Kansas again No. 1 seed for wide-open Big 12 Tournament

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The Big 12 Tournament was the place where Kansas validated its regular-season conference championship each year, and usually confirmed its status as one of the top seeds and heavy favorites for the NCAA Tournament.

That's changed a bit over the years.

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Five different schools have played in the last three Big 12 title games, and three different schools have walked away with a trophy: Texas last season, Iowa State three years ago and the Jayhawks the year before that. And no school has won back-to-back titles since the Cyclones won the 2014 and '15 editions before their typical raucous crowds.

This year's tournament figures to be just as wide open.

Yes, the sixth-ranked Jayhawks are back as the top seed and will play the winner of an opening-round game Wednesday night between Kansas State and West Virginia. But third-ranked Baylor, the defending national champion, lurks as the No. 2 seed as it tries to win its first Big 12 tourney title, No. 14 Texas Tech is seeded third under coach of the year Mark Adams, and the No. 21 Longhorns are plenty capable of defending their title as the tournament's fourth seed.

"I believe in these guys. I really do," said Chris Beard, who led the Red Raiders in five Big 12 tourneys but will be there with Texas for the first time. "It's been a challenging season. It's the first year. It's tough. Relationships are being formed while we're playing in the toughest conference in the country. But now it's fun time. It's winning time. It's time to play in March.

"I think we're going to be a factor in Kansas City," Beard said. "I think we're going to be a factor in the NCAA