Determining the regular season champion of the Big 12 came down to the final day of the regular season in a winner-take-all game between TCU and Baylor. The Horned Frogs won 51-48, capturing the Big 12 regular season title for the first time ever in a league they’ve been a member of since 2012. It was TCU’s first regular season conference title since 2005, back when it was in the Mountain West.
Everyone knew that TCU would be improved and a team to watch this season with the addition of Hailey Van Lith and a healthy Sedona Prince, but few predicted they would be the best team in the league. In the Big 12’s preseason poll, Kansas State was predicted as the winner, Iowa State was picked second, Baylor third and then TCU – coming in fourth place. Even West Virginia received a first-place vote.
Four of those teams finished in the top five of the league standings, while Oklahoma State – voted 11th in the preseason poll – finished third in the regular season with a 14-4 record. Iowa State, despite being led by a rising star in Audi Crooks, finished seventh, but is 7-3 in their last 10 games. West Virginia has one of the best defenses in the country and went a perfect 16-0 at home in conference play, but struggled on the road with five losses.
The Mountaineers did beat Kansas State in Morgantown by 13 points on Feb. 17, and the Wildcats haven’t quite looked like the same team as Ayoka Lee has been sidelined at various points this season. With the 6-foot-6 Lee in the lineup, Kansas State has just one loss. Without her, they have five. While once seeming like a lock to be a top 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats have now lost four of their last seven games with Lee out of the lineup. But they’ve also proven they have the potential to defeat good opponents without her, like when they beat TCU on Feb. 5.
That wasn’t TCU’s only surprising loss of the season. While the Horned Frogs showed off their high ceiling when they defeated Notre Dame in November, they also showed their floor in losses at Kansas State and Oklahoma State.
Put more simply, while TCU is the favorite to win the Big 12 Tournament this week in Kansas City, this is truly a league where anyone can beat anyone. It has embraced the mess as March Madness approaches.
Here are a few storylines to watch in the Big 12:
Baylor at its best
In her fourth season at the helm of the Bears, this might be Nicki Collen’s best team at Baylor. Of the four teams she’s had in Waco, this Baylor squad is averaging the most points per game (78.7), allowing the least points per game (59.3), has the highest margin of victory (19.4), has the best offensive rating (107.4) and the second best defensive rating (81.6) of Collen’s tenure.
The Bears lost two non-conference games away from home to Big Ten bubble teams – Oregon and Indiana – and since then have lost just four games, all to AP-ranked opponents. Their two losses to TCU were by an average margin of four points.
Baylor has been playing without Darianna Littlepage-Buggs – who is averaging a double-double – for the past few weeks, but the Bears have stepped up. Five other Baylor players average at least 9.5 points per game, and another group of five players shoots north of 35 percent from 3-point land.
At some point, Sedona Prince has to talk
Hanging over TCU’s historic season – fueled by Hailey Van Lith’s resurgence and Sedona Prince’s stellar play in the paint – are the allegations against the latter, the 6-foot-7, 24-year-old Prince.
According a lengthy investigative report from the Washington Post, Prince faces a string of allegations related to domestic violence, sexual assault, sexual misconduct and abuse. The Post reported on multiple incidents between Prince and her partners, with one going as far back as 2019 and another as recent as last month where no charges were filed. Two of Prince’s alleged victims spoke to the Post on-the-record.
Prince, Horned Frogs’ coach Mark Campbell and TCU have remained mum on the situation and Prince has continued to play. She’s averaging 17.6 points and 9.4 rebounds per game, and she’s third nationally in blocks per game with 3.1. She also ranks third in win shares with 6.2.
But as March Madness gets underway – first in the Big 12 Tournament and then in the NCAA Tournament – Prince and Campbell will be in positions where reporters will be able to directly ask them questions about these allegations. Whether or not they actually respond to those questions remains to be seen.
Can Serena Sundell carry Kansas State?
As Ayoka Lee has been in and out of the lineup over the last several weeks, Serena Sundell has looked more and more like Kansas State’s best player. Her 27 points and superb defense were a big reason why the Wildcats were able to defeat TCU in Manhattan in early February, and she’s blossomed into one of the sport’s best passers.
Sundell, a senior, wasn’t among the top five finalists announced this week for the Nancy Lieberman Award – given annually to the nation’s top point guard – but she certainly should have been. No player has more assists this season than Sundell’s 220 (which averages to 7.1 per game, which is second nationally). Sundell is also one of just three players this season – the others are Drake’s Katie Dinnebier and Ball State’s Ally Becki – who average at least 13 points, four rebounds and six assists per game.
If Kansas State aims to win a game or a few at the Big 12 tournament in hopes of holding onto a top 16 seed in the NCAA Tournament, it will need Sundell to continue to play at her very best.
More questions remain elsewhere in the Big 12. Can Iowa State do enough to secure its bid so we can all enjoy Audi Crooks in the NCAA Tournament again? Are Arizona and Colorado capable of winning a couple games to get off the bubble? Can West Virginia’s defense and the stellar play of JJ Quinerly carry them to an improbable conference title?
The Big 12 Tournament begins in earnest on Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET. All games are on ESPN+ until the championship, which airs Sunday at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN.
