum can be important heading into tournament play. But none of the Big 12's 10 teams won more than two straight games to end the regular season.

Predictions

While upsets are always possible, Kansas and Texas have looked like the top two teams in the Big 12 for quite some time. So it wouldn't be surprising if the championship game of the conference tournament is a matchup between the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds.

Kansas didn't have a ton of motivation to win at Texas on Saturday, as the Jayhawks had already clinched the regular-season conference title. The Longhorns needed to win to secure the No. 2 seed, and they notched a 75-59 win.

But Kansas owns an 88-80 home win over Texas. And a third meeting between the two programs would likely be competitive.

That potential matchup could go either way, but the prediction here is that the Jayhawks will win a second straight Big 12 tourney title. Kansas has a well-rounded lineup, and it should begin to click now that the stakes are raised.